Zanzibar!

It is our last day on Zanzibar island. Here's a update of what we have done:

On Monday we walked the streets of stone town in Zanzibar city. This is a World Heritage Site because of it's old stone structures and narrow streets with the Indian Ocean as a back drop. It's kinda like Venice meets Seville. We also toured the fruit and fish market; they were the best ones we have seen yet. If hanging cow legs and inside out chickens are your thing, then come here. You can buy a cut of meat from a vendor, or join the meat auction. Giant squid appeared to be the big hit.

We then toured the site of where the last slave auction in the world was held. Slaves were kept in tiny rooms by Muslim elites and auctioned off in the public square. The worth of each slave was based on their condition after being whipped; if they were weak, they were sold for cheap, and if they were strong after whipping they were expensive. When slavery was abolished in 1873 missionaries built a church over the site.

All the tourists end up at a local hotel for the evening to have drinks and watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean. This isn't the place to be very long however, because after night fall local food vendors set up in a public square. You negotiate a price for skewers of meat, fresh pita bread, etc. They then throw it on the BBQ and serve it to you. I had shark, lobster, mussels, and beef. We also tried Zanzibar pizza, and a sugar cane/lemon drink.

Yesterday we went on a local spice tour. This was more than worth the $10 a person we paid for the 3 hour tour. We saw several different spice plants including pepper, lemon grass, cardomon, turmeric, cinnamon, vanilla bean, curry, cloves, coffee, ginger, and iodine. We were able to taste each one right off the tree. We also tried the areas local fruit: red bananas, tangerines, grapefruit, custard apple, star fruit, and jack fruit. We also watched a local named "Mr. Butterfly" climb a gigantic palm tree and sing a song in Swahili. I also tried to climb the tree, I failed.

After the tour we travelled to the north part of Zanzibar. We spent the next couple nights bumming around on the beach. Brad and Allison went snorkelling today, I stayed behind and caught up on journal and emails.

Zanzibar out.
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