Cordoba, Spain Oct 2010

You know sometimes when you just cant be bothered and wonder why you are making yourself go to all the effort. Well this was an example of how I was feeling on this particular morning in Sevilla. I had read my trusty Lonely Planet and decided that I was up for the challenge to nut out a day trip to Cordoba as it was only a couple of hours away. But it's the transport dramas that really makes me not want to bother – getting up early is another reason too! So we manage to get up at the crack of dawn, skip breakfast, catch a bus to the train station – where we stocked up the most delicious crossaints and freshly squeezed orange juice.

The train was smooth, fast and showcased beautiful scenery. Just the day before I had a run-in with the vending machine that took my coins when I was craving a chocolate but never gave me the chocolate! I started to push and kick the machine whilst keeping an eye out for security guards – mum to the rescue put in more coins and got me 2 chocolate bars – phew! Well this same drama happened again on the train (yes there are vending machines on trains in Spain) only this time it didnt give me my water! I came back to my seat with a long face only to tell my story to mum and have her burst into fits of laughter – what do you call vending machine anxiety???

So after a short and beautiful trip out to Cordoba we arrive at a new station and within moments find the tourist information centre who advise that we can catch the bus right outside the station door – all true and he dropped us right in town. I found a gorgeous old bridge with a statue of Mary on it. As it was only around 8am when we arrived I got some great shots with the sun in the background and it looked brilliant behind her!

We went into the most amazing mosque now converted into a church – the Arab style archways were amazing. The detail that the church architects went to just to ensure that they could outshine the beauty of the mosque – fail in my opinion. I loved it there. Then we decided to roam the narrow streets of the town and found many little gift stores selling handicrafts from leather.

There was a beautiful old nights castle that we also visited and rested in the most amazing gardens, whilst enjoying gorgeous views over the town. Of course I had another tapas and Spanish beer craving so we ended up in yet another bar drinking beer with just enough time to giggle and stumble up to the main road and somehow fluke our way onto a bus back to the train station for the trip back to Sevilla. Its a beautiful town and definitely worth the day trip!

Next blog.... Granada

Sevilla - Oct 2010

The very first time that I came to Spain as a 19 year old, Sevilla (Seville) was a city which I visited but only by night – a very drunken sangria one which had me dancing like a stupid tourist on stage with the live Flamenco performers (cringe). Thankfully now that I am many years wiser, I managed to restrain myself from such foolishness and the closest stage I came to climbing was the train platform :). I really didn't recall Sevilla being so big! Nor do I remember our partying Contiki tour passing through the HUGE cathedral – lets leave this subject all together shall we?

The cathedral really was amazing and I loved it even more because of the still standing tower and courtyard from the original mosque that they built over. At 70 years (by only 2 weeks) I managed to make my poor mother walk up 34 ramps of this minaret that once has horses walk to the very top everyday. It was completely claustrophobic as it just went round and round forever! Another thing I didn't remember about Sevilla is the gorgeous horse-drawn carriages – they are brilliant and I have no shortage of photos to prove it. The owners on the other hand are grumpy men who threaten tourists with the horse whip if they take photos of the horses and not purchase a ride! I saw it with my own eyes – thank goodness the police just turned up!

Sevilla is also the city with gorgeous hand painted tiled for street names and a lovely square to stroll in. The tram also services the university and until this trip, I really didn’t realise that its a University city! Aside from seeing the uni campuses, I learnt this fact first hand, as mum and I did happy laps on the city circle bus lines, where on a Thursday evening you scratch your head as to why there are so many Gen X students carrying plastic bags on the bus – its called carrying your alcohol, munchies and Marijuana for Thursday university night! Just like in Australia! I have never seen so many drunk uni students anywhere!

We went on a tour of the bull ring in Sevilla and by the end of the tour, I knew enough information to realise that if I actually went along to a bull fighting tournament, I would probably leave in tears!

I found an amazing store with vintage Flamenco posters from the 1950's and 60's that promoted upcoming Flamenco Fiestas and bull fighting tournaments. I lost my mind and bought two posters and a million postcards – which are all now proudly displayed on my bedroom wall!

We also found a little riad (Moroccan style home) that showcased a different Flamenco dancer, singer and guitarist each night for a small crowd. It was amazing and shat all over the Flamenco Opera in Madrid. On our way back to the hotel that night again we were shocked to see the streets buzzing with activity and the BEST EVER selection of tapas bars that I have experienced to date in Spain! I cant wait to go back there just for the selection. We ended up being addicted to a tapas pub that had the most delicious tapas and cheapest price ever. Suddenly I realised that I LOVE Spanish beer – and for a none beer drinker from Australia, this was a true miracle. I was craving beer like Homer Simpson for the whole day! Mum on the other hand got her “nut” fix – I grew up listening about her stories and love of chestnuts – you should have seen her face when we saw the chestnut guy roasting them. I soon learnt that perhaps my temper is not only from my father, but also my mother as she got angry that the bottom of her newspaper cone filled with warm chestnuts, in fact had 3 burnt one's. She was eyeing the guy off the whole time we sat nearby eating them, and continued to drive me “nuts”saying she should go over there and tell him she wants replacements! Needless to say I ensured that we bought more chestnuts or Castanya for mum over the next two weeks in Spain!

Next blog... Cordoba

Barcelona Riots - Oct 2010

When Mum and I were leaving Athens to fly to Spain, we had been told by cousins that the very next day there were to be union strikes on transport across the EU, so we were very lucky we were booked on flights that day before! People had suggested riots etc but I really didn't pay much attention. So that second day in Barcelona we decided to walk from our hotel into the city (20 min walk) and soak up the lovely scenery on the streets of Barca – in particular the gorgeous building facades. We arrived in town and Las Rambalas was a ghost town. It seemed everyone knew the metro, taxi and buses were not working today so spent the day lazing in their hotel room. There were a few stores open but all had security guards that were not normally out the front.

The golden rule when you need to use the bathroom when travelling – you can always rely on the golden arches (Mc Donalds). But even they had their roller doors half down at 10.30am. The word on the street and we had seen it on the news that morning (albeit in Spanish but we got the jist of what they were saying). So everyone was avoiding Las Ramblas fearing a riot would break out. It seemed all peaceful but with only a couple of shops opened we headed down to the beach for a stroll. A couple of my friends live in Barca and were expecting to have a baby any day whilst we were there. We arranged to meet them that evening in Las Ramblas at the Zurich building cafe shop, which apparently is the meeting point for most locals. A few hours before we were due to meet I received a text message from my friend advising that it would be safer to come to her apartment near Station de Sants as the riot was expected to commence at our agreed meeting time.

So we agreed and slowly walked back up to Las Ramblas – the scenes that we were greeted with was crazy. We realised that something wasn't quiet right when we saw the huge bins they have on the roadside for residents to use – tipped over in the middle of the main street which was now very empty. There were police absolutely everywhere! Some were trying to pull the bins off the road and back into an upright position – the rubbish spilling all over the roads was disgusting.

People were picking up the pace with their walk and getting where they needed to go fast. The closer we get to the centre of town the more damage we see. It wasn't just the rubbish bins blocking streets, but smashed shop front windows and an awful lot of graffiti across shop windows criticising capitalism and corporate greed. Shop window after shop window the paint cans had sprayed their messages loud and clear for all to see. I was turning into a journalist as I was madly taking photos -
I couldn't believe my beloved Barca had turned into the early stages of a war zone!

By the time we got to the top of Las Rambalas we met the riot police and there was an overhead police helicopter watching the crowd. Somehow mum and I were right at the front of the group of police in riot gear armed with tear gas, rubber bullets, shields, helmets and batons and there is me and a little 70 year old! I couldn't help myself and took a heap of photos just in-case they attacked the crowd when no-one was actually moving. You could actually see in the crowd the young trouble makers who were just there so they can be violent and a nuisance. I decided it was not safe for us there and that it was time to head home, so we weaved our way back through the crowd and continued down the street to our hotel. The destruction was everywhere and by now all stores were open before were quickly shutting down after hearing that the protesters had gathered nearby.

Things calmed down that night but watching the news we discovered that whilst we were strolling down at the beach, revellers had set alight a police car – it was very chaotic and we seemed to be just behind the excitement all the way. It was certainly a side to Barcelona that I never imagined possible – my mum got to see European passions flare and got to experience Barcelona with no shopping :(

Next blog... Madrid

Madrid - Sept 2010

Madrid...as a true Spanard one should say “Mathrid”. What can I say but the city blew me away. I really wasn’t expecting much but WOW if I got this excited about a concrete jungle, then I really do need to get me to NYC! Perhaps it was that I miss the buzz of the streets at night in Arusha or the lack of live entertainment options? Whatever it was I loved it. We booked a Hostal on the main drag not far from Sol. I wasn't sure what our accommodation would be like, but we were pleasantly surprised as we arrived into the foyer of a gorgeous art deco building with one of those old cage lifts. The owner or “Signora”of the home welcomed us in only Spanish. She looked at mum and I and decided we must be Spanish, so off she went a hundred miles an hour. Mum understood what she was on about and I managed to throw in the very multi-lingual “si” when she breathed so we could talk. Firstly and importantly I want to get to one of the many live Flamenco shows, so that night off we went to the live Flamenco ballet – it was different and I couldn't concentrate as there was a Spanish Deuce Bigalow dancing up on stage! I much prefer true Flamenco than the fusion we saw – actually it was Flamenco Opera. Definitely you need to see it once but perhaps I would choose live Flamenco first if you can only afford one.

As I said the streets of Madrid at night were alive with street performers, couples walking hand-in-hand, a huge gay scene, streets lined with fashion houses and of course tapas bars. Like much of Europe, no-one was really out eating dinner until 11pm at night which still continues to kill me!

One evening we found a delicious tapas bar across the street from our hotel and ate a delicious Spanish omelette and tomatoe salad. I eyed off the opposite tables Paella feast and decided that the next night it would be in my belly too!

Like Barcelona, Madrid is another city where you walk way too many kilometres in one day! Thank goodness for comfy flat walking shoes! On our first night after the Flamenco Opera we walked and I followed my internal compass to take us back to the hotel. Somehow we managed to walk to the majority of the major tourist attractions so that when we did one of those open-deck bus tours the next day, we found ourselves repeatedly saying, Öh we saw that last night!” We couldn’t believe just how far we walked in one evening and also how much of a circle we made without even realising.

The parks in Madrid really are the most romantic parks I've been too (with my mum!) Just so big, green and perfect places to watch the world go by and fall madly in love (with my mum!). The main park, really is the local central park, with its very own lake and row boats that you can hire. There's a glass palace – which inside is a real waste of space, but very pretty from the outside. The gorgeous swans are also a great attraction and not to mention the two old guys banging out Buena Vista Social Club style tunes in the late afternoon in the park – you couldn't wipe that smile off my face!

There's a million art galleries in Madrid and pathetically we didn’t end up in one – it's just not our thing, I'd rather people watch all day. We tried a heap of different tapas bars and I really lucked out one day when I thought I would be smart and choose a heap of random tapas from the menu that I was sure sounded exotic – ended up being bland and pretty damn terrible!

The metro is of course brilliant, but sometimes I was so tired I'd forget we had to change lines, then would drive myself crazy as to why I couldn't find the station I was looking for. My poor mother in-tow watching me snap it at myself on more that one occasion! One evening I was coming out of the metro station wondering why there were so many people everywhere and loud music. When I made it up onto the main street I saw the best street festival ever! It was starting to rain but I decided you live once and I didn’t care that I was alone, I was going to dance with that crowd.
They played my song of the European summer for 2010 – Al ors Danse – Oh how much I love love love this song and when I heard it that night, it was no exception. Amongst a crowd of young drunken Spaniards I’m dancing in the pouring rain in my jacket with crap leaking hood and just making friends with the crowd. David Guetta tunes kept pumping so much that I had to look properly to see if perhaps he was there on the stage! It was the best free street party I have ever been to, and the rain just added to the atmosphere. Everyone was jumping up and down, madly pumping their fists in the air whilst gulping their Spanish beers. Oh it was up there with San Joan festival back in June – why does Spain know how to throw a party! Make me love you all more!! It turned out the guy in the crowd next to me was American and also alone that night as he assumed I was friends with the people I had been dancing with. He asked if I wanted company to go out to a club once the festival had finished, but I told him I already had a date – with my mum ha ha!

So Madrid I really loved you – my only complaint is that you have no beach!!! So for that reason Barcelona still wins but maybe one day I'll give you a chance and call you home x

Next blog... Sevilla

Barcelona again...

Apologies its been a while since I last wrote but I have been trying to catch up with the last few months of life. Here we go again... more travels....

Back in early October my Mum and I decided to make a side trip to Spain thanks to the el cheapo fares on offer with Vueling airlines (love you guys!). First stop as usual... Barcelona!

After finding my way through the airport for a 2nd time in 3 months it was back on the Aero bus and on our way to town. A couple of stops before we hopped off as per our accommodations instructions we found ourselves standing outside what looked like and old warehouse. To my regret at that moment I see that there is in fact a doorbell which reads “Barcelona Rooms” I'm kicking myself for booking a hostel thinking we were about to walk into a rat infested building.

We are greeted by a lovely Asian lady who is also fluent in Spanish (im jealous of this fact). She checks us in at a temporary table (no office) and up we go a few flight of stairs to our level. We are pleasantly surprised at the sight of a clean entrance, smiling faces and a surprisingly quiet and non “backpacker y” looking place. As I mentioned it's in a old warehouse looking building and the owner has taken one whole floor which looked like an apartment before (a typical huge Catalonian one) and sliced the rooms to private accommodation. We booked a private double with our own shower and toilet – I didn’t think mum really needed to share bathrooms at her age.

Our room was at the end of the hall way and so cute! Inside a double bed, flat screen TV, side tables, clothing rack, electronic safe, our own private balcony and the coolest jet hydro shower!!! Mum absolutely loved sitting out on the balcony which over-looked the neighbourhood – she felt like she was back home being able to spy on the neighbours – ha ha – but in this case we looked into everyone’s balcony within the neighbourhood block.

By the time we settled in it was late afternoon with only enough time to take mum for a walk to las Ramblas to find dinner. I was on a mission for paella and sangria – embarrisnly they bring us 1 litre pints full of sangria with these huge ass straws - mum posed well for a pic with this. Of course no visit to Barcelona in my opinion is complete without a trip to my fav. Gelato store with the guy who works in there comicly known as my boyfriend between my friend and I who became locals in there for a few weeks – hey it meant we got served faster! Ha ha

We only had a couple of days in Barca then and again at the end of our trip but mum agreed its beautiful. My favourite was definitely strolling down to the beach with mum, sitting on the board walk and resting our tired feet in the sand while we watched the world go by, ate more gelato and had a great mum and daughter DM about life. A special moment that I wont ever forget.

Next blog Barcelona Riots.....

St Jude's testing - Aug 2010 (Arusha, Tanzania)

Every year from Aug through to December, St Jude's school open's it's gates every Friday to the children of Arusha to sit exams for their chance to gain entry to the school. St Jude's promotes the opportunity on local radio stations and of course its a very very popular and busy day at the school.

Local families who get the opportunity to send one of their children to the school will be very lucky as this will be a great help to not only the child's job prospects but also the income that they can bring in to support the family - it's different in Africa to Western countries - the family unit works together to put food on the table, pay for bills and family occassions like weddings, births and deaths.

So I was very excited to be a part of one of the Friday entrance testing days at St Jude's. There's alot to be organised amongst not only the admin staff but our security, teachers and gardeners who help chaperone and translate on the day. Buses need to be moved off site, security stepped up and processes organised. On the day I was to do primarily the photography of the day unfolding and then once things quietened to help monitor the children sitting their exams to help with questions, prevent cheating and accompany children to the toilet.

At around 12.30pm I went to the main gate and the crowd of mothers and children was already 200 strong at least! The parents waiting area in the main driveway was roped off and only children were allowed through to the waiting area. The gardeners and security staff did a great job chaperoning the children who obviously get restless, need water, toilets and often have a little cry as they want their mum's. All children are told to bring their own pencil so we check that before they enter they have a sharp pencil to complete their exam with. It might sound crazy that we cant supply pencils, but you must realise we have a few hundred children every Friday between August and December which would equate to too much money that the school as a charity cannot afford. Often we find ourselves sharpening pencils for the children who must press down on those things real hard!

It was a mass of colour outside the school gates. The children patiently sitting in the shade waving their pencils in the air and occassionally at their hopeful mum's in the crowd beside them. The mama's are beautiful - many in their best clothes and their children too as this is a big event for them and if their child is accepted today there will be great celebrations. The variety of kanga prints (African material that the women wear with bold African patterns) is amazing and eye candy for me. I absolutely adore the women who wrap the kanga around their heads - they look so elegant.

As th children start to move in lines with the hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them its just adorable, mums are waving and I imagine saying good luck, some of the children are proud and you can tell they are not sure what exactly all the fuss is about but they have their mum's attention and in a big family that's what counts. Some children see me - the only "muzungu" outside at that point and use it as their opportunity to practise their English. There is one little boy in particular with a gorgeous smile and I can see he is determined to talk to me, he's in his best clothes and only a tiny frame of maybe 8 years and with a huge smile as he walks in his line past me he says "Good morning madam, how are you today?" I can tell he's been practising this phrase and he decides since he did so well the first time why not say it a few more times to me since I'm smiling back at him and asking how he is. He melted my heart but I must continue with the photos and not show any preference by talking with them.

Some of the children are just too young to do the exam, let alone the reading test which is part one of the day. One girl was so cute and maybe 3 years - how was she going to read?? We tell the parents the minimum age, but they ignore trying their luck, so we give them the chance since they have travelled all the way but this little girl just stares at the paper and sweetly smiles at the testing teacher - she melts our heart and I take her photo as she is too cute. One little boy is in his probably only suit - it's beige and linen and makes us all smile.

Not only was it a fashion parade of kanga's that day with the mothers, but the other eye candy was the fantastic hair-do's on the children. I find myself going crazy taking photo after photo of these amazing hair-do's - I never imagine hair braids could have so many variations, I wonder if they have a menu card at the salon or does everyone know the name of each style?!

Most of the children are in the gate and still more pour through. Parents are outside now and can only see the sea of heads that contains their little one. We continue to keep the children in lines and based on height our gardeners place the children in lines according to approximate class levels. All the children have short attention spans and within moments of being in perfect lines they are in awe of the children's playground and the huge grounds of the school and the lines go astray along with children wanting to play. We all have a giggle as we try to keep them in lines and get them to focus on what they are here to do - but it's so adorable as they are in a zombie-like state looking at this playground equipment the majority have probably never seen.

Further ahead in the lines one by one the children are given a passage written in swahili and asked to read it to the teacher - this helps us do a fast cull as the children must be able to read Swahili to be considered for the exam. We would love to take all the children, but the fact is that each child needs several sponsors to be able to afford to attend the school and have their education paid for - and since this is a big investment of both money and resources, the school needs to be sure that the child has some promise of being able to apply themselves to their studies successfully.

The written exam which for obvious reasons I cant detail here, but I will say its very basic and things that children should know at the ages we are testing. Again it was interesting to observe the children in these conditions, because we and their parents understand how critical this exam is for their future - if they get through they have a very promising future ahead of them. But the number of children who sit there in a daze staring out to the playground or at just a fly going past was amazing and my heart sank that they were not focused. I found myself tapping on their papers to get their attention, smiling and pointing to parts of the exam to encourage them to keep going. Some children would get stuck on one part and they would just sit there staring at it, so I would encourage them to move onto other parts and come back at the end.

Of course some children are cheating and trying to copy off the person next to them - this is obviously not permitted and they will loose their opportunity straight away so we try to avoid temptation and keep them apart. Once they complete this exam in the allocated time frame we take and mark the papers and double check them. Those children who are not successful are sent out with a thank you note and welcoming them to try again next week and those that are successful are gathered together and brought outside doing a little song and dance celebration for the parents to join in!

Unfortunately though, the process is not over and these children and their families are now subject to house checks to ensure that the children really are in need and deserving of a free education as we have found many people who can afford to pay for tuition trying to send their children to the exam to get entry to the school. Again I cant detail exactly how we worm these families out but we do thankfully and provide a seat in class for a child in much need.

Being apart of the testing is absolutely amazing, I realised yet again just how important St Jude's is to the future of these children. One of my colleagues fought back tears as she had to accompany the children who were not successful and it was breaking her heart - it was breaking all our hearts but we knew why we had to say no and we knew that some of these children would be a yes.

If you have been reading my blogs and thinking about sponsoring a child I hope this has helped you consider or even action it. As you can hear there are alot of people involved behind the scenes at St Jude's and without sponsorship funds we would have to close the school, which means closing the futures of 1300+ children and the loss of incomes for 300+ local Tanzanian staff. Please consider sponsoring a child, teacher, bus or boarding room today and make a world of difference to not just one child but their community and the future of their country. Thanks for reading x

10 Days in Zanzibar - heaven!

Zanzibar is a place I often heard of as a child like Timbuctu and Madagascar and I never really thought that they existed outside of the story books. Well Zanzibar does and it’s perfect! I decided that my trip to Tanzania would not be complete without a few days on this island so I traded up the opportunity to go on yet another safari and put this money towards 10 days by the see with just me!

For approx $240 AUD return you can get a 1 hour flight with Precision Air from Arusha airport to Zanzibar International airport. Most of the workers here go into town and pay the travel agent cash only to organize flights, accommodation etc but me being me decided to organize my own itinery and flights. Thanks again to the user friendly www.rumbo.com I was able to quickly work out which airline covered this route and book it using credit card, unlike the painful travel agents here.

Arusha airport is about a 30 min drive from town and 25,000 taxi ride (yes muzungu price as it should be much cheaper). I was a little nervous at the airport as we sit outside in diamond wire fenced off areas and wait for them to call us up – there’s no departure board - ok there is a chalkboard but it hasn’t been updated in a while. Checking was only one counter open for all destinations (Dar and Zanzibar ) and you remember those old scales you could stand on and put money to weigh yourself outside supermarkets – well that’s how they weighed your bag then some guy carries it off for you.

Some Italians nearby (and there were many for this next part of the trip) anyway, these Italians had the giggles as they watched staff push and pull out on of the smaller planes for people to board – glad this was not my flight but I certainly was worried when I saw it! The Precision Air plane came and it was smaller but brand spanking new – thankfully! The ride was smooth and I even got to see the snow-capped tops of Mount Kilimanjaro .

I wasn’t too sure what to expect in Zanzibar , all I knew is that it was Ramadan and the majority of Zanzibarians are Muslim so many businesses would be closed and that I should be covered. I was greeted by a young guy holding a A4 paper with my name scribbled on it and followed him to his van. It was as usual a little crowded with touts fighting for business but I’ve decided when I arrive in new places now, I’m a little over the excitement of getting a good deal for a transfer, so avoid the headache and pay a little more for the luxury ;). I had booked him through Eco & Culture Tours and was really happy with the manner they dealt with me over the email – fast, courteous and we understood each other. It took us about 20 min to get into Stonetown where I would stay for the first 4 days of my stay – it was not as “Arabian Nights” as everyone was making it – more a bunch of run down buildings with the white paint peeling and rusty corrugated iron roofs.

I arrived at the Hotel Shangani and was pleased with the façade and hoped the inside was equally as welcoming. It wasn’t over the top and at $55USD per night perhaps it was a little steep in comparison to guest houses near-by, but I got my own bathroom, TV, double bed, fridge and mosquito net – as well as a nice sunset view from my room. I could hear the call to prayer from my room - although I must admit it lacked the exotic sounds of those in Istanbul, Turkey.

I went for a walk around Stonetown that night and decided to sample the food at the Lonely Planet recommended Archipelago - part owned by an Australian woman. The servings are generous, reasonably priced and the staff polite. I was just disappointed that the ambience just didnt exist - I was really hoping for something with a Zanzibar feel rather than a typcial cafe from back in Australia. Also there were only a couple of true Zanzibar dishes on the menu and I found this a common problmen throughout the area - then again can I dare say this is true for all cafe's targeting tourists throughout Tanzania? I also tried Monsoon - the staff harassed me on my first night in town with all sorts of compliments and then when I decided to give them a chance a few days later the place was empty and I just didnt feel like I was in Zanzibar with a menu of burgers and salads.

I had a cocktail during happy hour at Livingstones - another Lonely Planet recommendation and at least this had some ambience, great staff and a perfect sunset location on the water - if you enjoy watching the locals argue about who is unloading the trucks and their goods as they come off the ferry - which I thoroughly enjoyed the circus! Strangely enough one night I ended up in a Indian restaurant and I must say the chicken tikka rocked! It's on the corner opposite Monsoon and Archipelago and is beautifully decorated. Everyone says that you must try the foods at the evening food market in Fordhani Gardens along the water and yes I agree. It;'s got a great atmosphere with tourists and locals out enjoying the cool evening air and a stroll within these gorgeous parklands - a real treat if like me you have come from Arusha where the closest thing to a park that I can find is a golf course!

It was actually perfect for a romantic stroll but on my first evening through this area I had to deal with a carload of Rasta's abusing me for not talking to them - needless to say my pocknt knife was ready to go in my hand as I put my head down and walked quickly to a well lit area as I was a woman alone at night - not so smart. In the actual gardens there are loads of stalls set up after sunset serving fresh seafood BBQ skewers of fish, meat, octopus etc. Zanzibar pizza - which I forgot to try so have an excuse to go back for - like I needed one! These markets reminded me of those in the main square of Marrakesh, minus the madness and with a more relaxed and romantic feel. I did get to enjoy these gardens on my last night in Zanzibar after befriending a girl working at the dive store I went out with that day and it was a beautiful walk complete with much missed ice cream :)

As usual I crammed so much into my itinery for the 10 days in Zanzibar, but I have no regrets I really had a lot to do. I managed to find a great local tour company - Eco Culture Tours - they were the one's that arranged my arrival pick-up from the airport as well as a half day city tour, dhow boat out to Prison Island and Blue Safari snorkel trip.

The half day city walking tour and Prison Island tours were both with my own private guide and affordably priced under $100 USD each. He took me on the slave trade walk, where they used to unload the slaves kidnapped from different parts of Africa and transfer them by sea bound in shackles around the neck, wrists and ankles and march them a good few kilometeres through town to the now St Monica's cathedral, where they were placed 50 persons per concrete room with a low ceiling and no food, water, lights or toilet. It was really sad and even the tour guide said that most Zanzibarian's have ancestors who experienced this terrible trade and it's soemthing they dont like to remember or talk about. It reminded me of the school in Cambodia where they torchered so many innocent people during the genocide.

After this historical insight her took me through the spice markets since the island is very well known for their trade in this as well as the central market where locals bargain daily for fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meat. My guide was a little worried to take me into the meat market incase I would feel ill as it's open air and the stench of hot meat swarming with flies - but I insisted he take me through as I'm becoming immune to such smells and sights after witnessing the kids playing with guts in Kathmandu, the severed camel head in Fez, Morrocco and the open air butchers I see daily in Arusha. I really wanted to take photos but only managed to sneak one since its a very conservative Muslim community and I didnt want to upset anyone.

That afternoon I travelled out by dhow boat with my guide to the privately owned Prison Island - no longer operating as such a thing, but now accomodation for tourists as well as home to the huge land-dwelling turtles imported from Seyechelles, weighing in excess of 100Kgs each and ageing between 150-200 years old. I couldn't beleive how fast these guys moce - I had a handfull of fresh spinach leaves and I feared for the safety of my hand as I was charged by a grouple of these giant tutles all wanting a feed - it was a slow motiuon charge!

As we walked around the island, my guide and I discussed how he felt about the fact that a) it's Ramadan b) it's a Muslim city and all the tourists paraded around in bikinis on Prison Island and the surrounding beaches of Zanzibar. He said he did understand that it's culturally acceptable for us back hom, but was a little annoyed that tourists dont respect local customs and at least cover up once they have finished their swim. I really struggled to see girls walk around in bikini's in front of men who are trying to focus on Ramadan only to have naked bodies parading around them! So when the time came for me to swim and go out for a snorkel with my guide I was a little stressed about how to handle the situation so decided to wear my boardshoarts and singlet top into the water and then wrap up once I had finished my swim in a Kanga both around my hips and shoulders. I later decided to buy a rash vest from the divwe shop to wear for the rest of my swims on the island rather than feel disrespectful in just a bikini top or singlet top.

My snorkel of Prison Island was nice - a little scary since I have a fear of open water and here I was jumping off a dhow into the middle of the ocean by myself and totally going against my odd's minimising policy of always swimming in the ocean around big groups of people in order to minimise my chance of shark attacks :) I stayed close to the boat but once under the water didn't really care too much about sharks eating me since the coral and fish were so beautiful. I saw an abundance of sea urchins and starfish and these cute little zebra fish. I love the fact that my camera goes underwater as I have gone so snap happy this trip!

The following day I was driven out of town approx 45min to an area called Fumba where the dhow boats loaded with approx 14 tourists depart everyday as part of the Blue Safari tours. I think the owner is a Dutch lady and she is making a killing! She employs local staff to take out a dhow to different island for snorkelling and a delicious lunch on a private island. My boat had a mixture of Russians and Italians - there are an sbundance of Italian tourists in Zanzibar and I'm sad to admit that the majority of them are rude travellers. The family on my boat complained that they were getting wet on a boat (?!) and then I noticed that the wife's figers were laden down with heavily encrusted diamond rings - in Africa!!! Needless to say I changed boat as soon as we got to our first destination and met a lovely South African couple whom I became their 3rd leg for the day. The wife admitted as I was leaving she wanted to take me home and look after me - I have a feeling she was missing motherhood, but they were very sweet and we had some great conversations - like I learnt South Africans have a whole vocab of slang going on and I wrote out so many words in fits of lafter as they told them to me.

Aside from the great Eco Culture Tours, I thoroughly recommend One Ocean Dive Centre in Stonetown and also with a branch in Matemwe. You can get the 7am shuttle from Stonetown with them for $10USD and it takes an hour to their Matemwe branch where at 8.30am you board a dhow out to see for a fantastic if not the best snorkelling I have ever experience in the WORLD! Move over Great Barrier Reef I say - I felt like I was in an aquarium there was soooooooooo many fish around me - I just had to put my hand out and I could touch them. I saw sea snakes, puffer fish, octopus and so many fish I have never seen in my life. As we stepped out from the Matmwe dive centre onto the beach it took my breath away - I had only seen photos of white sandy beaches so beautiful and the sand was so soft. All I kept saying was wow and smiling. We boarded the boat and thank goodness I took sea sickness tablets as everyone was looking green about 30 min into the choppy ride. We dropped off the divers at one point then boarded the dingy boat to a reef that was mindblowing - I just cant describe the beauty of the marine life.

This reserve is called Mneba Atoll and I would snorkel and dive there a million times over and over again! Our snorkel guide was brilliant - there was me and a couple on their honeymoon and we would follow him around as he dove down to point things out to us. I was of course miss snap jap happy taking a million photos of everything that moved. One fish even came up to the camera and smiled - I was so happy. The whole hour of snorkelling here I had a dumb grin on my face and kept swallowing water because I would get excited and dive under forgetting to blow out. On the boat wwe were given a delicious feast of fresh fruit, samosas, chapati and some other local cuisine. I really didnt think that Indian food played such a huge part in the Zanzibarian cuisines - of course Im very happy about that fact!

Our second snorkel was equally as beautiful but with a few more snorkellers from other boats coming around. At one point there were these huge reefs that looked like cactus plants maybe 10mts below us and we swam over them I felt so insignificant but mesmerised! The water was so clear!!! We didn't manage to see the school of dolphins the divers saw on the way back, but I had my fixed of dolphins when I did the Blue Safari the day before and they had come up to the boat.

At the end of the day we pulled into a beach and had to get a daladala back to Matemwe as the tide was too low for the dhows too take us in. As we pulled into the shore a swarm of local kids ran towards our boats as they obviously know they will get paid to carry all the dive tanks and gear - all hell broke out and it actually got scary for a few seconds as they were just grabbing at everything and fighting to ensure they got to carry something. One of the white guys freaked and pushed a kid over who was getting rough - I didn't like that scene one bit and was closing to whacking him in the head with a tank I was eyeing off. Eventually they calmed down and all carried the gear up to the daladala's - we loaded into the back with the gear and prepared ourselves for a 45 min bumby ride along a dirt road back to Matemwe. It wasn't so bad as I befriended an Italian from Rome who works for Cisco,s o we hit it off and started talking our heads off. We were so similar in personality, life expereiences and interests that it spun me out. Then we found out we were both staying at Nyota Beach Bungalows, so agreed to do dinner that night.

The dive centre gave us a lift to our hotel along with an Israeli couple on their honeymoon. All four of us blabbed our heads off and the Israeli's later invited us to their bungalow for lunch - they only eat Kosher so had brought a cooker and food from Israel with them. We ate the most delicious falafel, labne and some other great food - who would have thought in the middle of Africa!!!

Nyota Beach Bungalows are a small but very cute traditional beach bungalows with an amazing set-up right on the water. The thing that killed it for everyone though and I think the business will struggle in the future if they dont sort it out - the rooms are cheap at only $40USD per night but the food and drinks are ridiculous. $2USD for a bottle of water and you have to select for a small preset lunch and dinner menu each day and pay $12-$15USD for really average food of tiny portions. This is also where I need to say single female travellers be warned... it was the perfect location for a couple or group of friends, but single women need to be careful. That night at dinner my Italian friend and I were joined by the owners friend who helps out in the restaurant at night. We are talking about a kid - 22 (sorry Luke)he was polite enough and we had a good chat between the three of us. So the next night when my Italian friend had left and I was eating dinner alone we sat and he taught me the traditional Tanzanian boardgame with rocks - i love it! Many of the staff joined us at some point but then he started towards the end making comments and I started to feel uncomfortable so excused myself for sleep. Within 10min I hear a knock at my door and I think surely it could not be him, so I wait and this time the kncoking is harder. I get up to answer the door and there he is asking to come in and spend my last night with me!!!!!!!! At first I laugh thinking he's joking but then I see he is deadly serious and I'm thinking how do I get him to leave. I'm starting to worry once he wont take no as an answer and am looking at my bed to see where I left the damn pocket knife! I'm thinking he could push me in through the door any second, but them am arguing with myself saying he's only a kid he's harmless.

After he begged me to change my mind and Im not exaggerating he really was begging and saying that I leave tomorrow why not have company - he finally understood I wasnt happening and was wasting his time. I shut the door and moved every piece of furniture I could across it and then attempted to cover the window with a towel as a curtain - needless to say I didnt sleep much that night and was very happy to leave the next day. It's a real shame as its a gorgeous place just the cost of things and this little adventure with him screwed things up. Not to mention they charged me $25USD to get to Kendwa a 23km drive away but there was no other taxi's around.

Kedwa and Nungwi beach are perfect - there are not as picture postcard perfect as Matemwe, but the calm water and open air beach bars make it perfect for swimming all day and lazying on the beach beds. I really really really became lazy here for the first time in my life! I finally learnt to take it easy and not oreganise activities. Granted I did book another snorkel tour with the dive centre but I cancelled as I just wanted to laze about. I checked into a perfect room for $65USD per nite - exy but worth it. It overlooked the beach bar and had my favourite daybed on the outside balcony which I feel asleep on that night listening to the african drumming down on the beach. I changed rooms the next day as it wasnt available and did a bungalow down on the beach - its a fair walk to the beach but directly infront and I had my own hammock. I really loved it there and was spewing that I would miss the full moon party the following night.

For mny last couple of nights I headed back to Stonetown to do the dhow cruise and sunset - which I realised is nice but a)more romantic with a partner rather than a family from Oregon and b) you get better photos from the shore of the dhows with the sunset behind them. Then I got a taxi to Mtoni Marine where on Saturday nights they have a delicious seafood beach bbq for $25USD along with live performances of traditional tarab music and Zanzibar dances - it was again very romantic alone ;) But I loved it.

I spent the night watching TV for the last time before I headed back to Arusha and enjoying the endless channels of Bollywood movies - god bless Zanzibar! I really love it there and would love to live there anyday! It has the best fusion of my 3 favouriet cultures - India, Africa and the Middle East. I'll be back Zanzibar just stayt there!