Today we begin the long journey back to the States. First, we have a 1 1/2 hour drive back to Stone Town and then the 2 1/2 hour ferry to Dar es Salaam. We'll fly to Amsterdam from the Dar es Salaam Airport, have a 6 hour layover where we can venture out into the city, then an 11 hour flight back to LAX. I made sure to pack mittens and a hat for Amsterdam and ginger root for the ferry. Turns out that ginger really works to settle your stomach.
I'm not sure how I feel about going home. I know it'll be nice to return to comfort and I'm actually quite ill at this point, but I have so enjoyed who I am when I'm pushed out of my comfort zone. I really surprised myself on this trip. I wasn't quite sure that I had what it takes to be a world traveler, but now I know that I can handle pretty much anything. I was actually surprised that I felt so good for so long. It's only been the last few days that I was feeling back and I had to finaly start on Cipro last night. I'm also pretty sunburned.
Yesterday was an incredible day, but the sun is fierce, especially when reflecting off of the water, and I got pretty fried despite the sunscreen. We went out to go snorkeling yesterday. It was so cool. We were on a small wooden boat called the "Prince" with a crew of four African sailors. I was amazed at the skill and strength they had in sailing this boat that lacked all of the technical advantages of these hig-tech modern sail boats. We were a little concerned when we looked out from the shore and saw a man bailing water out of the vessel they said we'd be on, but it turned out to be really neat. The boat was pretty much all wodd and rope, with some holes drilled through beams and only two wooden pulleys. The crew had to use pretty much their whole bodies to hoist up the sails. I'll refrain from turning this into a romance novel, but I will admit that one in particular looked very good while doing all that hoisting. Haha :) We sailed about an hour and a half our to the reef where we dove from the top of the boat (which was extremely fun), and snorkeled for a half hour or so. While we swam, the crew made lunch. I watched them clean, cut, and prepare the fish on the way out and they barbequed it right on the boat. Lunch was postponed a little bit though because poor Alex got stung really badly by a jellyfish on the way back to the boat. We were really worried about him, but he's doing okay now. They stopped at a nearby island and had Gina take him to get some medical advice. While they were gone, the crew assured me that he's be just fine and gave me a plate of food to eat. It was pretty darn good. I've actually gotten a lot of cooking tips on our trip to Tanzania. We went straight back to our resort so Alex could rest. I was really impressed with how well he held himself together because he was in A LOT of pain. That jelly got him good.
It really has felt a little like paradise here on the beach with the clear, warm water, but I think I've had my fill of sun and holiday. I wouldn't mind seeing more of how people in Zanzibar and Tanzania really live and the health concerns, but I've found that I can only take so much vacation. I need to feel of use, I guess.
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