Zanzibar Part 1

Mambo,

Thank you all for the lovely cards, text messages, facebook messages for my birthday! I felt very loved! It has been awhile since my last entry and have tried countlesss times to blog about both Irfan and my health care experiences here in East Africa but no words can express what we have had an opportunity to be part of. I have been journaling everyday so am hoping that by early next week, I can take some of those entries and re-write parts on this blog. What I have seen is truly heartbreaking and makes me count my blessings daily!

On a lighter note, we flew into Zanzibar yesterday for the weekend. Zanzibar is blessed with incredible beauty, spice, culture and FLIES! They are everywhere!!! No but seriously, Zanzibar is filled with so much warmth and very kind hearted people. It is also the birthplace of the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury.

So we flew from Dar to Zanzibar(I didn't want to chance getting motion sickness on the ferry) with Coastal Air (teeny tiny plane, only fit ten of us) and then made it to our hotel, Dhow Palace, which is in the heart of Stone Town! We then went to the Serena for a bite to eat overlooking the water and tried Bungu juice?!! Not sure if I spelled that right but it's an exotic fruit that is very sour, Not a fan of the fruit but the juice was yummy!!! Did a lot of walking around Stonetown. The famous doors of Stone Town are quite elaborate and sturdy, made of heavy timber and pointy architecture, apparently a carry-over from asia where people were worried about elephants smashing down their doors. I will attach pictures in my next entry. Also went to Jamatkhana! People were so welcoming here, got a very detailed tour around JK. For all my non-ismaili friends, this was the very first Jamatkhana and it is now a heritage site!

Today, we went to Prison Island, and fed the giant tortoises! There is a sanctuary at the Island for giant tortoises as they are an almost extinct species! Was so cool!!!!! Island is 5.6 km from Stone Town and was a prison for rebellious slaves in the 1860s and also functioned as a coral mine. The name is misleading though, because no slaves were ever housed there. Instead, the island served as a quarantine station for yellow fever, and ebola cases! Went to the beach after to relax! Blue skies and so calming!!!

This evening we went to Mercury Lounge, amazing ambience! Had a live band which was fabulous. The day was fantastically rich with sights, sounds, smells and textures, wish I could upload pictures but forgot the adapter:( Will update tomorrow. Headed on a spice tour tomorrow morning!

Feeling amazing and loving every minute.

Life is sweet!

xo