Zanzibar!

     The day started with a walking tour of Stone Town - the capital of Zanzibar - it was very hot even though we were near the ocean.

We saw the house where Freddy Mercury grew up.  We went to a market that was held in a building with openings in the walls for doors and windows - so, although technically inside - it was still more or less an outdoor market. I walked in, made it about ten steps through the fish portion of the market, decided it would be rude to throw up on someone's lunch and quickly exited the market. Wow, I just couldn't handle the smell of fish, meat, and unwashed people all mixed in with the heat.

                                                      Our tour guide outside the market
I enjoyed a spa massage in the after noon and a swim in the hotel pool - which is totally surrounded by the hotel but has no roof - so when the sun was shining on the pool it was about 40º.

Our second day in Zanzibar started with a spice plantation tour. Another walking tour in the heat - we saw a large number of spices growing - it was a contest to see who could figure out what each one was. At one time Zanzibar was the spice capital of Africa, making it the sixth richest country in the world at that time, now they only export cloves.

Here's your chance to join in the fun - can you name the spice below?

Did you get it? Actually this is a trick question - the red part is Mace and the black pit in the middle is Nutmeg! The pale pulp is discarded.

     After the spice tour - we finally made it to the beach! I had a wonderful time relaxing and soaking in the beach atmosphere - aside from one misadventure:
     I went swimming at low tide and at one point put my feet down to see how deep the water was - at which point my right foot felt like it was on fire. I floated my foot up to have a look at it, and there were long black spikes sticking out of it! I pulled one of them out but the rest were deeply embedded. I was worried the spines might have some toxin on them and that I might start an allergic reaction in the middle of the ocean.
     I started to work my way out of the ocean - but remember, its low tide and I can't put any weight on my foot, so I ended up crawling a about one hundred meters in the shallow water. Two locals from the dive shop came down to "rescue" me - assuring me they had "medicine" for my foot. I didn't even need to tell them what happened. As we found out on subsequent days, at least one tourist a day has a negative encounter with a sea urchin. I just happened to be that's days "lucky" winner! This is a picture of a random sea urchin - not the one I stepped on.

 So, "medicine" involves poking an unripe papaya with a toothpick and allowing the white, milky fluid to drip over the spines in the foot - this is slightly numbing. Then to pour kerosene over the spot, which does???? I'm not exactly sure but together they did make the pain decrease on a one to ten pain scale from 87 to about 72. It was incredibly painful!!!!!!! When we finally made it back to the hotel - they provided a papaya and some vinegar (instead of kerosene - which made me happy I wasn't going to catch fire from some carelessly tossed cigarette).

The pain lasted about 36 hours and then was just minorly uncomfortable depending on the shoes I was wearing. The spines cannot be picked out, but eventually just wear themselves out. According to a radiologist friend of mine in Prince George - the spines are radiopaque - discovered on another tourist who was as unfortunate as me.
     The trip home took a very long time - we left our hotel at the equivalent of 6 am and got home near midnight the next day - (yes, 42 hours of travel). I was incredibly glad to finally be in my own bed!

A great, great trip!