Zanzibar, one last post

I am enjoying my R&R, I have been sleeping 12+hours a night, and napping each day, maybe that tse tse fly did affect me!  I do think it is just the exhaustion. : )

Zanzibar is incredible.  It is an island off the Tanzanian coastline, still part of Tanzania the country, but so much it’s complete cultural self.  It is 90% Muslim, whereas Arusha is only 20%.

Ramadan is on!  I happened to hit Zanzibar right in the middle of it.  Ramadan is where the Muslims fast from EVERYTHING! from sunup to sundown.  Food, water, sex, impatience, bad tempers, etc.  It is a time for them to purify themselves from man’s more carnal natures.  A really cool idea.  And the most important time of the Muslim calendar year.  Too important to even call it a holiday.

But — we Mormon folks think we have it tough fasting one day, once a month.  But Ramadan goes on for an entire month!

Can you imagine fasting from everything from sunup to sundown every day for an entire month?   And they do it.  With faith, reflection, and whole heartedly.

What that means in practicality for us traveling folks is that very few things are open.  No restaurants, no little food stalls, nothing.  Not until the sun goes down, but then things start to happen!  It is still a very reflective time for the Muslims, but the food appears!  What it also means, is even the non-Muslims are encouraged strongly not to eat or drink in public during daylight hours.  It is considered very impolite and unkind.  So, no drinking a bottle of water while you are walking around.  That may sound like no big deal, but when you’re in incredibly hot weather it is!  As I explored the labrythine streets of this old ancient town, I became incredibly thirsty.  I finally went behind one man’s counter, and he kindly let me guzzle a bottle of water, hiding in a corner.   I don’t know how they do it!

This is a witch doctor’s stall.  Yes, witch doctors  are alive and well here.  They call it “traditional medicine”.  Those are snake skins you see hanging.

Zanzibar is a very interesting mix of Arab, Indian, Portuguese, and African.  Very, very old and ancient.  All those nations occupied it at one time.  

Note the guy in both pictures.  That is Hadi.  I met him at the market.  He ended up being a fantastic guide.  Knew the history, the winding little streets.  But best of all he was excited to teach me more Swahili.   A wonderful find.  He gave me his email and he will be an incredible teacher Eric and I can skype with to perfect our Swahili skills before we come back next year!

The saddest part of Zanzibar history though, is it was a holding place for slavery.  The raiding parties, after capturing Africans from the mainland, would stop here to auction off their captives to the sea captains plying the oceans to take this human cargo to their future “homes”.    Another atrocity Africa offers us.

But what we, in the U.S. were fully complicit of.  These “slaves” fed right into our southern plantations.  If there hadn’t been a market for it, it wouldn’t have happened.    There is a memorial musuem here to this terrible time.  I must say very similar to holocaust musuems I have visited.  Is there no end to man’s inhumanity to humanity?

The island itself is gorgeous!  Blue topaz seas, white talcum powder sands… a dream of anybody who loves that kind of thing.  And who doesn’t?   I snapped this picture when I woke up this morning.  What a beautiful sight to greet me.

The people here are friendly, but I have to say, not quite as friendly as Arusha.  That place was incredible.

I will rest, read (I’m catching up and re-reading a lot of the old classics – Annelisa’s advice!  and swim in the sea.   I am reflecting on Arusha and St. Elizabeth’s and all my experiences there.  I miss them!  I’ve had e-mails from Alodia’s daughter already begging me to come back.

So, Eric and I are already making plans for coming back next year some time.  Don’t know for sure when or how, but Eric too has caught the excitement and intoxication that is Africa.  Wait until he gets here!

Thanks once again, all, for following this blog.  This will be my last entry.  All take care, and I will see most of you again soon!

Tuta-onana!  Badaye!