Zanzibar!

As the finale to the East African portion of our trip, we spent 4 days on the tropical, Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar. We split our time between Stonetown, the hub of the old Arabic spice trading routes and the seat of power for the Omani sultan, and Mtemwe beach on the easternmost part of the island. Our impression of Zanzibar is that it has a great, laid back atmosphere (evidenced by a significant Rasta population), amazingly white, powder fine sand beaches, crystal clear, warm aquamarine waters and lots of good food.


Buh-bye beard!

After arriving in Stone Town, one of the first orders of business on Susan's agenda was getting Josh's beard sheared like a sheep. Someone was getting tired of the "Grizzly Adams Chic" look that Josh was going for. 30 minutes later, Josh was once again, a trim, dapper fellow.

A few of our favorite memories of Stonetown....
- The endless supply of good street food that popped up at night by the seaside. Eating inexpensive and delicious meat-on-a-stick is fun enough, but toss in moonlight shining off the water on a mild evening while sitting on the grass and you have a real winner.



- By dumb luck we were in Stonetown for Sauti Za Busara, an annual music festival. We heard musicians and dancers from all over Africa, and very much enjoyed experiencing this cornucopia of sights and sounds surrounded by locals.

-One hilarious moment at the music festival came after the mindblowing performance of this incredible group from Morocco, Oudaden. They were a group of about eight men wearing traditional clothing, all with beards. We went up to them after they performed in order to pay them some well deserved compliments. They thanked Susan, took one look at Josh, with his newly trimmed beard, and assumed he was a brother. They kissed him heartily, on both cheeks. It was awesome.

- One night we had dinner at a place (recommended in the ever-popular Lonely Planet) called Two Tables. It turned out to be a little restaurant with, you guessed it, two tables in the middle of an Indian family's home. While we were eating a sumptuous home-cooked meal, family members were watching TV and playing on a computer.




We also spent a couple of days on the beach. This was the long-awaited 'we are on our honeymoon so we must have at least a few days enjoying umbrella drinks' portion of the honeymoon.

We ended up in a little town on the eastern coast of Zanzibar called Mtemwe, with incredibly fine sand like baking flour and ocean water about the temperature of a recently run bath. Our first night we stayed in a quaint little bungalow on the beach right next to the local fish market, where we watched fisherman bringing seafood in from the boats, young teenagers pulverizing octopus (apparently to tenderize it, we learned) and locals hawking fish to other locals. It was mesmerizing.



The second night we treated ourselves to our only night of luxury on the entire honeymoon. We stayed at an INCREDIBLE place called Azanzi, with superb food (the chef made a chocolate cake specially for Josh), airy, relaxing rooms, impeccably polite (but still friendly) staff and absolutely incredible views. After several weeks with no hot water and bug-infested tents, Azanzi was a welcome and amazing change. It was like a little mini-vacation from our honeymoon! If planning a trip to Zanzibar, think about staying at Azanzi - azanzibeachhotel.com

A few of our favorite memories from Mtemwe beach...
- Doing yoga for an hour together on the beach with about 50 local boys arranged around us in a semi-circle transfixed by the site of us twisting ourselves into human pretzels. We must have been greatly amusing, as we held their attention for about 45 minutes. Actually, while we did not get a good look at the kids, Josh is sure that Susan was the real object of the attention, given she was doing yoga in a bathing suit and the local kids were boys. Boys will be boys, regardless of the culture...



- Going for an afternoon snorkeling trip. We saw amazing things during this underwater safari: lovely colorful fish, sea cucumbers, a stingray, sea turtles, and even a pod of dolphins!!



- Hanging out and falling asleep in a hammock built for two on the beach under the moonlight. Susan has always been a sucker for hammocks, and Josh turns out to be one too.