Let the countdown begin!

Just got back from a week in Zanzibar, our last big huzzah before we leave this part of the world. Yep, that's an announcement folks. Four more weeks left in the warm heart of Africa.*

But Zanzibar. I'll skip the superlatives, but it's a pretty darn cool place. A historic nexus of trade, both of spices and slaves, the culture is this blend of African, Indian, and Arab flavours. It's very different from inland Malawi. It's also out in the blueblueblue Indian ocean, so every meal features some kind of fish (hopefully).

We took two flights to get to the island.


The Stone Town market has a big fruit section (we tasted durani, the fruit) (BARF!@#$!--looks like a fat white waterlogged sausage, feels thick and greasy like congealed cheese sauce, tastes like bad meat that's been dipped in chemicals) and a huge seafood section.



It was really hot. We stopped for some fresh sugarcane juice. First a length of cane is roughly macerated. Then half a lime and a stub of ginger are tucked into it, and they're all pressed together. The juice is swirled with some ice, strained in a hand-held sieve, and sipped through a straw. So yum. Finn enjoyed his as you can see, but ever wary of the big D (truly the fastest way to spoil a beach vacation dependent upon swim diapers), Andy limited our refreshment to a few sips.



Stone Town was built by Omani Sultans who occupied and ruled Zanzibar till the 1940s or so.


Stone Town is also famous for it's carved doors, an Indian thing. They are incredibly ornate with flowers and designs. They have a solid post in the middle, and a "male" side and "female" side, named because of the direction the door swings open. Many of them have brass horn type things sticking out of them, decorative reminders of back home in India where they functionally decorated the doors by discouraging elephants from beating the doors in. Some of them have an eerie reminder of what we often forget: who did the grunt work for most of the world's wonders. A border of carved chain was a status symbol to show the Joneses that within these walls dwells a slave-owner.


Andy, mango loveslave, took every opportunity to pursue his mangoQuest. Because mangos are always in season on Zanzibar. Big, juicy, non-fibery ones. (Scout and I fell in love with fresh lychees, also in season. We went on a "shoki shoki" quest of our own into a little fishing village later on in our stay.)


One of the big things to do on Zanzibar is go on a spice tour (a highlight for me). Although they no longer grow for export (except cloves), we smelled and picked and tasted and saw growing: pepper berries, vanilla beans, clove, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, lemongrass, coconut, ylang-ylang, cinnamon, nutmeg, henna...


and lipstick plant.


We also tasted fresh coconut, jackfruit, breadfruit, and starfruit.


Then we went to a fancyshmancy resort on the tip of the island and played in the ocean for a few days.


We took hikes at low tide.



We inspected hermit crabs on the beach at night.


We went for a sunset cruise in a quasi-traditional dhow.





And didn't get a bit of sunburn!







*And so, to make sure we drink up every last drop of Malawi while our cup runneth over, look for daily postings of Why I Heart the Warm Heart. Same time, same place, starting tomorrow.