We're back from our 3-day adventure on the intriguing isle of Zanzibar, a fascinating mix of African and Arab cultures in a beautiful (though extreeeeeemly hot and humid this time of year) setting. Here's a simple recap of what a day was like, as we wiled away the hours at Paradise Beach Bungalows on the east coast of the island, in Paje.
6am - The boys (3) are up, after what was not the most restful night's sleep (though the ever-optimistic Matt announced that he felt well-rested after our sweaty night under, then not under, the mosquito netting).
7am - A family walk along the beach - HOT already (that equitorial sun is serious business for our northwest skin).
8am - Breakfast! Delicious fruit (watermelon, pineapple, bananas), coffee, juice, eggs and homemade rolls....
9am - Books in the shade, imagining a faint breeze. We watch the local folks come out to begin gathering seaweed as the tide starts to go out. There are little seaweed farms that appear as the water recedes.
10am - A walk out as the tide continues to go out (which takes some time, since it goes out about a mile on this very shallow coast).
11am - More books (with a little napping) in the shade. The resident monkey at Paradise (Matt and Andy were convinced he was constantly preparing to mount an attack against us) wanders onto our table to sip my coffee.
12noon - More low-tide walking, though we never made it all the way out to the reef. Now it is even hotter than HOT. Saw a little angel fish, a little ray, many sea urchins (don't step on them!) and a gazillion (perhaps a brazilian) hermit crabs.
1pm - Delicious lunch of spaghetti, grilled fish and Japanese noodle soup (the host of Paradise is a Japanese woman).
2pm - Watched one of the resident dogs (of which there are almost as many as the resident cats, though the dogs chase the monkey, while the monkey chases the cats) sleep on the beach in the shade of a palm tree - moving every few minutes to keep up with the shade.
3pm - Bought a coconut for about 50 cents from the old man walking the beach selling them - he cracked it right there for us and we had a little coconut milk and meat snack - hmmmm! Andy and I went for a little baking-hot run on the beach, which was to be followed by a refreshing dip in the ocean. However, the super-heated shore from the long low tide had super-heated the water, which by then was well over 90 degrees. So much for refreshing dip, but we dipped nonetheless.
4pm - Still more books in the shade, and more breeze than the morning.
5pm - Card games (gin, crazy 8s, war...) in the shade. Chrissie took an intermittent shower, as the water came and went.
6pm - Bought a couple of bracelets from the Maasai who work at the bungalows as security. They walk the paths with their big sticks, and make jewelry at rest-times. Passed some time by trying to remember any jokes we could.
7pm - Dinner! Prawns, traditional Swahili stew, chicken, ocra w/tuna (fresh), spinach/egg soup... all accompanied by a local one-man band.
8pm - More crazy 8s in the room, under the fan that just didn't move as much air as we would like. Followed that up with a slathering of bug spray (jungle juice, for those REI fans out there), for what we hoped would be a more restful (and it was) night's sleep.
9pm - sleep....
So there you have a day in Paradise. This evening we're off to Arusha (by Mt. Kilimanjaro), and tomorrow morning we head out on our big trek through the Crater Highlands. We'll be back in a week, and will update you then.
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