Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Zanzibar

I recently returned from two weeks on the island of Zanzibar.  It was magical.  Spice tours where we picked the spices and tasted them right off trees, snorkeling adventures involving huge waves and a tiny tipping sailboat.  Cobblestone streets lined with old historical buildings.  Mosques adorned with beautiful, intricately crafted windows and doors.  Markets filled with cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla and coriander, and colorful prints on Zanzibari chitenge and harem pants.  People selling Maasai anklets and bracelets, chai tea brewing on street corners, and incense wafting from the clothes of Zanzibari women.  My senses were overwhelmed in the best way possible.

We flew into Dar Es Salaam and took a ferry to Stone Town, which used to be a center of the spice and slave trades.  We took public transportation from Stone Town north to Nungwi, and then south to Bwejuu.  Riding the daladalas, or open but relatively comfortable trucks with cushioned benches, was the perfect way to see the trees and farms along the one main road.  I felt a bit like a nomad with my life in a backpack riding in the back of a truck, but I am now used to this.  The highlight of the trip for me was staying at Mustapha's Place in Bwejuu, a small backpacker's paradise which was designed by the owner Alessandra, an Italian artist/architect.  Hammocks and flowers were scattered about, an eclectic mixture of soul, reggae, and funk played at the main hang-out, and bonfires happened each night.

One night an older man with John Lennon-style glasses and an elegant older woman, who I presume were both from England, invited us all to join them around the fire.  The man lead us in singing songs from all over Africa, and the woman told fables about animals, the sun and the moon.  It was one of the most moving nights I have ever had, people of all ages sitting around a fire under the stars with white sand under our feet.  I almost didn't leave Zanzibar.

Now I am back in Zambia with a renewed perspective.  I do not know what the next few months will look like, but I feel empowered and energized to make decisions about work and about life that will make me happy and fulfilled.  Life is too short to wait for these things; you have to take them and own them.