Why not go to Zanzibar while being here in Tanzania. Zanzibar is an island off of Tanzania in the indian ocean (yes I checked off another ocean on my list) $120 round trip plane ticket was so worth it. They say “why not?” in zanzibar so much. “want to go to the party tonight?” “why not?” “wanna come in the water with me? “why not?” Beach life is so good. Everyone is so chill, maybe it’s the marijuana maybe it’s the salt in the air, but no matter what I loved this trip. It might have been my most favorite trip I have ever had. It has made up for my family going to Hawaii twice without me and California like 5 times without me. We stayed at a place called Jambo right on the beach. Yes right on the beach. $15 a night. The water came right up to the bar. Ah it was so perfect. We become really good friends with the guys there. They made my laugh so hard. Guys here are SO different than America. They act like little children, maybe it’s the language barrier but it really isn’t. I mean we had breathing contests in the ocean. They do random things to keep them entertained. I love it cause in America all the kids have phones. But yeah we hung out with the manager of the place. His name is fire. Well his nickname is fire. Lol they all have nick names. He was so cool and said the funniest things. They all shower in the ocean. In their clothes. Ah I love them all like my brother. The nicest people you will meet. I felt like such a princess there even though there were spiders in my bed. We were pretty much camping on the beach.
We left Thursday, yona picked us up from placement. I went with the best girls ever, esther, alanna, breanna, Melissa, lirenza, and holly. 3 of them are Mormon. It was really good getting to know them cause some I really didn’t know that well. Anyways the flight to dar was like 45 mins. Right when I got off the plane I could tell it was so humid there. We then got a little mini sketchy plane to get to the island. It was either that or a long ferry ride and the plane was only $5 cheaper. And the ferries didn’t go at night and that’s when we landed. We flew the little plane at sunset, it was so beautiful. I sat right behind the pilots. It was crazy. I had never been in a plane like that. Check another off the bucket list. I was a little nervous at first but everything was fine. We got off the plane and took a taxi to our hostel. Which was like over an hour. We got to our hostel and ate there. The food was good. We had chicken burgers everytime which were to die for. All the food was way fresh. We walked on the beach and it was so beautiful. Ah the stars! We then went to bed in our little cute bungalow. It’s so warm there. Like we didn’t need any blankets. Oh and we slept in the same room with some Asian guy but didn’t talk to him cause he went to bed early and left in the morning. So funny.
I woke up at sunset and went outside and I knew this was going to be a good trip. We got free breakfast. Either sweet or salty. Sweet was crepes with chocolate and fruit. Salty was chapatti with eggs and fruit. And we got passion juice which I hated at first but then I started to like it. It was just so strong. So that morning we found out there are NO atms in anywhere near us, only in stone town which is an hour away. And we had no money…so we decided that day to go to stone town which was good cause it wasn’t a good beach day that day cause it was cloudy. We went to a spice tour and oh my gosh it was the best. Like I was so surprised like we barely paid anything and it was the best tour I have ever been on. Our tour guide was great. Apparently we were his first. He was so funny. He made so many jokes but like with a serious face. Like 50% of them were sex jokes I swear. Like nutmeg is good for girls and ginger for guys lol…”bunga bunga”. We saw so many spices it was really cool to see. They gave us a little cup made out of a leaf to put all the stuff in. They had us smell or taste it to guess what it was. I guessed only one right. I think it was cinnamon. I naturally met some children there. Ah I love kids. They made us bracelets out of leaves and CROWNS. And little baskets. Like it was amazing. And then at the end a guy climbed a coconut tree and then sang to us. He was really good. And then we drank coconut water and the meat! It was so good! And then we got fed the best food! It was spiced rice and banana with this sauce and tuna and other stuff. And alllll this fruit. I tried lots of fruit. The fruit here it to die for. Best I have ever had. Jack fruit is so good! And passion fruit. We then we to an atm and went back to jambo. There was a huge party that night. We ate and chilled by the fire. There was really loud music and lights. People really didn’t come til 11/12. Everyone wanted to go in. I secretly didn’t and wanted to dance more but oh well. It was still fun. We danced and everyone said I danced like shakira. Also there are masai guys there. They are partiers. It’s so weird. They are a little creepy when they are drunk. There is a hammock there and I just loved going on there.
Saturday was a great day. BEACH DAY. Sun was shining. And oh man is the sun so strong. We got pretty burnt. Not too bad. Sunscreen on sunscreen. We went in the water and it is SO warm. Gah. It was so blue and perfect. The tide is weird there and it is so shallow for miles. So we would go way out there and the waves we still so far away so we would literally be standing in the middle of the ocean it was crazy. We rode this mopeds on the beach for an house for 5$. It was seriously so fun. I felt like I was on top of the world. They reminded me of jet skis. We just chilled and went in the water when it rained. Took lots of pictures. Laid and listened to music. And chill with vibe and fire and all the boys. Every day was just perfect and so fun I can’t explain it. We then got ready to go to the rock for dinner. The restraint is on a rock in the ocean. It was so cool. We took a little boat out there. It was gorgeous at sunset and the food was good.
Sunday we woke up early like 5am to go swim with dolphins! Yes wild dolphins! We got in this tiny boat at 6am in the crazy windy ocean. We got snorkeling gear, except it was so gross. We got out there and he said be ready. We had to be ready at anytime for when the dolphins come. There were a few other boats out there. Quite honestly what we were doing was quite dangerous. Boats could have ran us over. First time we jumped in and we just missed then. You had to go so fast. Getting in and out was such a struggle. But so worth it. It was so tiring. There was one really good swim. There were two that were swimming right next to us. They are so big and beautiful. I really wanted to touch them but was scared. They go pretty fast. We saw lots in and out of the water. It was a dream! Ive always wanted to swim with dolphins. I also got stung by some jelly fish so check that off the bucket list as well. It didn’t hurt though. Just a weird feeling. A few of us got stung. We then got back to shore at 8 and the package was lunch…but we thought we would be out longer and such…so we didn’t want fish for breakfast..so we got a better price and only ended paying $10 for the dolphins. We then had another beach day and chilled all day. Some people got henna, we danced with masai guys. It was cool learning about their culture. We played some volleyball. We became so close with the guys there.
Monday we went to prison island to go snorkeling. We had to take a boat out there. And ah it was so hot out. We just wanted to get in the beautiful teal water. It was so clear. I could die. I have never been in a more beautiful place. So unreal. I had to keep reminding myself I was in paradise. We got to the island in our cute boat. We learned about how it used to be a prison a long time ago and then it was just a quarantine place for people who have yellow fever…etc. We then went to the tortoises. There were so many of them. We got to feed them. They are weird animals man…some were so big. We then got in the boat to snorkel! It was pretty amazing. I loved it. I love being in that water. Ah and I love swimming. So so good. I wanna go back. We then went out to dinner by a place next to jambo. SO SO good. It was allanas birthday so of course we had to go out. well we went out every night lol. It was our last night there and the guys there knew it so they made a little party for us. We legit had our own beach the whole time. It was so nice. We got free pina coladas and they gave her a gift. We danced around the bar. And oh my gosh I forgot to mention they love rap music. It is my favorite. I love rap. And Africans can dance. Forget american boys, they don’t treat us right and they cant dance. They always want to dance with us. They then lied to us saying there was a party (on a Monday?) they just couldn’t play loud music cause neighbors. So we went to this random place haha and it was just us and a few random people. So random. We just talked and danced a little. Oh man. And then we went back and chilled on the beach. We went to bed so late. Worth it. memories.
Tuesday was a struggle. Hence being tired and Melissa got sick but we brought her to stone town. We explored a little. Mainly just ate somewhere, I got indian. Indian food is so big here. We went to some shops and I got the best icecream everrrr. Like seriously. Im still dreaming about it. I had really bad lower abdominal pain so traveling sucked but we made it. I am fine. just some bacteria? Idk I went to the hospital today. Life is just so African great. I want to stay forever. I love the people. I love the warm weather. My parents come in a week yay!!
Basically I became best friends with the #zanzibabes. I love them so much. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect time. So many laughs. So many bug bites. So many African boys.
