A few little tidbits.

(larger type is easier to read...don't know what i was thinking of earlier)

On day one my feet became really swollen, I was a little pissed off because swollen feet is an old lady" thing, and I am not...well, not really...well, whatever, it pissed me off. I was a little worried that I had instantly contracted some african foot swelling disease, I actually had to loosen my sandles, but it was fine the next morning after a good sleep. I guess a combination of that long flight, heat, drinking 37 gallons of water and a lot of walking. It happens to young people too you know!!

Food is really cheap here, in restaurants at least, I have heard the store staples and other basics have tripled in the past few weeks due to the drough, the short rains that never came. Speaking of "the rains", our taxi driver was quite amazed to hear that Canada didn't have "the rains" and the the snow filled our streams, lakes and reservoirs.

Our meal in the hotel with Michelle the other night was 32,000 (about 30 Cdn $, and that was 3 meals and 2 beer and one glass of wine and a coffee)

We see a lot of masaii warriors on the roads, not in the downtown core, but on the roads leading to and from the city as we go the the ferry depot and bus stations etc. The really do wear the red plaid robes and carry a spear or a long walking stick.

Vehicles are predominantly white, a few red, but hardly any black, a heat thing.

Gas is is 1,130 shillings a litre, just over a dollar canadian. Very expensive for such a poor country.

When we cross the streets at a run (which we always do because of the crazy traffic) or if we walk somewhere and realize it's the wrong direction, and we turn around and rapidly go the other way, we hear a gentle laughter and "busy, busy" or even "pole, pole" which means "slowly."

January 12. A quick lunch in Zanzibar.

We were up and packed and had our breakfast early. Every moring we have our malarone with yogurt as it is suggested to take with dairy if possible, I have brown bread, Nik has white, we sometimes have cheese on it (gotta have that protein) and a hard boiled egg and whatever fresh, unpeeled fruit we see.

We hailed our favorite taxi man to take us to the ferry and once more he went above the call of duty, he helped us find the Fast Ferry booth and helped us the fight off the incredibly annoying fellows who try to grab your suitcase out of your hand, to be your porter for a dollar. It was quite confusing there, we are so unaccustomed to the noise and the lack of any visible lines or order.

We did find The Flying Horse, which does not fly, but is actually considered a slow ferry and takes 4 hours (which would probably be 6 or more), finally, at the end of the area we saw the Fast Ferry and we managed to get our tickets. Steven the driver showed us where to go, let us know that it was ok to go into this revolting little filthy booth to get our ticket, and he waited until we came out, assigned seating tickets in hand. We then gave him the calander and cdn pin and said goodbye the fellow who had been so helpful to us. In this moment of unguardedness, a wizened little old man, shorter than me, but with arms like steel cords, swooped in and took our bags. We had ourselves a porter. We followed him to the Customs and Immigration where Nicole gave him a US $1.00. He looked quite annoyed at the fact that it was ripped in the corner, waved it at her and pointed to the rip, so she gave him another one.. But, to his credit, the banks often won't accept a ripped or badly crinkled US bill, so he would have hauled our heavy, heavy bags for nothing. Although, we didn't ask him too in the first place, but I guess everyone needs to make a living.

We didn't realize that leaving Dar and going to Zanzibar would mean our bags needed to be searched and we had to hold up the line as we scrabbled to untie our straps and belts and bungies, and looked for our keys to the suitcase locks. We fumbled as fast as we could, and after a quick, cursory glance we were waved onwards. Of course now we were struggling to re-zip, re-wrap and re-tie. Whew. And have I mentioned how HOT it is??

Nicole noticed some confiscated items though, a machete, an axe and 3 long bladed dagger type knives. However they didn't catch her deadly fingernail clippers!!!

We proceeded down this wooden ramp, a long incline with 1 x 1 boards nailed to it to keep you from slithering all the way down. Our bags were heavy and it was all we could do to keep from tripping on our skirts and tumbling ass over tea kettle all the way down. Felt sort of klutzy as we saw 2 fellows with HUGE sacks of potato's on their heads, dashing nimbly down the ramp.

We managed to find a seat and the place was airconditioned, so that was a joy. It was the type of fast ferry where you couldn't go outside, but it was so cool inside that we were ok with that. We also had 4 seats in a row to ourselves, so that we could spread out our things, relax a bit and watch the show, which was The Killing Game, a revolting wildlife special, and then some old (and hysterical) Mr. Bean episodes.

The 1 and half hour trip was actually 2 and half, but we were not surprised, nothing here runs on time. The trip was a little rough and Nik was feeling a little sea-sick as we pulled into the harbour.

We had to fill out immigration cards, very informal, we were outside and the officer handed us the cards and pointed us to an old kitchen table covered with green oilcloth. The wind was blowing and people's cards were flying all over the place.. Eventually we filled them out (name, address, place of birth, passport number, place of issue, when was it issued, why are you here, where are you staying, for how long, where did you come from and what vessel took you here, and probably more questions) We stood now in another line and had our bags searched again.What do they possibly think we could have aquired in the last 2 and half hours, and while at sea no less? Luckily, they just waved us through.

Then you stand in another line where they check your passport (because you might have forged one during the 2 and half hours on that ferry you know). They look at a computer, gaze at you, look back at the computer, scowl a little, flip some pages in your passport, heave a huge sigh of resignation and then furiously stamp the book, break out in a huge smile and say "Welcome, Karibo" as if you are their best friend.

The streets in Stonetown ( the city we are in, the main city on Zanziibar) are a jumbled maze, so we took a taxi to the Dhow Palace.. The streets are maybe a foot or two wider than the cars and full of twists and turns and nooks and crannies with little curio shops tucked into every available space, their wares tumbling out into the street.

Unlike Capri or the Greek Islands though, there are no cobblestone and no flowers, but it looks dark, mysterious and intriguing.

As we drove we passed by the Forodhani Gardens, a large park-like area where vendors come out at night and set up little temporary food stalls and cook food to be sold. It\s a very social area for the locals and for tourists, a lot of visitng, children playing, like a fair. It is a muslim area and they burn a lot, and I mean a lot of incense, as we drove by our taxi was filled with the smell, and it doesn't go away, the entire town has a faint smell of incense to it. Well, Nicole is extremely allergic to the smell of it.. She carries an epi-pen and had been previouisly hospitalized from it. It can cause anaphylactic shock, and even death. I didn't realize the smell was so overwhelming and she didn't mention it to me, although I do know she has allergies.

We went to ur room and and oohed and aahed over the hotel and our room, it was an old Omani Palace and is filled with antiques, lots of cherrywood and mahogany furniture, lots of brass, it smelledold and musty, but had an incredbile chram. Our room still looked like someones bedroom, 2 huge 4 poster beds, lots of armoires and dressers, worn persian carpets on the floor. It was very Arabian nights, but old and sad looking, like a reminder of happier times in the past.

However, Nicole then informed me that she thought she might be having a reaction to the incense, she said she just didn't feel quite right, and she might possibly have to leave. She said we'd go up to the rooftop cafe for a quick bite to eat and then she how she felt.

Sadly, she fely even worse afterwardsand to make a long and emotional story short and sweet, we decided to go back to Dar right away. She felt so very bad because she kne how much I had wanted to see Zanzibar, and I don't think she really believed me when i said I was honestly ok with going back with her, she tried to talk me into staying at least a night, but I wouldn't have enjoyed it anyhow. Besides, I wanted to see Zanz and I did! How many people can say that they just zipped over to Zanzibar for a quick lunch!? We stopped in a curio store on the way back to the docks, I bought a few items and I took some pictures of the streets. It was fine with me, and no island is worth someones health, and no price can be put on friendship. And that is the end of that story.

\when we were heading back to the ferry, some yelloow-toothed man said "Hello! I know you." and I said "nope, not me, never seen you before" and he said "yes, from Dar" and I agina said "nope, not me" and Nicole whispered: "we have seen him somewhere" and when I looked closer i recognized the yellow teeth and said that yes, I did know him and he laughed delightedly and crowed "I told you so!"

Later I saw him on the boat and tried to not make eye contact, and later, in the hoards and crowds getting off the boat we saw him again and he tried to get us to hire him as a taxi driver, but we sdashed away. Kind of odd to see the same person 3 times in 2 days, in a city of 3 million, especially in such different locales..

So we headed back to our Dar hotel where everyone was astounded to see us and so sorry at what had happened and they all apologized profusely for our bad luck and quickly checked us into a room where we collapsed on the bed, back in Dar. What a day. .

I