The week between Christmas and New Year’s was a change of pace since I had friends visiting the Island. Up until the past week I had not really done any of the touristy activities that are available in Zanzibar. I stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights on the East coast (see previous blog post), went on a spice tour, sat down for a nice dinner at a restaurant and walked around the tourist shops in town.
On Wednesday morning my local friends picked us up at my place at 5 AM and drove us to Kizamkazi (south tip of the island). I got to swim in the sea with dolphins! Very fun, even though it felt like most of our time was spent chasing the dolphins. There were several boats around and we would watch to see the dolphins, once we spotted them the boats would try to quickly reposition and we would all dive in. Sometimes the dolphins would change directions but other times we would actually get to swim right next to us for a couple of minutes (seconds) before we would climb back on the boat and repeat the process. (sorry no pictures of dolphins)
On our way back we stopped for lunch. After lunch everyone seem to want to sit and relax but I just could not play tourist any longer. I could not even convince my local friend to let me teach her to swim. So while my friends were resting I walked down to the beach and started talking with a lady named Rukia. Her and several local kids were throwing, pounding, and massaging pweza (octopus) that they had caught on the rocks and in the sand. This was for the purpose of tenderizing the pweza. I ended up joining in all of the fun and was recruited to go back to the restaurant with Rukia to learn how to prepare pweza. After we were finished cleaning and preparing the pweza I began helping fill orders.
Rukia and I
Kasim (the head chef)
That afternoon I got to know many new friends, laughed way too much, worked on my Swahili and learned to cook several new dishes. I am always amazed at how many new adventures happen each day. I think I had more fun cooking than I did swimming with dolphins. Next time I will have to join the kitchen staff first so I can get a discount on my meal.
4 comments:
Looking forward to having you prepare some meals for us but it might be a little hard to get some of the ingredients. New skills are always good to have. This could be a New Years resolution for us all.
H
Sounds like a fun time swimming in the ocean!!! You are so tan and you look great, We are counting the days until you return with all the stories of you adventures.
Hey! Alissa!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! You didn't tell us how you liked the octopus. I wondered if you were a picky eater before the trip, it doesn't sound like you are now. What a good sport you are! This must have been a slow week for weddings, huh? Talk to you again soon!
Renee'
The boat race looked like so much fun and in the sunshine.
Looking forward to hearing about some of the other food you are eating--any pastries? Suzi
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