Island Life



National Museum



Jody and I have both arrived safely in Stone Town, Tanzania and are very happy. I am so much more relaxed now that I have a travel companion. It feels safer to be together. This city is pretty amazing. Most of the buildings were built by the rich Arabian traders in the 1800's. The streets are narrow and winding and it's easy to get lost, but that has proven to be fun too. There are more tourists ere than I've seen in my entire trip so far, but it is somehow reassuring after being the only mzungu (white person) for miles.

We had dinner at the Forodhani market last night. It is a hectic and lively set up of close to a hundred vendors with a variety of foods (mostly today's catch) displayed on tables lit by oil lamps and BBQ to cook over. The vendors are loudly calling to anyone who will listen about their wares and trying to out-do their neighbors in prices and sales. It was a fun experience and delicious.

One of many tables at the evening market

We have booked a tour tomorrow to see a spice farm, some ruins of palace grounds and the slave market. Stone town was the last glimpse of Africa that so many slaves saw as they were sold to rich foreigners until 1873 when it was finally abolished. It makes me ashamed of my skin colour to think of visiting such a monument, but I am glad that it exists so that we will never forget the horrors of our ancestors.

We begin our advanced open water scuba certification on Wednesday. We have 5 specific dives to do in 2 days. Some of the exciting parts are a shipwreck dive, a night dive and a dive to a deeper depth than we've done previously. Apparently there is very high underwater visibility and incredible corals on this side of the island. I'm very excited to get back under the water again. Especially to cool off for a few days. Please don't be angry with me, I'm not bragging, but it is incredibly hot here and humid. A break will be welcome.