Pembe Abwe- October 27th- November 3

In Pembe Abwe we stayed in Bandas. They were kind of like cabins, but open, with only screens, and elevated off the ground. The one I stayed in had a toilet and a shower inside of it. We spent the week snorkeling. We went to a reef about forty-five minutes away from where we were staying, by boat. The reef we went to most of the days was called Maziwi. It is a protected area, and noone is allowed to fish there. Enforcement is problematic though, because the government organization who is supposed to be enforcing it, isn't really doing so. Some of the cooler things I saw were sea turtles, rays, and a stone fish. I took an identification test on some of the fish in the water. That was probably one of the cooler academic parts of the week. On Saturday, we did something called a reef check. During a reef check, 6 people count the organisms in a specific area. Two people counted fish, two counted certain invertebrates, and myself and my partner documented the other stuff that was along a 100m area. Every five meters there was a mark, and we dropped a weight where the mark was, and then documented what kind of sea life was below the mark. It was an interesting experience. On Sunday we had a written test, went snorkeling, and then had the afternoon off. On Monday, we drove, in a bus and a land rover, from Pembe Abwe, to the safari company's camp outside of Arusha. On Thursday, we depart into the Serengeti for the safari part of our journey.

Zanzibar again

On Tuesday we returned to Zanzibar and pretty much had the rest of the afternoon off. The follownig day we had our last Campion history class. We had the rest of the day off to explore and to write the paper that we had to write. For lunch I had Indian, but for dinner I had kebobs from a street vendor. They were tasty and cheap. On Thursday our essay was due, and we had our last Sperling culture class. We had a pretty intersting guest speaker. He was part of the office of prosecution in Zanzibar, and he explained when Islamic law is applied and when it is not. After he spoke, we had the rest of the day off. On Friday, we had a history final that was pretty straight forward and easy to complete. On Saturday, we left the Garden Lodge, and began our week of free travel.

Pemba and the Tumbe homestay

After we got to Pemba, we had breakfast at a hotel in Chake Chake. Afterwards, we went to a spice farm. After the tour, I purchased lemongrass, cloves, cardimum, and vanilla. Afterwards, we had lunch in Wete, and then proceeded to Tumbe. Tumbe is a small muslim village near Wete. Many of the houses in the village were made of mud. When we arrived in Tumbe, we went to the school and got assigned to our homestay families. I was paired with the Imam of the village. He has a motorbike that I got to ride on. His house was made of bricks, I think. In the center of the house there was an open area where they cooked and washed dishes. The bathroom consisted of a hole in the ground. The first night I was there, I travelled to this other village with my homestay father. I ended up having awkward converstations with people that were partially in Swahili and partially in English because I had trouble understanding their swahili. The first day I was there, I went to the beach with a group of people and walked along it with them. In the afternoon, I went to the forest and to a beach resort on the back of my homestay father's motorbike. The forest and the hotel were both pretty cool. On tuesday morning we left Tumbe, and went to the airport to fly back to Zanzibar. The plane that I took was a five seater plane. It kind of reminded me of a van with wings in terms of its size. Luckily, it landed safely back in Zanzibar. When we got there, we waited for one of the two other groups to arrive, and then proceeded to the Garden Lodge hotel where we were staying.

Zanzibar the first time.

On Friday, October 10th, we left Mombasa, and took a plane to Zanzibar, an Island off the coast of Tanzania. The plane we took was pretty small. I think there were maybe forty seats on it. Maybe less, I really am not sure. It was definitely pretty small though. The following day we went to a museum and in the afternoon we went to the anglican church in Stone Town. The church is on the site of the slave market in Stone Town. When the slave trade was abolished, the market was changed into the church. That night, we took a boat from Stone town to Pemba. The boat was way over-crowded, and people were sleeping in the aisles. The boat ride took 8 hours, and was overnight. The safety of the boat was questionable because there was only one exit that was open and the boat was way over capacity. Luckily, the boat got to Pemba safely.

Mombasa and the Surrounding area

On Monday morning we departed Nairobi and headed for Mombasa. On the way to Mombasa, the bus we were on broke down three times. The first time it had basically just overheated. The other two times, some other more serious problem occured. After the third time the bus broke down, we called another bus, and waited two hours for it to come. While we were waiting, we hung out by the side of the road. When the bus finally came, and we arrived in Mombasa, we went to a swahili restaurant and had some pretty good food. Afterwards, we went to the hotel where we were staying and hung out some more. On Tuesday, we went to Fort Jesus. Fort Jesus is an old Portugeuse fort in Mombasa. Afterwards, we went to a resort hotel right on the Indian Ocean. On Thursday, we went to a mosque and school, to an Indian restaurant in Malindi for lunch, and then to the Gede ruins. The Gede ruins are the ruins of an old swahili community. It is not known why the Gedean people deserted the village, but it was deserted. Some of the houses had simple indoor pluming and cooling systems. After the Gede ruins, we went back to the hotel that we had stayed in during our first night in Mombasa.

September 12th-October 6th

The homestays continued. On the 12th, we went to the National musuem in nairobi. It had some stuffed animals and some other interesting exhibits. Afterwards, we went to a market. The market sold a large variety of clothes and fresh fruit. The hardest part of the whole day was finding a bus back from the market because a lot of them were already full. We ended up taking a cab because the buses just weren't coming. On the 21st of september, I nearly was in a car accident on the way back to Nairobi from the countryside. There were two cars in front of us. One slipped and swerved and hit the car next to him. In order to avoid the collision, the driver of my car swerved the car into the bushes. Luckily, neither the car nor any of the people were injured. The rest of the homestay was pretty uneventful, although we did travel to some towns around Mt. Kenya. On the 6th of October, I left Riruta and spent the night in the methodist guest house. The following monday, we left for Mombasa.

Homestays: Right now I am staying with a family in Riruta Satellite. The family has a TV, a DVD palyer, and a stereo system, but no running water. To bath, I have been using buckets full of hot water. My brothers are 9, and 4 (twins). They also have a house keeper. The mother is a caterer and the father is a mechanic. We are taking classes in a house where the group leader is staying. So far, classes are going okay. Rain and Mud: The last few days, it has rained. At home the rain comes, and things just get wet, in Riruta satellite, mud is the bigger problem. It becomes advantageous to leave before the rain starts, rather than try to walk home in the rain. Riruta Satelite: Riruta satellite is a suburb of Nairobi. There are various shops and kiosks along the road. Most of the streets are not paved, which partially creates the mud problem. The people in Riruta range from poor to upper-middle class. Middle class in Nairobi is not the same as it is in the states. It seems to mean that the people have certain comforts like a TV or a house helper. My experience in Riruta has been interesting so far. I have eaten many foods that I hadn't eaten before, like Ughali. Ugahli is a starch that is eaten as a utensil and is always eaten with other things. I have had it a few times. I leave the homestay at the beginning of October, then we will go back to the guest house, and then to Mombasa.