Before I left the West coast of Zanzibar, I was taking a walk on the white sandy beaches again. The friend of the woman who did my henna run up to me, shook my hand, held my hand and then just walked w/ me on the beach. We talked a bit, she was newly married, hence she had the black and red henna all over her feet, legs, arms and hands, which were now just fading. She was 23 and her husband was a conductor I guess, but I didn't see any type of train in Zanzibar, so I think I got confused in the translation. She only wanted to have one baby but wanted to wait. Then one of the common "beach boys" (vendors on the beach) came up to us and we all three just sat and talked about things. He liked music, Tupac, Eminem, Kenny Rogers, Mariah Carey....all kinds of stuff. Her name was Arusha and I asked if we could take a piture, she wanted me to put my hand on her shoulder so the my henna would be displayed....She was very sweet and it seemed she liked being close to me and I didn't mind. I got really hot sitting in the sun and had to go in, they weren't hot at all. I noticed not many tourists wear hats or sunglasses or anything like that. Most tourists are european and I noticed that in Europe as well. Baseball caps are very American. I almost always have sunglasses and a hat for protection from the sun.....
I went snorkeling out to an island and again Kassim came with to babysit. The island has one hotel on it and it costs $850/night. crazy. Anyway, the snorkeling was great! I had a guide and he would point things out and dive down and bring up a starfish for me to investigate. The coolest part is there would be layers of schools of fish. Five feet down would be like 300 yellow fish about the size of a can of beer, they wouldn't be swimming, they would just sorta float at the bottom and go whichever way the water moved. Then black and white stripped fish like the size of my hand would swim with me. Felt like I was a fish in their school and we would just paddle and swim together. They'd be looking at me and I'd be looking at them. It was such a cool feeling.....
According to Kassim, alot of black people don't know how to swim, he learned just 10 years ago. I remember that growing up, it seems several black people don't know how to swim. Even in my MBA class, I invited a few ladies to the pool party and I was told they couldn't swim either. Kassim said that swimming is viewed as a leisure activity, eventhough these people live by the water and go fishing, they don't learn to swim. Since work is such a priority, swimming doesn't rate on the priority list.
The little kids at the village where we launched the boat were crowding to get their picture taken.
Along the beach there was a pick-up game of football(soccer). The African men and the European men. I just stopped long enough to take a few pictures, seemed they all played together well. However, the speedo's have got to go.....no bueno. A little mystery is a good thing.
Some of these beach boys are very aggressive. They ask where are you from, how many in your group, where are you staying, are you married, where is your husband etc. They do this bc they want to book excursions and want the big groups bc they make more money. They also keep walking w/ you until they are chased off w/ a stick. My answers were very vauge bc I don't want to reveal anything that I am traveling by myself. I am from America, there are 6 of us, I am staying up the beach, can't remember the name of the hotel, yes I am married and my husband is by the pool. And he is a very, very big strong man. Adios dude.
My dinner is by the pool at the hotel and it was Swahili food and very relaxing evening.
I also tried to get a picture of the island from the plane so you could see how the reef surrounds the island.
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