Jambo!

Just got back today from Zanzibar. The island is beautiful with spices and yummy food and tea galore. But it is very expensive! It wouldn't have bothered me so much if I was just vacationing in Zanzibar or relaxing after a safari like most people, but after spending time in Mbeya and Dar, I knew what things should cost and knew I was getting burned most of the time (and they only accept US dollars at the hotels so you have to take shillings out of an ATM and then pay a high exchange rate to change to dollars).
There also seems to be quite a bit of government corruption. I was told that is because it was the low season and school fees were due soon. Watched drivers have to roll up money in their papers when handing them over at roadblocks and things like that. I also had the customs office (I am still unsure of why they have their own customs office, since they are part of Tanzania) pull me out of line and lock me in a room with two officers trying to get me to pay another $50. I was fed up with all this TIA crap and flat out refused. We argued for 20 minutes or so and I finally lost it and gave them my phone and told them to call the doctor in Arusha and let him know that I would not be able to volunteer with him since I wouldn't pay another $50. Of course, that changed their tune and they quickly said it was okay and let me through. As I was leaving, I saw another couple being pulled in with US passports. When I saw them later that evening, they had been locked in the room for three hours and had to pay $100 each and when they first reached the US Embassy, the Zanzibar people hung up on them.

Wait, I guess I should back up. It turns out I don't have Malaria. Most likely, I was just dehydrated from trying to not drink too much fluids on bus travel days (they often don't stop for women to go to the bathroom). Relaxed and ate several times at my favorite little restaurant across from the mosques. They had homemade feta cheese and fresh veggies in an amazing salad (it is hard to get fresh greens around here and I have been craving them). They also have hookahs, and I have spent many lovely evenings sipping mint tea, having great conversation, and enjoying a hookah. Also went on a wonderful day trip to Kipepo with some guys who are also staying at the YWCA. Just a short ferry trip (very chaotic and packed, unlike Seattle ferries) and dala dala trip away, the beaches are beautiful and you can pay $5 at a resort to crash their beach.

Anyhoo, once I left Dar, headed to Zanzibar on the slow ferry, and had the little altercation with customs, I spent several days in Stonetown walking around the old crumbly architecture. I loved the carved wooden doors and narrow winding streets. Went on a spice tour, visited a few museums and went to the slave cave. Then headed out to the east coast for some beach time in Paje. The beach was amazing with sand as soft and white as powdered sugar. Also had a nice breeze to cool things off. Got to do a day of diving and loved the reef. Saw huge stingrays, moray eel, large schools of fish, nudibranchs, and lionfish. The dive company wasn't the safest I have been on, but I will save that story for another email when my mom doesn't have to read it :) Met some awesome people and we hung out pretty much every night. It was nice to have a group of 11 people from all over that got along so well together. It was also nice to not have to be by myself all the time and to have people to eat meals with.

Thanksgiving Day was hard to be so far from home. And I am the only American staying at this hotel, so I had to explain to many what Thanksgiving even is. To cope, I decided to spend the day with monkeys. Because, really, who can be sad around monkeys? I hopped a dalladalla and headed to Jozani to see the red colobus monkeys. They are supposedly very rare and endemic to this area. So cute! There were lots of them and you could get really close (just had to watch that none peed on your head). And after a day of monkeys, I headed back to see what type of Thanksgiving meal I could scrounge up off the hotel bar menu. The closest I got was spicy coconut pumpkin soup with my meal of... yep, you guessed it... goat.

I was in Paje for the full moon (we had all been dragging each other on midnight swims for the few days before) and one of the locals invited me to a full moon party in Jambiani. I asked if I could bring "a few friends" to split the cab fare and wrangled up 9 others. We all shoved into a minibus and had a great time dancing on the beach under the full moon. Yes, I danced but only because this adorable seven year old, who was one of the best dancers I have ever seen, wanted us to dance with him so he could be with the adults instead of by the fence with the rest of the kids.
Very relaxing but lots of very late nights. I am back in Dar for the night and am getting ready to head off to Arusha tomorrow morning on the bus. I am suppose to start at the hospital on Monday morning.
Signing off for now, as apparently running 20 computers off one line and charging us all an arm and a leg to use the world's slowest system is totally working for the post office, but my patience is running out :)
Love,
Betsy
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