It's been a long dang time since I updated my blog with some substantial writing. I'm sorry. Backpacking around has proven to be a time consuming experience. A great time consuming experience, none the less. Well i am at Backpackers hostel right now, and the server is down, so it’s a great opportunity to type a blog without having to pay for each minute of internet. Now as the server is down, I really can't recall what I talked about last. How about a recap of the last two months? Ok, not that much... Haha. But I'll roll off some highlights!
Adele did a nice blog about our camping trip to Kiwayu Island, a 6-7 hour sail from Lamu, off the coast of Kenya. It was a beautiful isolated island with baobab tree's and white-ish sand and beautiful water! However, there were HUGE flipping bugs that flew at my face, and tried to burrow down my shirt as we set up our tent under the baobab tree. YUCK! They were like massive scratchy flying cockroaches! You could imagine my enthusiasm about that situation... Now the real excitement was in the sailing too and from. I was a little nervous about sailing in these beautiful handmade dhow boats, even though I have never been nervous about being out on the water at home. Maybe it's because at Christmas I got seasick and that has never happened to me. Maybe because the wind is SO powerful! You get these bursts of wind that fill the sails with such strength, pulling it forward, and tipping the boat at extreme angles. Now I also have not done all that much sailing so, the angles themselves I was not quite comfortable with. I asked the captain and the owner of the boat if they ever tip, and they said no, rarely. Other things cause sinking ships. He didn't elaborate on the "other things" much to my relief. I really don't like talking about things that could cause my death with sailing mishaps, while I am actually sailing. Along the way to Kiwayu we passed a dhow that was on its way down with just the top of the sail emerged and throng fishermen were swimming around frantically. I asked if we should help them, but as they were really close to shore, there was no need. We continued sailing up the coast to our petite tropical island destination at great speed due to the incredible wind strength that day! Just as I began to relax after witnessing the sinking ship, CRACK, the mast breaks! Holy crap! I start praying instantaneously. The boat was tipping left and right as the sail was whipping around in the wind, with the broken piece of mast swaying like a pendulum. My heart was racing, Adele and Maya (an American girl on the trip with us) were sitting at the front of the boat, after realizing what had happened, they scrambled to the back of the boat. Clasping together, we prayed and watched as the crew sprang and swung around the stern like monkeys to get the sail under control. They wrapped the sail around the erect piece of mast and lowered it as fast as they could. Whew! That was a near death experience. Mike, the Australian owner of the boat, looks at me and says, "Now that is how a dhow sinks!" "Oh my Lord," I thought to myself, "Thank you for my life!" Luckily we had an outboard motor on the boat. They got that sucker spinning and we were on our way again! They tied down the sail and we moved on. The crew started untying the sail and MacGyver-ed a new shorter one. They succeeded in the operation, strung up the new sail, pulled the lines and shoo, the wind filled the sail and we were kicking along again. We all relaxed, Mike, cracked a beer, took a sip and CRACK!! OH MY LANTA, the mast broke again. "Sweet Jesus," I prayed, "I DON'T WANT TO DIE". They dropped the sail down real quick, thanks to the day’s previous practice, and we continued with only the motor. We made it to Kiwayu without any further complications. Our time there was totally relaxing. We wished we had the guitar but got along without. They found a new mast on the island, and we were set for the cruise back. I was trying not to be nervous, with our preceding experience in the back of my mind. We stopped for a snorkel on the tip of the island. It was beautiful; I LOVE snorkeling! Went for a small walk up the beach and found a cave in the rock walled shore which was FULL of shells, beautiful. I collected some favorites and we headed back to the boat for the last leg of our journey. It was smooth sailing until, SCRAPE, we found ourselves perched atop coral reef. The boat was practically on its side. We had to gently rock it to release off the reef. I tell you after that, I was about ready to dive off and start swimming. My heart did not want anymore sailing catastrophes. Apart from the sailing adventure and almost losing our tent on the way over to Lamu, it proved to be the Island I grew to love from my original 4 days there at Christmas.
Next on the highlight list, Tanga, Tanzania! I loved Tanzania. As soon as we started to head down the coast, I felt a peace in my spirit, and an excitement for the next, and last leg of our journey. When we arrived in Tanga, a small costal town in northern TZ, Rasta David picked us up from the bus stop. Rasta David is the friend of my beloved friend Sarah Switzer, from back home. Sarah was a HUGE inspiration in my coming to Africa in the first place, as she had come to do work in Tanzania twice. So she hooked me up with all her awesome friends she made on her earlier visits. Rasta David was awesome!! So much fun, and a true Rasta man, with a membership card! He showed us around Tanga, and took us on a bike trip to the Amboli Caves. That was DEFINATELY one of my highlights, such a nice change from sitting in a bus. We rented some bikes, and cycled about an hour to the cave. It was BEAUTIFUL. I was in awe of the beauty of the land. We cycled road side through town; past markets, and homes, till we branched off on a dirt road through a village. It was one of my favorite experiences. I didn't even like the caves themselves that much with all the spiritual garbage that lived in there. On the way back to town we stopped at a local drinking hut for some local coconut liquor, aka, fermented, disgusting, thick, crap. It was awesome to sit with the local's and choke back a 200 shilling (17 cents) glass of the stuff, definitely more for the experience than the joy of drinking it, for sure. As we only had like two nights there and one day. That night we met up with another one of Sarah's friends, AJ. He was a super nice guy. Came to pick us up and took us to a restaurant for chicken and chips, The Harbor Bar, or something. He was really funny, and hospitable. After meeting such nice people, I really wanted to stay longer, but we couldn't. Oh well, it just added to my fire to come back. We left at 5:30 am for the first bus to Dar Es Salaam, the next morning.
Our bus broke down on the way to Dar, so we got to enjoy a one hour roadside break. We missed two ferries on the way to Zanzibar. But finally made it there by like 7pm, I think. I was SO happy to make it. Zanzibar was the one place that if I could only go one place in East Africa, that was where I wanted to go. We had dinner on the sea front, where there are about 40 tables of different food vendors to choose from. Zanzibar Pizza proved to be our favorite. A fried pastry, filled with spiced ground beef, vegetables, cheese, mayo and an egg (1000tzsh=85cents). That was our supper every night; accompanied with a DELICOUS glass of fresh squeezed sugar cane juice, splashed with ginger and lime (250tzsh=21cents)! YUMMY! The first day on Zanzibar we went on a Spice Tour. It was a boring morning of looking at how spices grew, most of which I lived in for the last 6 months, some were interesting, but not a lot. There were some really cute kids that tied all these neat grass rings and necklaces on us. Who later proved to be evil kids because they stole 100,000tzsh=85$ from me. I was not impressed when I discovered I'd been pick pocketed as I was trying buy some of they're dumb spices at the end. Sorry about the bitterness. No actually feel sorry for the poor bloke I caught picking my pocket the next night as Adele and I were leaving a concert. I must say I was not being a good Christian. I tore a strip off the guy among other things that I can't write about. If you care to know, ask me upon my return. Our day snorkeling trip to Prisoner Island was another grand highlight. The island was ABSOLUTLEY gorgeous, THE most turquoise water I have EVER seen, WHITE sand, shells, palms, it was a slice of heaven! Before we arrived we spent two hours snorkeling over huge reefs. I saw tons of amazing colorful fish that I don't know the names of, and have never seen before. On the island, sat an old "prison" that is a 5 star resort now, and giant turtles! The turtles were amazing. Some were 150 years old, with scars on their backs from trees falling on them in storms. The huge ones were up to my waist!! They were like dinosaurs! We lounged on the beach, eating mangos and papaya, soaking up the sun. I loved it. There is nothing else in the world that I would have rather have been doing than that. I bought a bubuey while I was on Zanzibar. I felt a huge urgency to get one, and so I did; a full black burka. I was covered from head to toe with only my eyes, hands and feet showing. I wore it most of the time we were on the coast, and as we traveled back to Arusha. It was truly amazing how much respect I got the second I put the thing on. It was SO nice to not be a constant spectacle and target. Whenever Adele and I walked around while I was wearing it, all the hassling stopped! Praise God! It was interesting for sure, and I feel like I will be using it in the future. The only comments I received a few times, were "mzungu ninja" and "white woman in a burka!" The later was from a white guy who approached me, and couldn't hold back. He says "Are you Muslim?" "No." I reply. "Where are you from?" "Canada." "What? Why are you wearing that?" I showed him my face and he was astounded, "A white woman in a burka." He wanted to show me to his friends, and announced me as "And this is a white woman in a burka" Haha, pretty funny.
After loading our bags on the bus to Arusha, and missing it, we caught the next bus a half hour behind. It was a pretty harmless journey of 9 hours, I'm getting used to a lot of driving; day trips to Victoria will be no problem! Amina, Sarah’s good friend from Arusha, picked us from the bus stop. They were SO nice and SO accommodating. She was married a year ago to a really nice man Kitanga, and they have a BEAUTIFUL baby girl Nadya! She cooked us delicious food, and helped us in everyway she could. We were SO blessed by their family. Kitanga is a guide on the Serengeti, and so he hooked us up with a great deal on a two day safari. We went to Lake Manyara (Spelling?) and Ngorongoro Crater! It was an awesome two days. Saw four of the Big Five, Rhino, Elephant, Hippo and Lion. We didn't see a Leopard. I did see one, however, when I was at Murchison Falls. The parks I have been blessed to visit have been absolutely breathtaking, beautiful, and plentiful animals.
We finally took the 40 hour bus journey back to Mbarara; I plowed through an AMAZING new book I bought called "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. It’s about a 23 year old man who is completely addicted to drugs and alcohol. It’s his journey through rehab. A gripping book, I could not put it down. So now I have taken Adele to the airport to fly to Amsterdam. Now starts the next leg of our journey!
I have all my pictures to upload now, I will post them all after this blog, enjoy! There are almost 100!
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