Post Vacation Recovery Vacation

After 5 days on safari we were finally headed for the vacation part of our vacation.  We boarded a 12-seat Cessna 802 for our flight to Zanzibar.  I was a little nervous flying in a plane where the cockpit was just a few rows in front of me and fully visible and the seatbelts were less advanced than the ones in my car, but once we took off and the plane cooled down a bit all was fine.

Colleen had emailed our hotel as well as two tour companies to find out about arranging transportation from the airport to our hotel on the east side of the island.  After some negotiations, she narrowed it down to one of the tour companies.  Although she notified the hotel that she made other arrangements and never heard from the other company, this did not stop either from sending cars.  There were three drivers holding up signs with Colleen’s name and the name of our hotel. Fortunately one of them was wearing a polo shirt with the tour company’s logo so we went with him.  Once he handed each of us an ice cold bottle of water, we were certain we made the right choice.

The ride to the hotel was surprisingly smooth.  We were all so used to the bumps and dust of the safari vehicle, we found the air-conditioned, smooth ride a wonderful treat.  Especially given the extreme temperature and humidity of Zanzibar.  After an hour or so, we arrived at the hotel and took a seat at the beach-front, pool-side bar for our complementary juice while they checked us in.  We were thrilled to find a cool breeze coming off the ocean and even happier to learn that the rooms were air-conditioned.

  

We spent the rest of the day at the bar enjoying the view, breeze and books.  A well-deserved treat after the dusty, rainy safari.  In fact, we staked out the same spot for most of the following day as well.  We did take the time to test out the bath-water-like Indian Ocean and take a stroll down the beach.  It didn’t take long for us to return to our little oasis at the bar.

For dinner we headed to The Rock.  We were expecting Sean Connery to greet us upon arrival but he apparently escaped again.  The Rock is a restaurant a little north of our hotel in a little house on a rock in the ocean.  We could walk out due to the low tide, but apparently during high tide you have the option to take a boat. After the sun goes down, the only lights are the candles at each table which made for amazing star gazing. 

For our last full day in Africa, we headed west to Stonestown with a short stop at a spice plantation.  Similar to my spice tour in Goa, we began to melt as soon as we stepped out of the car.  In addition to our tour guide, we had a plantation worker escort us on the tour. When he wasn’t climbing trees to access some leaves or flowers for us to smell he was weaving the fronds of a coconut tree.  By the end of the tour, he made Colleen, Holly and I necklaces, bracelets, crowns and purses and for Dan a tie and top hat.  And just for me, a ring.

From the spice plantation, the driver took us to our hotel in Stonestown.  I quickly realized how much time I spent sitting in cars during the last two weeks when my quads yelped at me walking up the stairs to our room.  After cleaning up briefly, we headed in to town.  It didn’t take long to realize that Stonestown was not charming enough to warrant the unbelievable heat and humidity.  I think I lost five pounds in water weight just trying to find a place to eat.  After lunch, we walked past the fort where the slave trade took place and stopped in a couple shops (one, fortunately, with A/C) before we decided that we needed ice cream or we might pass out.  We looked at the map and quickly discovered that most of the streets are actually allies that are neither named on the map or on the street.  But that didn’t stop us from finding what we were looking for.  A couple of scoops later and we were almost human again… sticky, but human.

During our ice cream break, we decided that for our last morning, rather than melting on the street again, we would all go to the spa for a traditional Zanzibari scrub and massage.  Something to look forward to for tomorrow before the 30+ hour trip home.