I just found out that Whitney Houston died. Yea...a little behind on my news, but I can't believe it! I was just watching her music videos on the bus from Lusaka and thinking that a voice like that doesn't come along often. * sigh*
On a happier note...Zanzibar is pretty amazing. The place itself isn't as beautiful or exotic as I had anticipated, but the timing is perfect because this weekend is the "Sauti za Busara" music festival. It means "Songs of Wisdom" and is a four day music festival of traditional and pop African music from all over the continent. As a result, Stone Town is absolutely filled to the brim with people from near and far. I swear every nationality is represented here. I've been hanging out on and off with a Russian amateur photographer, an aspiring French actress, two Turks who work for the UN, a group of drunk Iranians, a Kenyan flight attendant, and countless local dudes.
My first night in Zanzibar was supposed to be spent with my host, Psam, at his apartment. However, his cousin also had 3 guys over plus the Russian...so it was 6 guys and myself and Psam thought I would be more comfortable at his sister's place. Very considerate of him, but little did I know, she lives about 20 minutes away in the countryside. I can't say it was four star accommodation but I really appreciated the opportunity to get a taste of genuine Zanzibari life. There are no showers here (at least not at his nor his sister's apartments). If I were to clean up, I"d have to ladle cold water from a huge bucket and pour it strategically and conservatively. I went to bed sans shower that night because I've yet to perfect the art of African baths.
The next day I decided to shift my base from Stone Town to a village on the east coast of Zanzibar called Jambiani for some sand and sea and relaxation, especially given the tumultuous transit from Vic Falls. I took the daladala, which is a common local form of transportation and resembles a huge covered pick up truck with built in benches. Once again, what I thought was a 60-90 min ride turned into about 140 minutes because it was constantly stopping to pick up and drop off passengers. Many of them had enormous cargo (i.e. sacks of flour, fire wood, dozens of bananas off the tree) that had to be secured to the top of the truck. Traveling in Africa is not easy and is not comfortable but I guess that's part of experiencing Africa in the raw; not the distilled and bottled kind...
Anyway, my two days in Jambiani was much needed. Give me a pat on the back because I actually spent money on a proper bungalow on the beach. It wasn't at all outrageous at less than $30 per night, but $30 goes a long way here. The room was right on the sand and during high tide, the waves come literally within 4 feet of the door. I borrowed two books from reception and did nothing but read, nap, and eat fruit. Oh, I did agree to visit a local village school with a guy named "Captain Fruit" who ended up wanting 30,000 T.Schillings and I laughed at him and gave him 5,000 which was more than enough to cover the cost of fuel. C'mon, do I look like I was born yesterday?
I came back to Stone Town yesterday and Psam helped me contact a French girl and we're sharing a little room together. A group of us went to the festival last night and our local friends managed to get in us at the local rather than the foreigner rate, which is 4x as much. So glad I went. Even though most of the audience couldn't understand the lyrics, everyone was dancing and having a ball. There was one artist from Nigeria, Nneka, who blew us all away. Look her up! Looking forward to another night of music and dancing~
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