Thursday, November 13, 2014
Sunday, March 02, 2014
2/22/14: THE LONGEST DAY IMAGINABLE
2/22/14: THE LONG FLIGHT HOME
We both took Ambien and slept well on the first flight for 5 hrs and are now in the Egypt airport, waiting to fly to Heathrow. Yehudah picked up a bottle of Konyagi (35%), described by a young, underage salesman as cognac or maybe gin. But it is made in Tanzania. It's probably more like the latter. We also picked up some more presents for good prices, no small feat at the airport duty-free shop. In Cairo, Yehudah got another bottle of Arak from Lebanon, but got hassled by airport security at Heathrow AND Vancouver which we had to go through despite never going outside the secure zone. (Did you know they can test your liquid without even cracking open the bottle? Vancouver had just started this process a month ago and it took four security people to accomplish the task. A month ago, we would have had to give the bottles up.) From Heathrow we flew to Vancouver, the longest leg, then a short flight from BC to Portland. 28-29 flight time and we arrived home Saturday afternoon. There's wifi at Dar but they wouldn't give anyone the password, at least not until next summer. It was also in Cairo but not accessible except by business ports. Finally, we got on at Heathrow, but only for a half hour because of the security delay and a short layover. It was enough to do a little and now we have a regular outlet to recharge the computer which was running out of juice.
On the flight from Cairo, Joanie diligently worked on the blog while Yehudah watched new release movies. Then we both watched movies on the way to Vancouver, 4800 miles and 9-1/2 hours. Joanie saw The Butler, Captain Phillips, and Gravity while Yehudah watched Captain Phillips, The Great Gadsby, and Gravity. It's so fine to be able to personalize what you're watching for many reasons not the least of which is to not have a huge line at the toilet when the feature ends for everyone. Is that why they did it?
2/20-21/14: FINAL DAYS IN DAR ES SALAAM
12/20/14: LEAVING ZANZIBAR FOR DAR
Breakfast was pretty much the same with the addition of a doughnut like pastry which Yo ate two of and slightly regretted it. Nothing to pack along for lunch like the peanut butter sandwiches we got to make at the Stone Town hotel, oh well. Genia gave us a very sweet good bye with hopes of staying in touch.
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| Uma and Yehudah sitting in the back of the Daladala |
We met two men waiting for the daladala, one named Uma who spoke great English and was very friendly. The taxi guy who passed by tried to convince us there was no daladala today, kiddingly. The old style daladala came along shortly for $1.25 each rather than $40 for the taxi and took an hour to get to Stone Town, speeding along. This daladala is low to get into, with seats along each side facing inward. Uma said we weren't muzungus because we were taking the daladala!
We got to Stone Town, went to get money at Barclays, found our way through the traffic to a CD store where Yehudah bought some CDs. Yehudah had done a good job of memorizing the route back to the artists' studio and even finding the CD shop along the way. There was an older man sitting in the shop who turned out to have played violin with the Culture Club Tarab Orchestra. He had his own CD for sale and we also got one that he was on with the Club and another with a mix of African artists. They were cheap and, by the look of the photocopied covers, probably pirated. We then found Jackson's art shop. There Joanie found the other painting of animals she wanted to get, bargained with Jackson's assistant for a discounted price. He wrapped the three up well. Jackson showed up and expressed sadness that Joanie was leaving Zanzibar. Yehudah took a few photos of the two of them with his artwork.
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| Joanie and Jackson in front of his art shop |
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| Joanie and Jackson 2 |
His brother, who sells spices, took us to the ferry, which was leaving in a half hour, so we got on board and went up to the high deck to spend time during the trip, which was quite uneventful and pleasant.
Yehudah made the acquaintance of a couple from England working in Dar. The fellow had studied process oriented pychology and knows Gary Reiss. Small world.
Here's a dhow and the Dar skyline from the ocean:
We are now sitting for a few hours at a restaurant which has AC and soon will make our way to Marshad's. Yehudah just got his cousin Said Said on the phone.
We have one day left here. The area where we are right now is quite expensive. Tomorrow we will do some shopping.
2/21/14: DAR FINAL SHOPPING DAY
Yehudah was a bit tense about getting ourselves confirmed on our flight and the EgyptAir site was a bit tricky. Joanie took over and got it all figured out and we seemed to be cleared for take off early early tomorrow morning. With a sigh of relief we were ready to do a little more daladala exploring and get a few last gifts to bring home with us. We cooked the last of the oatmeal we have been schlepping around for 1-1/2 months, but came in very handy many times including today. We shared it with Said and his father.
Marshed got up late, took a bite, thought the better of it, and headed out to work. That would be the last we saw of him while we are here this time. Said ran out to pick up sugar, white bread, and eggs. The maid had come to clean and cooked the eggs which we shared. We left for, in Yehudah's words, our last, big sphitz (Yiddish for steam room sweat).
We headed out to catch the Mwenga-Posta daladala and got off at the end of the line, getting some help to find the Mwenga Craft Market.
Joanie spent a goodly time picking out a few things which we then worked hard at bringing the price down. Yehudah found a mask shop and decided to invest in one. He chose a bird mask from the Mwanga-Sukuma tribal region on the southern edge of Lake Victoria. Looks authentic, but was probably carved recently. Not the best bargaining he'd done, but it completed our African shopping adventures. Although we did try to buy some mangos, they seemed overpriced so we will just be left with the memory of their taste and the fact that we ate one everyday for many weeks. We jumped aboard the Posta daladala, which immediately stopped and waited for an interminable amount of time in the heat in order to fill up with passengers.
We got off at the Village Museum for our last taste of culture. No cafe there, so we went on a search and found a bakery with lots of meat, egg, and cheese-filled pastries. We decided to forgo the additional charge for the traditional dancing and just head on it for the $4pp charge. Unfortunately, they had no guides, a first in all the parks and museums we visited. Also the dancers were older women who no one seemed to want to pay the extra $1.33 to watch, but they did some intermittent drumming on their own. From the visitor sign in, it looked like they rarely had even 10 visitors per day. Having visited several villages, we were pretty familiar with many styles of habitation.
On the beach in Central America, Caribbean side, we saw copulating lizards. Here, in Tanzania, we think we might have seen copulating centipedes, either copulating or one eating the other - not sure:
The men usually had their own smaller hut while the wife or wives shared one with children and livestock. They had areas where they were growing many of the foodstuffs that was part of their diet. They also identified many of the native trees including a baobab in full leaf. All the ones we saw elsewhere were virtually leafless. It also produces an edible fruit which is made into a juice and which we hadn't had the occasion to taste.
Yehudah was losing it, so we headed back and were relieved to find Sulliman home so we could take showers. Yehudah fell asleep for an hour in preparation for the ordeal of a 28 hour airplane/airport day ahead. Joanie got hooked into watching "The Help" on the tube which Yehudah caught the end of. Said appeared suddenly. He had been sleeping in his room all this time. We agreed to head out for a last supper. We went back to the BBQ place, Unique, where they serve Indian food at the sit down restaurant attached. Yummy, with lots of leftovers for the guys back at the apartment. Said totally surprised Yehudah with a kofia that fits him perfectly and the beautiful, white Zanzibari pants he had admired yesterday. Also a huge copy of the Koran, reading material for the road. We reciprocated with a small 2014 calendar, a toothbrush for the next guest, pin from Folklife Seattle and a card of appreciation.
The taxi we had arranged earlier showed up. Said and his father helped us schlep everything downstairs. We are loaded to the gunnels with our extra duffle bag full of coffee, paintings and gifts. On getting to the airport, they told us we were too early and had to wait an hour or more. So much for the instructions to arrive 3 hours before flight time.
2/19/14: KIZIMKAZI, ZANZIBAR - PARADISE AT LAST!
2/19/14: KIZIMKAZI, ZANZIBAR - PARADISE AT LAST!
The short sentence is: Kizimki is Paradise found!
L'Oasis Hotel - means Dolphin Hotel - is where the dolphins hang out, the water is calm, blue, warm, the reef is very close to the shore. Here are photos of the artwork by each room, all of which face the Indian Ocean:
Here is our bed:
When we arrived we immediately secured snorkeling gear, courtesy of the hotel, and swam out to the reef with Genia's wife as guide. We made plans to dolphin search and go to a beautiful coral reef in the morning.
We both slept well in a much milder climate, with fan whizzing, woke up for breakfast at 7:15 am, preparing to go out on a boat along with our Russian friend Genia.
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| We found the dolphins! |
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| Our captain behind us! |
We were on an open motorboat with the boatman and our guide, Ibrahim. We learned that most of the boats went out earlier, at 6:30 am, to swim with the dolphins just close by, to the left of the hotel. I had been hoping we could see them right by where we are staying but the waters are too shallow. Anyway, it took about an hour of boating to catch up with the dolphins, who were now fishing for calamari almost halfway back to Paje on the east side of the island.
We jumped out of the boat three times when the boat got in front of the dolphins. The first time we saw several swimming together, the second time I saw a momma and baby, the third time we saw about ten swimming together. It was all quite fast.
Our guide was happy we had found them and thought that the others coming along after us would be out of luck. The dolphins would be coming back in the late afternoon as Kizimkazi is their home.
We then came back just a bit farther than the hotel docks, right in front of the town of Kizimkazi, to a gorgeous place along the coral reef to snorkel for 45 minutes. Such beautiful, large coral! Many schools of fish, plus very colorful loners or small schools swimming around, just as good as what we saw by Nemba Island in the north.
When we returned we swam in the swimming pool, lounged around a bit, then got ready to walk at low tide into town,
where we were met by one young 16 yr old named Rama, who took us to the old mosque. He had someone call the Imam, who showed up by bicycle and took us into the mosque, first helping us wash our feet under a row of water spigots. The small mosque is well preserved and protected by outer walls. It was originally built in 1107 and includes inscription in ancient Perisian, Kufic and Arabic. Several notable imams are buried right outside.
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| Rama, the young fellow who guided us to the mosque and brought us to have lunch at his home |
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| Graves by mosque |
Rama then tried to help us find a late lunch but the few places were closed, so he took us to his home where his mother was cooking fish.
We watched the whole process as first potatoes were brought in, peeled and cooked in hot oil, salad brought, then peeled and prepared. We had small, whole white fish, chips (French fries), salad of tomatoes, onions, grated carrot, with lime and tomato sauce from a very large container. It was all delicious. We decided this was both late lunch and early dinner. Yehudah paid his mom 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings, or a bit over $6.
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| Rama's Mom and youngest sister |
Rama walked us all the way back to the hotel entrance and Yehudah gave him 1,000 TSh or about 60 cents for his help. Rama told us that Ibrahim pays for his schooling as he helps him get customers for his taxi and dolphin tours plus the more expensive daylong Safari Blue.
Yehudah spent hours on the computer while Joanie slept on a comfy couch under a large grass awning, missing the gorgeous sunset Yehudah photographed and posted on FB.
Tomorrow, sadly, we leave Zanzibar. We will go swimming out to the reef early morning, maybe encounter dolphins on our own if they are out in the same spot we will see all the boats congregating. If not, we can still go snorkeling with Genia. We are running out of Tanzanian shillings and there's no ATM here.
Then, breakfast, then catch the dalladalla, then find Jackson, get paintings, buy a few more items, catch the ferry by 3:30 pm or even the earlier one at 1 pm, walk around in downtown Dar, make our way to Marshad's. Then we have a final day in Dar as planned.
What we have missed doing is: Spice Tour and Chumbe Island - but, having found Paradise, these will wait for another lifetime.
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