Fat German Lady Steals Coral Reef and Wreaks Havoc

The six of us left Arusha for Zanzibar via Dar es Salaam on July 16. After staying out all night at Maasai Camp just having fun (on a Tuesday?!), we were up at 4:30 so we could grab a cab to the Dar Express office. We had to report by 5:30 for our 6 AM bus. We're sitting forever on the bus, so Meg and Peery decided to run into a duka (shop) and get some snacks. Without warning, the bus starts driving away! Sana, Mara, Adam, and I all start yelling at the bus driver to stop. He does, but Meg and Peery have to sprint to catch us before he starts driving again.

After 10 hours on the bus (some sleeping, eating, bottles of soda (on the bus?!), and watching weird Nigerian love films before switching to one of our bootlegged DVDs), we arrive at the Dar port to Zanzibar. We are literally the last people to get on the 4 PM ferry (last one out for the day) and there are no seats. But we find a way upstairs and outside and lean on the deck, watching the land go by. We watch the sunset on the boat. The 1.5 hour ride is actually 3 hours, don't let them fool you. Then we have to go through a little immigration stand, but since we all have residence permits and are considered residents we didn't have to bother. Then we take a van to Bandari Lodge, where the rooms are huge but boiling out. The lodge is also in the slums of Stone Town, Zanzibar and it smells like fish and shit. Mara termed it Shitmaki (simaki means fish in Swahili).

For dinner we head to Mercury's. Supposed to be a great restaurant. It's not. We paid too much for too little food. And it wasn't even that good. The others smoked some hooka, I passed out on the table (a recurring theme for the rest of the week). Then we headed back to the lodge.

The next day, Thursday, we walked around Stone Town, saw some sights, did some shopping, followed some random rasta guy through the alley-like streets of Stone Town (it looks a lot like an old European city...). Then we get a van to take us up to the north end of the island. We had booked a room at Kendwa Rocks, on the Kendwa beach. We told them we would be coming late at night. Little did we know what kind of trip ours would turn into once we arrived at Kendwa...

We spent two hours arguing with reception. They tried to charge us more than they had originally said, tried to tell us they were out of rooms. Bullshit. They wouldn't let us all stay in one quad, so he gave us a "deal" and gave us two quads, one for the price of a double--we were supposed to only let two people in this room. That one of course turns out to be the ballin' room on the second floor of a bungalow: the one we had originally booked. Of course. We all snuck in that one and slept because the other quad was terrible.

The stress of the long day, the ride to the north, and the fight at reception meant, of course, that we must have then headed for the bar and proceeded to drink until I passed out on the table (see, recurring), Mara fell out of a hammock, and Peery was asleep who-knows-where on the beach. We may have spent a few hours chasing crabs and sitting in an old boat/restaurant that is now shipwrecked on the beach.

The next day, the breakfast took forever, but was surprising delicious. We got kicked out of our room at 10:30 (check-out was 10) because someone needed it. The guy said we were just sleeping in because we were tired (very patronizing) and I said, no, it took you an hour and a half to get us our breakfast. It's your fault. It's okay, we paid them back. We couldn't find the lock for one of the rooms. Turns up two days later in Peery's bag... Who knew?

We stayed the next night at Sunset Bungalows. Slightly more expensive but we got a fantastic bungalow on the beach (what we wanted in the first place) and we had our own bathroom and shower and the beds were actually big enough for two of us to sleep in (because of course we put 6 people in a room for 3).

We spent the day laying out on the beach, swimming in the Indian Ocean, and going on a rough snorkel trip. We got smoothies, food, cocktails, beers. Lovely day. At night we grabbed dinner, showered, and then met a huge group of mostly Europeans who are teaching English on Zanzibar. Awkward. When everyone had a party but us knows each other, it gets less fun. So instead we went skinny dipping in the ocean. Best idea ever.

Meg, Sana, Mara, Peery, Adam, and I left the next day. We had run into another part of our group, but they were staying longer. We had to get back to get Sana on her plane home. It was sad to start seeing everyone leave. We spent some time at Zanzibar Serena Inn (high class). The coffee there was fantastic and we got kicked out for laying by the pool. Peery, Mara, and Adam went to a Reggae party that night, but Meg and I were grandmas and went back to our hostel (Flamingo). We all had to come back separately anyway because the staff were sticklers for having too many people in the room and we were again doing 5 people in a triple.

The next day we sent Mara off with Carolyn. Also sad. Then Adam, Meg, Peery, and I spent the day walking around and watching the sunset at Tembo Hotel. We laid out on the beach then got some gelati. After we went to dinner outside of Africa House. There is a food market there and they have the best fresh seafood and Zanzibar pizzas. We went there every night we were in Stone Town and made friends with the locals.

Meg, Peery, and Adam left on Monday for Dar so they could catch their flights home. I spend the day with Sara and we walked around and did some shopping. We found the amazing coffee they have at Serena, so I bought tons. Duh. Mainly because I don't have room to carry it.

Hannah, Kara, and I hung out with some of the Maasai men that sell jewelry at the food market. They were hilarious. Melubo would randomly break out into Maasai singing and dancing while sitting next to me. Insane. We kept the night short, because Isaac started trying to get Hannah to come with him to the beach. Not down for that. It was a fun night, though.

Sara and I left for the Zanzibar airport on the 21st. Hannah and Kara headed for Dar the same day. We were the last people to leave, me the very last. The Zanzibar airport is also bootlegged. Precision Air gave us the sketchiest tickets ever. Don't worry, I kept it for memories. The flight to Dar was about 10 minutes long--biggest waste of fuel ever. I also thought I was going to die the whole time. Most people in TZ don't have driver's licenses but still are allowed to drive, so I was wondering about the pilots...

We made a transfer in the Dar airport for our flight to Kili. I had to put my bags about 10 rows away from my seat so had to wait for everyone to get off the plane before I could get them. Then my bag arrived and a strap was broken and I was missing the bungee that connected my two bags. Fantastic. All the experiences of the day made me really dislike Tanzania and I can't wait to get home. Because then Sara and I had to rush to say goodbye so I could catch the Precision Air shuttle to Arusha. It turned out to be full. WTF. Fortunately, I was able to get a taxi for 20,000 Tsh (about $15) instead of 50,000 Tsh.

I paid extra money to stay at a nice hotel last night--Impala Hotel. I needed a place to relax by myself and not stress about finding food. It was dark by the time I got to Arusha, so I couldn't really walk around with all my stuff and find the hostel I was originally planning to get. But I got a nice hot shower at Impala and some good buttered dal for dinner. Delicious. Then I turned on some BBC in my room so I could feel at home and not alone listening to Western folk talk again. Can't wait to get back home. Even Amsterdam will be nice, because they have things like customer service in Europe that they just don't have in Africa.

Today I head for Nairobi (because of course my 6AM flight on July 23 was cancelled so I couldn't make my 8:40 Nairobi-Amsterdam flight). I get in in the evening and have a shuttle going to a hostel that comes highly recommended by my organization. I'll be paying everything in dollars (including the $50 I now have to spend on a visa) because it's a waste to exchange to Kenyan shillings. Then I'll head to the airport on the morning of the 23rd and leave for Amsterdam. Everything will be wonderful once I am on that flight. I don't think I've ever looked forward to anything more.

Well, I'll do a final sign off for the summer once I arrive back in the good ol' United States. There've been good and bad things about this trip, but overall it's been fantastic. I'm lucky to have come here. Stay tuned for a few final entries!!