jess's voice

Since Jess has been such a big fixture in my life here, I thought you might enjoy reading some of her voice! Here is an excerpt from an email she sent family and friends about our trip to Zanzibar. We just got back today and there are more travel-related stories to share (i.e. how I elbowed my way through a lawless crowd for an hour to buy our return ferry tickets home), but hopefully I will share many more of those to share in person.

Jess on the dhow. You can add a sail, but wrong winds.

Zanzibar is BEAUTIFUL and I'm thankful to have this last bit of time outside of Dar. Despite it's could-be-anywhere-tropical appearance, I've had a real "oh, i'm really in Tanzania" kind of day where you're sort of doing things that you'd do anywhere on vacation but then the inevitable twist arises that reminds you EXACTLY where you are. I'll provide some examples:

You hire a cab to meet you at a ferry and bring you to your hotel--Anywhere
Your cab driver decides to stop at an ice cream store, a liquor store and a gas station all before having an asthma attack and hiring his "brother" to bring you the rest of the way--Zanzibar

Rya and I thought it would be nice to go sailing and our b&b offered a very lovely sounding tour--Anywhere
Instead of a sailboat, you are picked up in a handmade canoe with side balancers (think handmade catamaran) that two men push using long sticks while standing--Zanzibar

You are getting your tan on--Anywhere
You are getting so tan that a Masai tells you you are starting to look like him--Zanzibar

You go for a snorkel--Anywhere
During your pristine snorkel your guide gets in the water to show you an octopus (this still is a bit universal) and then uses the stick that he is using to point to the octopus to stab it repeatedly, kill it, and take it home for dinner--Zanzibar
Side note: i proceeded to scream, get water up my snorkel, and choke all at the same time. I also decided that, instead of Farm to table, this is Dow (the kind of boat) to table. no carbon footprint (or footprint at all, really).

I think that should give you a sense of my vacation thus far but to be clear, i'm having the MOST amazing time. The water is turquoise, the sand is so powdery, and our romantic king sized bed with a beautifully draped mosquito net is big enough to sprawl out without touching. Tomorrow we go on a spice tour and to stonetown before returning to Dar on friday and then heading HOME. I cannot wait.

And then we ate Swahili octopus for dinner!