Zanzibar Stone Town

So, we are in Zanzibar! Its really beautiful - we've had some short rains but the sun always comes out again very quickly. We've walked around exploring Stone Town which is really nice but rather touristy. good thing that it is the low season because i dont think we would like it much if it were overfilled with tourists. the downside though is that everyone is overly pushy to sell things and offer services. everyone is constantly after our money. so it is definitely not as cheap as i expected because they are always trying to rip us off.

we went on a spice tour yesterday and it was incredible. i tried to write down all the plants that we saw when i got back but i already couldnt remember them all. i took lots of pictures but a lot of the trees look similar so i might not be able to recognize them when i get back! anyway, some of the cooler things we saw: vanilla!!, nutmeg/mace, ginger, jackfruit!!!, turmeric, cassava, taro,cinammon tree, pepper, lemongrass, starfruit, coffee, curry tree.

after the spice tour we walked around town - saw the palace museum, the old slave market, hamnani baths.

the sun goes down really early which is unfortunate because we dont like to walk around much after dark. it usually goes down around 6 already!! but we did get to enjoy a really nice sunset yesterday - we went up to the rooftop bar of a fancy hotel to see it. had to pay outrageous prices for a beer but it was worth it anyway. it was so peaceful just to sit and look out over the water, watching the sun going down. we also met someone there who has lived in zanzibar his whole life but he went to a university in tanzania so he is very educated and we had a really good conversation with him. we talked about the education system here, poverty, the government, etc. thats something we cant really do with the tour guides or people on the street because their english is often not good enough and/or they dont think about those things, or are just preoccupied with selling things to us.

afterwords we ate grilled squid from a street vendor in the fordhoni gardens - next to the water - but both sandy and i felt kind of sick from it last night/this morning. it just didnt sit well in my stomach. but other than that i've really been feeling fine! havent gotten diarrhea yet so thats a good sign.

today we are going to the beach!! we cant wait. it will be nice to get away from the crowds and relax a little bit. although stone town is nowhere nearly as crowded as it was in dar.