The delights of Zanzibar!

The trip to Zanzibar was quite fun, even though (or perhaps because) I spent way too much money there. To start off with, the ferry was much more expensive than we thought, which means the guy selling us tickets was probably scamming us. That’s the state of things, so what can you do. We bought first class tickets, which ensured that we would be in an air conditioned cabin. Despite the extra cost, the cabin smelled like it wasn’t cleaned regularly and the AC barely functioned. I spent most of the two hour ride feeling sea sick. When we got out off the boat and through customs (traveling is so bureaucratic here) we were immediately accosted by touts. We made the mistake of mentioning where we were staying and one immediately stepped up to insist that the hostel had sent him to pick us up. After 10 minutes of harassing us, we finally relented and went along. We made it safely to the hostel, though the man at the desk was upset that we didn’t wait for our real ride from them. The touts were really persistent and kept saying, “How can you not trust us?” etc. It’s a good lesson to learn and I’m glad we made it to the hostel without incident. We ate at the restaurant near the hostel and it was quite good. I had kingfish curry with rice and a bowl of fresh tropical fruit for dessert.

I was up the next day before 7am. At the cheap places, the bathroom is down the hall. It wasn’t too bad (i.e. there was always toilet paper), but it was a little odd to shower while standing next to a toilet. This meant that the toilet was usually wet all day, but the up-shot was that at least it was being cleaned regularly. Breakfast was included in the price of a room (less than $20 a night)! They served us three kinds of fruit (banana, tangerine, and pineapple), toast, choice of eggs, and tea and coffee. It was definitely a refreshing way to start off our day.

The previous night, we had been convinced by the receptionist to take a Spice Tour this morning. It was about $12 and included a tour of nearby spice plantations, fruit tasting, lunch and time on the beach. The plantation was very wild looking and I would probably have mistaken it for a forest if I wasn’t told what it was. All the different crops were mixed together—giant clove trees next to tall slender coconut palms, banana and cacao trees, low lying turmeric and cassava plants, and trees covered in black pepper or vanilla vines. It was all very beautiful when taken in together, with the red soil and vibrant greens and yellows. Our guide took us through the plantation on foot, explained to us the various popular and traditional uses for each of the crops, and let us smell and even taste a few of them.

The plantation tour ended with a visit to a stand where the local farmers were selling most of the spices we saw for about $1 per 1/8th pound. There were even vanilla beans selling for less than $2 for 4 beans. I bought 4 packets of vanilla, and one packet each of the following: black pepper, cloves, masala tea mix, and vanilla tea. After the spice stand, we were taken to a place with benches where we got to sample a bunch of different fruit. I liked most of what we were given. My favorite was the sour sop fruit, which was sweet and tangy. My least favorite was the jack fruit, which kind of tasted like pineapple bubblegum.

All in all, we got to see, smell and taste the following spices and fruits:
Cloves
Cocoa
Ginger
Cardamom
Cassava
Pepper
Turmeric
Neem tree
Star fruit
Sour sop
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Vanilla
Henna plant
Jack fruit

The whole time there were little children running around weaving little trinkets out of palm fronds and begging for money. I hate encouraging kids to associate white people with handouts, but I did eventually hand over the 100 shilling coins I had on me. It was hard to say no to the little guys.

I decided I didn’t really want to spend time on the beach, so I went back to Stonetown with Sally to walk around. The town is a warren of narrow, stone cobbled streets between crumbling, high walled buildings. It would have been much more charming if all the shop keepers had been less insistent that we enter every single shop we passed by. With the notable exception of the shop owned by Mr. and Mrs. Cheapest, I only purchased stuff from quiet and polite vendors. The amount of attention my skin color received from almost every merchant in town made me want to buy a hijab to hide under. Then again, the further impairment of visibility would have made it even harder for me to get out of the way of the many motorbikes whizzing through the narrow streets. The self proclaimed Mr. and Mrs. Cheapest were rather charming and talked me into buying a bunch of shawls from their shop. It wasn’t a hard sell, given the shawls’ bright colors and soft textures. They are made on Zanzibar, though not by hand. I saw many people selling shawls in the various shops, but Mr. Cheapest—who was the first shop I came to—wound up having the best selection, in my opinion.

There was a big festival going on in Zanzibar while we were there, though we didn’t know before hand. It was an international film and music festival, but because we weren’t prepared for it, we didn’t really get to see much of it. We did catch a bit of Taraab music on Saturday night, which is an eclectic mixture of the island’s many cultural influences. Also at the festival were a bunch of craft merchants, who managed to talk me out of all the cash I’d brought with me. Haha. It’s all pretty stuff—shawls, batiks, and a wood carving.

Hidden back in a corner of the craft fair was a group of young men selling beautiful wooden sculptures. They are all from a carving school up in Bagamoyo, a town about 40 kilometers northwest of Dar. Many of the venders had a very similar selection of stuff, but not these guys. There seems to be a mentality of ‘if something sells, continue making copies of it.’ For example, there was a famous artist in Dar who had the last name of Tingatinga. He painted these very whimsical and brightly colored pictures of animals and people. There are now hundreds of shops selling knock-offs of Tingatinga, because tourists love buying them. Some of the Tingatinga painters are quite good, but they are still copying this one man’s style. The wood carvers from Bagamoyo were not copying anyone. The sculptures were all unique—a refreshing change from the hundred shops all selling the exact same collection of tchotchkes—and combined traditional Tanzanian themes with Modern abstract design. Some were very realistic, while others were grotesque and strange, but all were expertly crafted. I didn’t have anywhere near the amount of cash on hand needed to purchase the piece I really wanted. I have plans to get out to Bagamoyo in the near future, so I will definitely drop by the studio to see if it’s still available. I settled on a small-ish bust of a woman carved from ebony. It’s really heavy, but was worth the sore shoulder I got from carrying it in my luggage.

All in all, I’m very pleased with the trip and especially pleased with the food I ate. I had seafood for dinner both nights. The first night, it was the kingfish curry and the second night, I had fried calamari. At the restaurant on the second night, we sat on cushions on the floor and the room was adorned with Arabic and African decorations. The calamari came with pilau, and little servings of mango chutney, pumpkin, and greens. The meals were all delicious and the desserts were even better: crunchy chocolate and pistachio cake, soft and moist date cake, and bowls of fresh fruit. Next week I’m returning to Zanzibar to help run a workshop with CARE. I don’t know how much time I will have to wander about again, but hopefully the food at the workshop will be equal to what I had this weekend.

After such a long post, no pictures! I know you all want to see them, and I will try to sort through them and post some tomorrow. Also, I purchased a number of neat postcards. I have the addresses of a few people already, but if you would like to receive one, just email me your address: alexis ‘dot’ close ‘at’ gmail ‘dot’ com.