Beached

Amanda and I have made our way north on the island of Zanzibar to a beach village called Nungwe. We found some accommodation up here that is about 150' from the beach, not quite waterfront real estate but close enough. We made a deal with the owner when we drove up earlier on our scooter, because our room we think / hope is an unfinished work in progress that we were happy to settle with for the price he offered. For 25 dollars a night you can't really ask for much more unless you don't want to be anywhere near the beach, where the starting price we've found for most places is about 40 to 50 dollars a night. Our little place called home here is quite possibly one of the most spartan places I've ever stayed, which is all you really need when the beach is just out your doorstep. Those of you at home that have often teased me about some of the places I've stayed at in the past would have a real hay day with this one. It is literally a concrete box that contains; a bed in one area, and cordoned off by half a cement wall is a bathroom with a toilette, sink, and cold water shower. The rest is emptiness that we manage to decorate with our bags and clothes and such. No shelves, no tables, no chairs, no decorations, no bathroom shelves, no wastebasket, a partially covered cement floor is what you get, but we are both content because we are simple, cheap, and don't really spend much time here but to sleep. Now that I've about beat that subject to death I'll move on. The rest of our time earlier spent in Stonetown we did a few excursions and mostly just got lost in the cobblestone maze. I went on a diving trip out near one of the smaller islands that Amanda was planning on snorkeling during, but came down with a bit of the bug. We did two dives, one along a coral reef, and the other an old broken up shipwreck. Visibility wasn't great because there was a slight current, but none the less diving in the turquoise water of the warm Indian Ocean is always amazing. The highlight of the sea life under water was probably a huge octopus we found that took off and changed colors to blend into the sand. There is a lot of hype about spice tours on the island, so figured we better see what it was all about. It actually ended up being more interesting than I had originally made up my mind it would be. Our guide escorted us around a giant plantation in the middle of the island and showed us how they grow and process cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, nutmeg (which he said and I quote is "known here to make people horney"), peppercorns, lemongrass, curry, cocoa, coffee, and a handful of other fruits and spices, all of which we got to either taste, smell, or at least look at. We were followed around by these boys that made us rings, ties, baskets, and an assortment of other items out woven banana leaves, for a small tip of course. After the walk through of the plantation we had a traditional lunch that included many of the spices we had just seen. That was followed by a trip to a "slave cave", which is a naturally formed cave found just off the beach with a small entrance nearly a quarter mile from the water. The cave was once used to hide slaves that were to be exported after the prohibition of slavery. It was an eerie feeling kind of like I felt when visiting a concentration camp from the holocaust once I was down inside the cave, which was the size of one story commercial pole barn, to think that hundreds of slaves were piled in there and often died there. There was a tunnel that went all the way out to the beach so they could ship them out to sea. Stonetown is chalk full of history from that era, most of which I have just learned while being here, may have dozed off a few times during Mr. Jones' world history class back in high school, but I doubt it was covered. We rented a scooter to kill most of a day to do some exploring of our own and also check on some accommodation up north where we sit today. It's kind of a sad picture, Zanzibar is really. There are a few stretches along the coast of absolutely naturally beautiful beaches that are dotted with a few hotels, guesthouses, and tourist shops, but outside these small false worlds lie a place full of poverty, lack of education, pollution, and full of garbage almost as if it were one giant landfill. I guess if you are able to close your eyes from the time you depart the ferry and be privately transferred to your little getaway out of town on the beach somewhere and never set foot further, then Zanzibar is a paradise, otherwise it's a sad truth that's difficult to look away from. All you have to do is walk from where the sand of the beach meets the dirt of the land to see where this drastic line that separates this perfect little beach world from the realities of life in this country. That being said, I guess I'm not here on any save the planet or it's people kind of mission myself, but if nothing else I think it's good to have an understanding of the realities of the places you visit rather than just exploit the couple of hotspots and be on the way. In a perfect world in my made up mind the hotels and businesses where everybody spends their money here would be required to give a percentage to ensure the beautiful natural resources here are protected and kept clean. I personally would rather spend money that pays the wages of the people that could potentially clean up the area in the form of a fee or what have you than to some guy who collects commission by harassing me to buy knock off goods or go on a snorkeling trip in which a resort collects all the money from. There are plenty of jobs that could be utilized, plenty of people unemployed, and plenty of people including myself spending money here. If only it could be directed properly. I enjoy leaving the beach and wondering through the villages where you find a different kind of people than either the tourists on the beach or the locals that work there in that environment that tend to leave a bad taste in your mouth when they do nothing but harass you and pretend to have an interest in what you are doing in order to determine how they may take some of your money, and schematically most of the time too. It's difficult to think that this is not the way all the people are here, but a trip down the road to mingle helps with that. They are people that wave at you, tell you hello, help you find your way, and are mostly just as curious about you as you are them. Their prices on goods match the economic situation of the place and not that of modern America like the beach resort prices reflect and I'm glad to support their shops. I know this isn't the only place in the world with this type of situation, but it's very profound to me here. Moving on. The women here can be seen gather seaweed when the tide is out every morning. I've had a couple of really good meals of seafood here including red snapper, dorado, tuna, octopus, and prawns, all served in many different ways. Other than the seafood, I wouldn't be planning a culinary vacation to Tanzania or Zanzibar any time soon. As the Lonely Planet says and I quote, "the lively atmosphere and Tanzanian hospitality compensate for what can otherwise be known as a bland diet." When I was in town the other day I came across a bottle of gold, also known as Tabasco, a staple from home that has been a delightful treat to remedy some bland meals and the never ending national standard breakfasts of an egg, white toast, banana, and an orange. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the movie Groundhog Day when I go to breakfast in the morning, and it doesn't matter where you eat, that's breakfast. Amanda and I have both had short bursts of some kind of bug that we don't think it's related to the food, who knows really, but it seems to have subsided. We went to a full moon party the other night, which didn't quite mimic that of Thailand's notably world famous full moon party in Koh Phangen, but it was a nice beach. It too was a bit of a scam, but I won't get into the details. We've also just enjoyed some good ol fashion beach life of lounging around in the sand, reading some books (yes mom you'd be so proud), and swimming in the turquoise waters. I'm not much of a swimmer, I mean I sink like lead rather, but I gave it hell yesterday to try and get some form of cardio in. I definitely miss my regular exercise routine and solid meals from home when I'm traveling. Every night there has been some form of entertainment on the beach whether it be acrobats or just sitting around a beach bonfire. Tomorrow we are off to a beach town called Matemwe on the north east side of the island, which is supposed to be pretty remote.