July 17

When we sleep in the tents we have to have two hours in the morning to take them down, pack our stuff, get ready, eat breakfast, clean dishes, and clean the camp site. This morning we had a fairy to catch at 6:30. Which means that we had to leave the camp sight at 5:45 to drive to the dock. This morning we didn’t have to take down our tents. Our driver and cook offered to do it once we left to let us sleep a little extra. We woke up at 4:50 and packed our stuff. I’m not sure anyone actually ate breakfast because we new we would be spending the rest of the day on a boat but we had some coffee. Then we were off. The first fairy was not very long it was only about a thirty minute ride. When we showed up at the dock and scanned our tickets we were immediately packed onto the dock with all the other people. We shuffled towards the boat and found space to stand in between parked cars. We the shuffled off of the boat thirty minutes later. There was a bus waiting on the other side to us and all our luggage across the way. We noticed that in these countries where we’re staying that lines are not nearly as they are in the states. You have to stand directly behind the person in front of you or you get cut in front of. We were trying to stay all together while we were going through a security check point at the second dock with a crowd of people all around us it was really quite funny. We were running late so we hurried to the boat and the only spots left were on the front of the boat looking at the water. I felt bad for mom she had to wear a patch and everything. When we finally got to Zanzibar it was only about 9:30 so we dropped out stuff in our rooms and hung out for a second. We were hungry so we left and walked half a block to this really good breakfast place. I had toast and scrambled eggs and lots of coffee. We planned a walking tour of the stone town at two so we hung out until then. The tour was supper cool at first we were talking about why it’s called stone town and it’s because of the way the houses were made out of coral stone. We also looked at the different kinds of doors in all the homes and the meanings behind the carvings. Like a chain around the door meant that the house belonged to people who were a part of the slave trade, or different flowers meant that they traded different spices. Then we went to the old slave market and visited a small center that explained Zanzibars involvement in the slave trade. Basically slaves would be brought to Zanzibar to be actioned off to slave owners and then sent all around the world from there. We also visited a church built on top of the cite of the whipping post. We learned a little more about the city stopped for coffee and then headed back. Then some of us stayed at the hotel and some went to dinner.

-dagny