Winding through
the city on foot, we glance and are welcomed into many touristy shops with all
the typical original-looking products. We politely tell some vendors who care
to listen that we aren’t interested in buying anything today, but we will
return another time. All are pleasantly surprised to hear wazungu speaking Swahili. Numerous galleries and shops flaunt beautiful
paintings, which are vibrant with color and depict safari animals, the famous
alleyways and doors of Stone Town, Masaii people, and beaches of Zanzibar. We
stop and gaze at many imagining how we would decorate a room, or our entire
house, around this one painting. In the
end, we’re happy we haven’t bought anything, but will return another day to
face the choice again.
After a half day
of walking through Stone Town, we meet with the group at Mercury’s Restaurant
set right on the Indian Ocean. We have eaten here before, and are anxious to
relive the experience. The ambience is perfect with African fabric, or kitenge, decorating the ceiling and
tables and oil lamps providing just enough light. We order various continental
meals. I order the chicken fajitas, Zanzibar style. At first, I’m disappointed
to find the chicken in a saucy soup, but the food was fantastic. The chicken
was great and I had guacamole and a spicy mango salsa on the side. So good. And
with food this good, and a group of eight, you would expect a bill of at least
$100, but on the contrary, we paid only $11 per person. Now that’s a great
meal.
Afterwards, we
walked to Forodani Gardens which comes alive every evening at 6pm with vendors
barbequing the day’s catch. We had come for one purpose: Zanzibar Pizzas. Made
with thin crepes, nutella, and either banana or mango, these delicious desserts
are prepared and grilled right in front of you. The nutella melts on the inside
and afterwards, the pizza is drizzled with chocolate syrup, cut into pieces and
served with a toothpick. Everyone decided to order another after having one.
Paul suggested a contest to see who could eat the most. Declining his challenge,
we browsed around and walked back to our hotel.
The next day, we
were halted by pouring rain and waited in our hotel foyer to venture out again.
We came to Zanzibar during the long rainy season, which doesn’t end until June.
Tourists typically stay away during this time, and many hotels and restaurants
were closed until the high season. Walking out of our hotel, we navigated our
way through unpaved paths muddled with small lakes of dirty water. We decided
to get an early lunch and then go into one of the museums. We visited two
upscale restaurants we had seen the day before to find prices outside of our
budget and one dining room filled with the sound of a man hammering above. We
were on edge after an old man hassled us to use him as a tour guide, and wouldn’t
stop following us until I directly told him in Swahili and English to leave us.
Frustrated after finding new places that were closed until July, we started
following signs for La Verna Italian Restaurant. Zanzibar has a very large
Italian population, so we figured the food would be great. Alas, the signs led
us nowhere and left us standing in intersections of narrow alleyways trying to
decide the best way to go. After winding through stone town for a while, we
stumbled across a simple hole in the wall place called Al Jabri, which featured
its lunch foods in a glass case. Vegetables, white rice, spiced rice called
pilau, masala rice, beef, liver, and chicken with prauns on the way made us sit
down. We each got a plate and after ten minutes, the prauns were ready and I
was given a small dish of them. Small, with a delicious sauce, and cooked to
perfection, I couldn’t stop talking about these prauns. We watched BBC news in
English, and the amiable-looking Indian owner asked us how we knew Swahili and
what had brought us to Zanzibar. I complimented the food and he told us to feel
at home and come again. Our meals were 10,000/= total, or about $6. Great value
for some great food.
Some female Asian tourists finished their meals and I
gawked at their short shorts as they walked out. Zanzibar is dominated by a
conservative Muslim population where every woman has her head covered, and
knees and shoulders are never shown. Even on the mainland, you’ll only find
Tanzanian women showing their knees in urban areas. After such a long time in
Tanzania, short shorts and a tank top feel like Bourbon Street during Mardi
Gras.
Stone Town left us
wanting more. We are happy to know we will return with another group in July.
We left Stone Town and ferried to Dar es Salaam, where we are staying in a very
nice hotel. Paul and I dropped off our students at the airport last night, and
it feels weird to not have them with us. This semester was great, due mostly to
an awesome group of students. We have learned a lot in the process.
Now we are looking
forward to our seven week break from work where we have the opportunity to
explore a little bit. We’ll be visiting the Southern Highlands of Tanzania and
Zambia. We’re excited to be inspired again!
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