Stone Town, Zanzibar

Monday we began the final leg of our trip, the journey to Zanzibar. Our morning started out a little delayed since the bus didn't come as early as Pastor Hafermann had hoped. With loading everyone's luggage, getting pulled over for speeding and the crazy traffic in Dar, we were pushing it to make the ferry in time. We got on though and settled in for a two and a half hour ride from Dar to the island of Zanzibar. It was a fairly nice ride and no one got seriously seasick. After disembarking and checking into our rooms at the hotel, we went out for lunch/supper at a local restaurant before walking to the Old Fort for some shopping. It was very hard not to buy something at every shop since the workers would try and talk you into everything whether you needed it or not. It seems to be that way for everyone around here as we had the same experience with guys on the street trying to sell us soccer jerseys. We did a "second supper" at the seafood market that night. They had almost everything imaginable from shrimp and lobster to octopus. It was all very fresh and everyone seemed to really enjoy it.
Tuesday we started out with a tour of the Anglican Slave Museum. As they took us through the museum, the guide did a very nice job of explaining what it would have been like for a slave waiting there, especially in the holding chambers. Next, we drove out of the city for a spice tour. We got to see how a lot of the spices we are accustomed to are grown. It was neat and at the end they let us try three of the teas they produce and some of the local fruit, the most interesting being a custard apple (English translation) which reminded us of bananas. They also let us try coconut water and meat, but in order to do that, one of the guys there climbed up a tree and dropped all the coconuts. Either he does that all the time and is used to climbing palm trees or he has no fear because it would have been a long way to fall if he had! Back in Stone Town we grabbed some lunch and had a little down time at the hotel before heading out to more museums and the Old Fort area for shopping and supper.