Location: Jambiani, Zanzibar

Thankfully I woke up feeling a little better today – not all the way but enough to participate in the days activities! We got to sleep in until 7 AM (when did I start considering that a sleep in?!) which was much needed before our walking tour of Stone Town with our guide Dula. Dula was born on Zanzibar and has quite an extensive knowledge of the island.

As we walked in the hot sun he chattered animatedly, noting that the island used to be under water which is why you’ll find that buildings are made primarily out of coral and volcanic rock. He also gave us a broad overview of the people, and how the majority of residents are Muslim, which explains why many of the women are wearing hijabs or niqabs (head and face coverings).

Zanzibar was taken over by arabs in the 1700’s from the Portuguese, which also explains a lot of the architectural influence in the city. As you walk down the narrow stone streets, the high blank white walls and coral stone buildings feel decidedly Arabic, while the elaborately carved wooden doors with brass fixtures are like something out of Morocco. Lacy balconies of wood or iron line a lot of the buildings that often have multiple languages painted on them.

Curio shops filled top to bottom with treasures of wood and brass line a lot of the area near our hotel, the Spice Palace. We passed by the old slave market exhibit and while Dula gave us a quick overview, we’ve planned to go back to actually explore it some more. An indoor fish and meat market was bustling with locals, while cats roamed looking for scraps. The tour was a great way to give us high level details, but not enough to sate the full on exploration itch I was feeling. I have never seen a city like this and am really interested in exploring it some more, so Pauline and I have resolved to come back in a few days when we have some free time.

Since we were moving to another part of the island for the last few days of the tour, but couldn’t check into our hotel for a few hours, we all split up into different activity groups. Pauline went with the monkey forest group and I went with the spice plantation group. There was a few people I have really been enjoying getting to know and they chose the spice tour so I sidled up to them trying to play it cool like hey, want to be friends?? Janina and Leonie from Switzerland, and Sebastian and Laura from Germany.

We learned all about the spices that are grown on the island, my favourite being the ‘local lipstick’ that Leonie, Janina and I put on a bit comically. The guides took us through the forest crushing leaves for us to smell, climbing up coconut trees to cut down for us, singing songs, and giving us fresh fruit to try. Yes I tried it all. No I didn’t like it.

Okay weirdly I did actually enjoy the pineapple. My sister will likely be pleased about this development.

It was a lovely afternoon and not too physically intense or very long, which is exactly what I needed given that I am still mid sickness.

We got to our new beach hotel in Jambiani, a town on the east side of the island. Music was playing on a speaker at the beach bar that overlooks a bright blue pool and the ocean. I took a walk down to the docks with Nick, ate lunch with Brindha and happily swung my feet in the pool.

Aside from group dinner at the hotel restaurant I relaxed and am now in bed, knowing tomorrow is going to be quite a big adventure day. On the bright side we are no longer moving around so I can leave my stuff unpacked, get some laundry done and settle in for a few days which I am really happy about.

Maybe I will actually get healthy!

Sav