We arrived in Stone Town by ferry around 4 PM on Monday. It was a completely different world than we had been in for the 3 weeks prior. The city was full of people, and they all wanted to sell us something. We headed to our hotel for the first night, the Narrow Street Hotel, whose name was fitting. Monday night we enjoyed some amazing seafood sold by vendors along the beach. We met some pretty interesting characters before heading in for the night.
Tuesday we did some sight-seeing activities. First we headed to a historic Anglican church at the site of the old slave market. We were taken into a room where the slaves had been held. The 14 of us felt pretty cramped in this small room, so were were all a bit shocked to hear that they used to keep 75 slaves at a time in that space, chained together for days at a time with no food or water. I think it hit us all pretty hard to think about what had happened in the place we were sitting. We then saw inside the beautiful church, where nearly every aspect of the architecture had a story.
Later we headed to a spice farm for a spice tour. At the end we saw a guy climb about 30 feet up a palm tree. That was pretty amazing. He tossed down some coconuts for us to share. We were then given crowns woven from leaves as we were leaving. After lunch we headed to the east side of the island to the beach resort where we would spend our final night. If that place wasn't paradise I'm not sure what is. We spent the afternoon swimming in the ocean and collecting shells on the beach. For dinner we had a seafood buffet, and afterwards they made us a bonfire on the beach. Between the fire and the stars and the sound of the ocean, I really can't imagine a more perfect setting for our last night.
Wednesday morning we loaded up in two wooden sailboats and headed out on a snorkeling trip. It was amazing to see such beautiful fish in their natural habitat. It was so peaceful out there, just us and the ocean. I didn't want to get back in the boat because I knew once we headed back it'd be time to pack up and leave. We had a nice final lunch on the beach, and then packed up the bus for the start of a long journey home. We drove back to Stone Town, where we boarded the ferry back to Dar. It wasn't quite the nice boat ride we'd had on the way to Zanzibar. I think about half of the boat ended up seasick. Needless to say, most of us were glad to get our feet back on solid ground.
We met back up with Robert for dinner at the City Garden Restaurant in Dar where we had a nice last meal together before heading to the airport. It was an adventure up to the end, but luckily we all made it to the airport despite some minor near-incidents. Then came the hardest part of the day- saying goodbye to the four men who had led us through our entire journey: Bwana Fred, Pastor Hafermann, Luka, and Robert. I really didn't know how to thank them for everything they had done, and I'm not sure I ever will. I don't think I'll ever meet four guys with hearts as big as theirs, and I think we were all deeply impacted by the time we spent with them.
I really didn't believe that it was over until we were taking off down the runway. It was sad to say goodbye to Africa, but I tried to make it less sad by promising myself I'd be back. Between the bus, ferry, and plane rides, we spent more than 30 hours traveling to get home. It was a little weird to back in a place where we were surrounded by people of our own race and actually understand what people were saying. I'm sure it will take awhile for each of us to process what this experience has meant in our own lives, so rather than trying to explain that I'll leave you with some adjectives my classmates used to describe this journey: eye-opening, humbling, spiritual, heartbreaking, uplifting, inspiring, amazing, incredible, and indescribable.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Until next time, kwa heri Tanzania.
Peace.
Emily
It's easier to upload pics from home so here are a few of my favorites from the trip.
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