Zanzibar is a magical place

We are sitting in an internet cafe in Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar, a tiny little dot of an island in the Indian Ocean. It's as beautiful as you think it is. Since we last updated you all we left Zambia after spending way too much time in expensive Livingstone, and drove to Malawi. The scenery is getting more and more beautiful as we drive further away from flat, arid Botswana. Malawi is pretty small, but they say over-populated and impoverished. Statistically somewhere between 30 and 35% of the population has HIV/AIDS, and more than half the population is under 15 years old. The population of children was very noticeable. We spent 4 days camping on the beaches of Lake Malawi which is this huge fresh water lake that sits between Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. When I say we camped on the beach, I mean we were right onthe sand, and if there was a tide our tent would have been swept away.The sand was coarse, but white, and the water was crystal clear, blue. There was a pretty decent surf. It was like the perfect beach: just as beautiful as being on the ocean, but with out the salt. One day, Michael and I rented a canoe and snorkle masks and we canoed out to this tiny, rocky island in the lake. The canoes weren't like our N. American canoes. They weren't very stable and we had to keep stopping to bale out water (we were using our snorkle masks). Some ofour friends capsized a couple of times, but that was OK, because there are no sharks in Lake Malawi. We snorkled around the island for a couple of hours. It was like swimming in a fish tank; it was crazy clear. And the fish were the brightest, most colorful fresh water fish I've ever seen! Neon blues and purples. Then we climbed on the island for a little bit. The rocks were black and hot on our feet. A giant fish eagle swooped down and came within a couple of feet from knocking Michael in the head. The view from the top of the island was ridiculous. There are mountains that just poor into the beach.The next day we went on a village walk just outside our campground. We went with a pretty big group. There was one main guide, Jon, and about a dozen and a half other "guides" who walked with us, ultimately trying to sell us stuff. We walked through the village and Jon showed us one of their water pumps and explained how they build their homes.

All the little kids came running out to us and I walked with 3 little ones. At one point I got distracted, giving them each a turn at being picked up, and when I looked up again my group was gone; I was left behind. It was OK though because my friend, Seone was left behind too and a "guide", Dan, stayed behind with us. Well, Dan ended up giving Seone and me our own personal tour and it was great. We met his pregnant sister, and we met a grandmother bringing her grandson back from the clinic with a sore on his leg. And Dan showed us how they grow cassava (one of their main staples) and he dug the root of one up for us so we could try it. It was great! (Dan was ultimately trying to sell us stuff too, so Michael and I bought a small painting from himfor like $4).The next day after that we went to another village, Chimtuba, and we bought this awesome teak carved chair of giraffs and a baobab tree for$15 and a coke. That was fun. And then we hung out on the beach withsome of the local boys and Michael showed them his sketch book and gave one of them his bracelet. They were really cool. At first they tried to sell us stuff, too, but when we showed them we had no money, they just hung out with us. I got the camera and they were all fighting with each other to get their picture taken. They loved to pose and then see the picture on the digital camera. So now we're in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Tanzania is more picturesque and more colorful than the other African countries we've seen so far. Well, maybe not more picturesque, just different. It's more Eastern influenced (squat toilets). Zanzibar is ridiculously beautiful. Wespent 2 days on the beach. The sand is like flour - soft and powdery.The water is like neon blue and warm. We tried to go snorkling oneday, but all of the sudden we found ourselves swimming in a swarm of jellyfish. We freaked out a bit and got out of there. We didn't really get stung, just little pin pricks, but it was crazy scarey. That night we went for a walk on the beach. We sat just looking at the stars, andt his Massai guy came and sat with us. His name was Yacob. He's from the Massai tribe on the main land and I guess owners of shops bring the tribal guys out to the island to help them sell stuff. Yacob was awesome. He didn't speak much English, but we taught him some more words, and he tried to teach us some Swahili. We hung out with him for like 2 hours.Yesterday we took a tour of the island. We went to the old slave market, and palace ruins, and an old Arab fort, and then we took a tour of a spice plantation. Zanzibar is the spice capital of theworld. For lunch they served us fresh fruit from the farm: oranges, passion fruit, custard melon, mango, mangostein, rambutan, bananas, pineapple, and teas: lemon grass, marsala, and ginger. It was great.Then they showed us how all the spices are grown, and this guy climbed up like a 30 foot coconut tree (I don't really know how tall it was -I'm really bad at estimating, but it was freakin' tall) and he dropped down a bunch of conocnuts, so we had coconut milk and meat for desert. Last night we had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant! and then walked around a night market. We've discovered that if we tell people that we're from America (b/c everyone asks) they want to sell you shit and they try to rip you off. So now we tell people we're from Dry Tortuga. No one knows where or what that is, so they just leave us alone, orthey just chat with us. It's good. Well, we go back to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania today and then to Arusha and then to the Ngorogoro Crater and then the Serengeti and then Nairobi and then Cairo. We are happy and having a wonderful time. We'll upload more pictures when we get some time, and I'll try to update our blog. I know, I've beenslacking.