Zanzibar

I rode an old ferry from Dar Es Salaam to Stone Town, Zanzibar this morning. Judging from the labels that were in English and Korean the ferry is apparently a hand-me-down from the more-developed Asian nation. Two large plasma screens at the front of the cabin displayed “Rambo: First Blood” in all it's violent glory. At first I was interested in the film because the introduction showed that it is set in Burma, but after watching Sylvester Stallone turn one of the bad guys into a pile of gore and guts for the hundredth time I decided the movie had little to offer as far as Burmese culture is concerned.

Stone Town is one of those classic places that is fascinating because of it's narrow, maze-like alleyways and it's unique character. The tasteful African shops and cafes that fill the historical part of town are fun, but there are plenty of other elements that contribute to the feel as well. One thing Stone Town is known for is it's large wooden doors. The entrances to many of the local shops and hotels are through intricately carved wooden doors influenced by Indian and African cultures. Elbie, our tour guide, pointed out the large spikes on one of the doors and mentioned that in India the purpose of the spikes was originally to keep elephants from leaning against the doors and breaking them. Apparently the idea spread to Zanzibar even though the nearest elephants are hundreds of miles away in the Serengeti.

I spent the afternoon wandering around Stone Town with Lori. Our first visit was a small stone fort that, if I remember correctly, was built in 1699 by the Portugese. I was interested to see the fort just because it's something that contributes to Zanzibar's culture, but it was nothing like the forts I visited in India. We spent a half-hour or so visiting an art gallery housed in one of the fort's towers before leaving for some more aimless wandering.Lunch was at a place called “Rumaliza Cafe”. Rumaliza was one of those hole-in-the wall places that had so much character and such good food that I wished I could pick it up and transplant it in Salt Lake City. I had the “Beef Mutabbaq”, which was beef and vegetables mixed with spices, then wrapped in a soft, doughy roll and baked. I also got a “Seasonal Fruit Smoothie” that was loaded with cinammon along with thick passion fruit juice and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The only real item on our agenda besides wandering was to visit the local market. The historical part of Stone Town has a lot of shops and it's a lot of fun and very picturesque, but it really isn't where the locals are. A ten minute walk North of town took us to the real market, where Lori and I were the only two white people around. This particular market had just about everything that local people could need, but one of it's specialties was fish. The island culture on Zanzibar was well represented by African men hawking fresh squid and octopus, among a few more typical types of fish. The market also had a large section filled with butchers as well as separate sections with kiosks selling everything from fresh fruit to fake designer luggage.Tonight I went with the other 21 people in the tour group to a nice sit-down Indian restaurant called “The Silk Route”. Between the elephant-resistant doors and “The Silk Route” restaurant, the Indian culture is pretty well represented on Zanzibar. I had some Keema Naan; which is thin bread with beef and spices, Kashmini Naan; bread with fruit and ground cashews, and Kadai Lamb, which was a brown curry sauce with herbs, vegetables, and tender chunks of lamb.

I have one solid item on my agenda for my next three days in Zanzibar and that is to find a place that can take me scuba diving and work around the rest of the activities planned for the tour. I know that diving here will be costly because I already priced it out, but the way I look at it, I may not be in Zanzibar again for a very long time, so I've got to make it happen now. I'm excited to see how diving in African waters is different from diving in Thailand or Central America.