Jambo!

After a day of travelling, we reached Dar. Despite the length, the journey was good (I would highly recommend Emrites- they are balling out of control),aside from me getting "randomly selected" for a pat down at JFK. Partially my fault since I wore an Ethiopian scarf (obviously, easily mistaken for terrorist garb)and talked openly about how "random searches" were inherently, not random.

Dar is hectic. The ride to the hotel reminds me very much of Addis - cars weaving in and out of traffic, overcrowded minibuses with football players on the back, and people coming up to you selling the usuals. After settling inn, we checked into an internet cafe only to discover Drogba broke his arm and is not playing in the World Cup! One word: heartbreak. I curse the Japanese for eternity.

Headed to Chefs Pride for dinner. Met the owner - a lovely man from Zanzibar sometimes called Ali Baba. Ali pretty much took us under his wing - told us about Dar and Zanzibar and which places to go and see, and which safaris had the best value. Plus the food was delicious (curry fish!).

Highlights of our first day in Zanzibar - catching the 7am ferry and sitting through the most ridiculous Jean Claude Van Damme movie ever. The guy sitting (sleeping actually) next to me woke up suddenly as we pulled in, introduced himself (apologized for sleeping since he had partied the night away in Dar)and offered to meet up with Molly and I later. Once off the ferry we decided to walk to Karibou Inn, much to the dismay of the many cab drivers outside. Since then we've had delicious food (octopus,spiced tea and coffee),seen a couple of old palaces,and haggled successfully for a fake Barcelona jersey.

We spent the day seeing some old palaces from the Swahili kingdom and having people say generally ridiculous things to us. Example:
Homeboy selling goods: What is your name?
Me: Sofia
Homeboy: Oh what a good Muslim name... My name is Loverboy.

Also:

Random Guy - You are mixed race? Yah, you look like cappuccino!

And there's much more where that came from. At night we opted out of the local restaurant for an open seafood market- probably the best seafood ever. Kingfish, tuna, prawns, shrimp...you name it, we ate it. Afterwards we hung out around the waterfront and made some friends. Then headed out to the Sunset Bar at the swanky Africa house. I was reunited with my lover, Savannah Cider! God is good! We also made friends with a particularly drunk Tanzanian who demanded to be photographed and bragged about the 12 languages he spoke and the 48 airports he's been to. All in all, an interesting couple of days.

We're about an hour and a half north of Stone Town now, in Kendwa. Incredibly beautiful beaches. Will post about this later. Dinner calls!