Greetings from Unguja, the biggest island of Zanzibar (and the one commonly referred to as such, since it contains the city of Zanzibar. However, Zanzibar contains not only this island, but the clove-producing island of Pemba as well! Fun facts!!!!)! We arrived a few nights ago and I think I've lost about 4 pounds of sweat. It's hot. It's sooo hot. I just left a semi-arid area in Kenya (Mpala) where I thought it was hot, but it was not. This is hot, this is eyeball-melting, shirt-soaking, "oh-please-say-there's-air-conditioning" hot. Real hot (this just in, according to weather.com it currently "feels like" 101 F. It's hot).
Mpala was fun, lots of lectures, lots of hippos, lots of stone tools (we started an archaeological dig site!) LOTS of thorns everywhere and lots of campfires. We shut off the electricity to the camp one night so we could all stargaze (awesome) and I got introduced to the informal economy, shifting through crowds at some impromptu market looking for mirra (an energy boosting stick, which I swear is legal. Seriously!). Good times all around. I even found a boulangerie, owned by a French national, that made the best pain au chocolat I've had since France. Kenya is pretty awesome like that.
From Mpala we went back to Nairobi for one night of partying, after which we flew to Zanzibar. Since arriving I found out that Freddie Mercury owed a restaurant here that serves affordable curry dishes (Mercury's Zanzibar), food from street vendors is the most delicious thing available for 80 cents Canadian and that pretty much everything I knew about the East African slave trade was wrong. I'd go into detail about my coursework, but I'm paying for internet by the minute. The highlight was yesterday, when we all got on a Jahazi Dhow (look it up) and sailed to an unpopulated sandbar in the Indian Ocean and swam for hours. We got our lectures on the way to and from the beach, and cooled off in the crystal-clear (urchin filled) water. A-mazing. Since then it's been museums, lectures and a whole lot of work to be done (5 essays, two journals and a series of sketches) due between tomorrow and the 20th. I guess I won't be hitting the beach much after all. Tomorrow (and I can't believe I'm saying this) we go off to learn some biology on a boat and swim with dolphins (should we be able to find them). Groovy, eh?
Anyhow, I need to get lunch and get to work on my "stone tools and archaeology" module.
Cheers,
-Dave
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3 comments:
★mkanadaBest wishes for you? … :)!
Hey Dave!
Sounds like things are just getting better and better. Swimming with dolphins .... wow! Hope you find them!
I've booked my flight to Florida for Easter. I'm going to stay with your mom and your sisters for a couple nights, then drive over to the Gulf Coast and stay with friends on Sanibel Island. It's not Zanzibar but it has sand!
If you want to cool down just think of us in Montreal ... it's -10 C right now and we're expecting 20 cm of snow!
Good luck with all those essays and keep on having fun!
Love, Bill
Dave, Perhaps we will collectively sponsor intermittent trips to Africa, maybe even to places beyond. Your resonsibility will remain Blog entries. We blog-readers and Kommentare-writers will travel vicariously. It always sounds grand. Thanks. This plan ensures my socks stay warm and dry. (home trips will be part of the package, we miss you) xo
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