Stone Town in a nutshell

The last time I left off, we were getting ready to go on our walking tour of Stone Town, Zanzibar. This ended up being really beautiful and interesting. It was a different feel from anywhere we have been on this trip up to date, partially because it has a definite touristy feel in many parts. We did escape from the foreigner-filled streets during our tour into the local market. This was much like any other market that we've experienced so far, but with the added seafood section. It was a good reminder that we really are on an island! Seafood is a much bigger part of people's diets here, a fact that I will not complain about. 

My first meal on Zanzibar: fresh fish!

The hardest part of our tour, as well as all of our subsequent wanderings around town, was seeing the extreme wealth discrepancy between the many tourists and the extremely poor residents of Zanzibar. Because the Arusha area isn't too touristy, we hadn't before witnessed this very prevalent discrepancy. Other than this, Stone Town is great! We walked through some old slave markets and even slave quarters, so making contrasts between these and the slave markets of South Carolina that I grew up learning about and visiting was interesting.

The group during our tour, on stairs outside of a church that also used to be a slave market.

After our tour, we got to have a good lunch at a local establishment. Many of us got fish or prawns to celebrate that we were finally in a place where we could do so. 

My yummy dessert: basically creme brûlée with passion fruit in the middle.

We had time after lunch to wander around, so I went down to the beach with Darby and Wesley and played around for a bit! The weather was fantastic, and it felt so nice to wade in the ocean for a little while. And Zanzibar is just beautiful!

Beach time.

Before dinner that night, we went to a nearby hotel to grab drinks (because their restaurant is too expensive for us to eat an entire meal at) and listen to a taraab band play. The band sounded really good, and it was nice to just sit for awhile, as well!

Taraab band.

We then walked over to a central boardwalk area in town for dinner. Each night, tons of vendors set up in the square and basically have a giant barbecue. There was something for everyone--fresh fruit, chicken, seafood, crepes, pizza, and the list goes on. It was a really strange experience because all of these vendors were fighting for our business. Everywhere we walked, there were more people begging us to come eat from their table. I eventually settled on just a bunch of fruit and was a happy camper. It was fun, though, because including all of the tourists, there were people from all around the world gathered there, and it was just a cool atmosphere in general!

Terrible picture, but these were some of the tables to choose from. There were probably over 50 in total.

The next morning, Wednesday, we got up to visit a couple of different women's co-ops around town. The first one we went to was called Sasik and the women mainly made pillow cases and clothing. It is a group of 47 women currently. Any woman who is in need of employment is able to join, and they get to work in a more comfortable atmosphere than may have been available to them before, and they have a secure place to sell their creations, as well. It seemed like a great organization for impoverished women who need a helping hand to get into work. Our next stop was at a place called Upendo (which means love). This was different from Sasik in that they also run a training school there so the women can become very competent at sewing before moving on to selling goods. It was very well-run, with an incredibly bright and beautiful woman leading the organization. It also seemed like a really good opportunity for women to partake in.

Sewing room at Upendo

All of this year's students

Upendo means love.

After these visits and lunch at whatever local establishments we felt like, we went to the Ministry of Health for Zanzibar and listened to the minister speak. This was pretty awesome because the Minister of Health is a woman. It was so great to see a woman in such a position of power, so hopefully more women will be able to follow in her footsteps. We also went to the local hospital to look around and listen to some doctors there.

All of us with the Minister of Health in the middle.

The emergency room at the hospital--it's definitely still developing. I'm not sure that I'd want to get treated here, but the health system here has come so far in such a short amount of time that it is still incredibly impressive. They're improving by leaps and bounds here. 

After our many NGO visits throughout the day, we got to unwind on a sunset dhow ride. Dhows are these big sailboats that are very common around here. There were a couple of local musicians on board who serenaded us the whole time, as well. It was absolutely beautiful and fantastic and I loved every minute!!

Our many snacks on our ride.

It was the perfect way to relax and rejuvenate; we all had an incredible time.

And now it is midnight for me, which is about 3 hours later than I'm usually up, so I'm going to stop here so I can sleep and not be a zombie tomorrow and write about today (Thursday) later.

Hugs to all!