People > Things

Hello friends!

Wow! What a time. I was travelling on a "Matatu" mini-bus from Mombasa to Watamu, Kenya (google it!) when I notice two laughing guys in the seat behind me. "Habari Zenu?" I ask, and it all took off from there. They're brothers. Fisherman. They both travel to Mombasa, leaving their families, to sell fish. This time they're going home to see their families. They're Mohammed and Chimera, two faithful Muslims that looked hungry during their fasting for this month of Rammadan. We get talking and they seem to think that I have no idea what I am doing and therefore adopt me as their pseudo son. Mohammed sets me up with a friend to guide me around the town and get met set up with lodging. I see slave caves from the Arab days and a "coral garden" that you'll just have to see pictures of.

I also decided to take a dhow to Pemba, an island in Tanzania. A dhow is a boat, but a rather dodgy boat at that. They're about 30 feet, homemade of wood, and use a combination of sail and sputtering outboard motor to plod along. Mohammed sets up my journey with the captain, haggles the price, and decides I'm staying the night at his family's house, which includes eating a Muslim Rammadan meal with them after the sun goes down. They vacate a room for me (There were five of them... I think they all slept in the same room to give me my own room.) I spend the evening with his son walking around town, watching English futbol at the community theatre (aka hut with a TV in it.), and talking about life. We greet half the town and he leaves me at the theatre to go pray at the mosque for a time.

I wake up to catch the departing dhow at 5am before the sunrise and shimmy my way between some kenyans to take my comfy seat on a ginormous sack of potatoes for the five hour journey. I'd like to think the potatoes, on rough seas, are like a free massage chair. The captian lets me troll fish off the back of the boat and I catch a 3 foot tuna. He then wants me to drive the boat, which requires me putting my foot on the rudder to keep it headed straight. One of the crew members on the boat, Isa, has been appointed to be my "host" on Pemba since I, again, have no clue where I'm going.

Once on Pemba, we hike 30 minutes along a beach and through a village to a road to catch the one hour DalaDala truck to Chake Chake, a lively little town on the Indian Ocean. I go to immigration where I'm informed that it is illegal for tourists to travel the seas by Dhow. After apologizing and "verbally bowing" to the man telling me I'm an idiot, I get my Tanzanian visa. Isa travelled hours with me to get me to Chake Chake, the town where I stayed the night. He was just happy to have someone to hang out with I think.

I then met one of the guys working at the hotel I stayed at, and we got to chatting. We talked about life, he showed me the town, got me free tea and coffee from random "dukas" (shops), and reminded me that it's good to have friends.

Then I went looking in Chake Chake for a restaurant. There are no restaurants. At all. In my desparation, I walked into a room and asked if it was a restaurant. The group of men sitting and eating on the floor invited me to eat the Rammadan meal with them, of which I obliged. They were all men from the Zanzibar media covering the election registration controversy in Pemba. Apparently there's a protest staged for the day after I leave! Too bad... Anyways, they got me set up with a friend's hotel in Zanzibar (my next destination), talked about life, and gave me advice for traveling in Zanzibar.

Then at breakfast this morning I met two Tanzanians that were traveling on my same flight to Zanzibar. They're working for ICAP, international center for AIDS prevention. They gave me advice for my travels and offered to take me with them in their free government car to the airport. And once in Zanzibar, they shuttle me across the island in another car, for free. Out of the goodness of their heart.

I've met all these people in just the past four days, and I can't believe it! I'm absolutely surprised at people's hospitality and so, so grateful. I have been able to talk with people about life, poverty, AIDS, Allah, Jesus, education, their families, corruption, and Obama.

What an addictive place.

-Lance