Zanzibar - Stonetown

Well folks...here we are, my final Africa post.  And only a solid 2 months after I got back, way to go me.  I have also missed NUMEROUS blogable events over the past two months...including the best night OF MY LIFE!   Don't worry...I'll get to that! 

So since my first Zanzibar post was getting OOC (out of control) long I decided to cut off after my trauma at the beach and do another post for our day in Stonetown.   I'm not sure if I mentioned this {and I'm too lazy to look} in my last post, but it should be known that Zanzibar had been without power on the entire island for like 2 months solid when we were there!  So the entire island was being run off of generators...big, loud, gas powered generators.  They whole island was abuzz...sorry I couldn't resist.  After our fabulous, yet slightly traumatic {for me} 3 days at the beach we headed into Stonetown for our last night.  Stonetown is a tragically delapidated city with an even more tragic past.  Stonetown was home to the last working slave market.  It only closed in 1873 and I forget the exact numbers, but we are talking hundreds of thousand of slaves were trafficked through Stonetown. Disgusting. 

We arrived in the city around lunch time and I think we were all quite shocked at the state of it after spending the last few days relaxing on a beautiful resort.  The town is made up of a bunch of decrepit stone buildings, with narrow dirt alleyways weaving throughout them.  The lack of electricity only exacerbated the situation. Stonetown is predominately Muslim, so very few women were seen on the streets.  Mostly men, trying to sell you something and loads of children, most barefoot, trying to get a little attention.  The stark contrast of the city set in one of the most beautiful locations ever really can't be avoided.

We went for lunch at this great Arabic restaurant...minus the fact that my chicken was on the bone and they had no AC, it was a pretty good lunch!

After lunch we walked along the seawall and saw these little bits of preciousness playing in the waves!

After lunch we visited the House of Wunder, which is an old house belonging to royalty which has now been turned into a museum documenting the history of Zanzibar as well as the Slave trade.  After the museum we headed to the local markets.

The fresh fruit/vegetable market...no thank you

Some GIANT 'nanners

Some Rambutan...fruits, similar to lychee

The fish market...you can count me OUT!

After deciding that I was not going to eat any non packaged foods in Stonetown we headed over to the location of the slave market.  There has since been a church built over the spot, but there is a memorial statue to commemorate the event.  We had a very adventagious tour guide who was not afraid to ask for his tip afterwards :)

After touring the old slave market we just wandered the lovely streets (ahhhm....alleyways) and did a little shopping from the oh so kind shopkeepers who couldn't wait to get us in their shops.  

said "street"...this is the main drag

a more scenic street view

That night we had our last dinner on the rooftop restaurant of our hotel...it was actually really nice, but I did opt for the veggie risotto after seeing the fish market earlier that day!  We were advised not to go out wandering the streets after dark since Stonetown isn't the safest of towns.  So we spent our last night up on the rooftop hanging out with each other.  We had a great group on this trip, we really lucked out!!

We just had time for one last "lunch with a view" the next day before we had to head to the airport.  I had another stellar trip to Africa, one I won't soon forget.  Again the people of Africa have amazed me with their joy, graciousness and their endurance.  They face more challenges daily than most face in a lifetime and once again I have been reminded of the abundance of grace in my life.  

I'll leave you with this little gem!  I think this lovely lady came to Zanzibar and never went home :)