Zanzibar

Last Saturday, I left for Zanzibar (aka heaven), an island off the coast of mainland Tanzania in the Indian Ocean. So it probably seems like I never work, but I do! My friend Laura and I left on Saturday and arrived in Stone Town early early Sunday morning. We crashed then headed out to the northern beach town of Kendwa. We stayed there for a week. This place was AWESOME (see pic). I spent 4 days getting dive certified and saw a bunch of reef fish and even a stingray. Once my housemate Bryce arrived after hiking Kili, we went to a small island to the east of the main island called Mnemba and dove at the reefs there. The coral was beautiful and I got to put my underwater camera/case to work. After several days of white sands, clear teal water, blue skies, fishies, seafood, and uncountable tropical beverages, we headed back to Stone Town for 2 days. 

Mnemba Atoll

Nemo!

On the way back, we made a stop at a spice farm where we saw the different plants that Zanzibar spices come from. Pretty cool!

Nutmeg, the red plastic-y stuff is a spice called mace

Stone Town is the main city in Zanzibar and an UNESCO world heritage site. The city is very walkable with winding cobbled streets and beautiful (but deteriorating) architecture. The number of restaurants and cafes was unbelievable and the seafood and food in general was delicious. There is a park on the water that has a food market with tons of seafood, meat, and Zanzibar pizza stands. The seafood was SO good. I got mahi mahi, masala lobster, masala octopus and calamari, baby shark, and barracuda. Then I got either ice cream or banana and nutella Zanzibar pizza for dessert. YUM. I was in pure heaven. 

Zanzibar door

FRESH SEAFOOD!!

As a side note, it was very strange how much better off Tanzania is than Malawi. There was fairly consistent electricity, and at least when it went out, it did went off and on at consistent times. Everything was pretty affordable and you could get US dollars. The food was amazing and there was a wide variety of (fresh!) options. Most people spoke very good English. And most importantly, the gas stations had fuel and there were NO lines! When I went back to the US, I thought, oh that's just how things are in Malawi. But after going to Zanzibar, it became very clear how much better things could be. But I guess, hakuna matata (I learned some Swahili, probably rivals my Chichewa at this point).