So we get up and take the ferry, passing the container ships around the busy Dar Es Salaam port ("a Somali pirate's dream) through the turquoise blue waters of the Indian Ocean. The ship pulls into Stonetown, Zanzibar's main city, built by wealthy Arab sultans in the 18th and 19th centuries (I guess) with a whitewashed look and a medieval layout, buildings coming right to the edge of the white sand beaches. The first night I had dinner at the seafood market, fresh skewers thrown on the bbq. So good.
The second day of Zanzibar was amazing but difficult to convey as a story; there's so much to get from just walking around town, getting hopelessly lost in the maze of alleys and busy side streets. I went for a run and paused halfway through to jump in the very warm ocean, A cup of spiced coffee at the Zanzibar coffee house was the first decent cup of coffee I've had in Africa, and we spent sunset watching locals play pickup soccer on the beach.
The third day we went on a tour of the spice farms, once a leading source of Zanzibar's wealth. Saw coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, pepper, vanilla and a bunch of others growing in the fields. Rain picked up and we had to take refuge in the mud brick, thatched roof house of a local. The tour finishes with lunch under a thatched roof canopy, sitting on the floor. Then more time at the ocean, and a quick duck into large underground caves used for smuggling slaves after the slave trade had been outlawed by the British. An amazing place, and an odd juxtaposition with the rest of the sights
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