Back on Board

I arrived back in Norway on Thursday and went from pearl white beach to...pearl white snow. It is a bit rough and I am experiencing a mild crisis on why on earth I live so far north on this vast globe of our after the Zanzibar experience. However, my return to reality was dampened by a highly anticipated envelope that lie in waiting for me. After owning a cell phone for several weeks I finally have the other half the completes the equation of effective communication...a SIM card. Due to my service provider, slow banks, slower registries and some bad luck it took nearly 2 months to finally get the card. But now I have it and can finally attempt to keep up in the high paced world of wireless communications among the digital generation I am surrounded by daily.

Effective communication in the wireless market in Norway results in the following service which I now enjoy. Check this:
- $0 per month base costs
- 120 minutes of outgoing calls free per month
- 90 outgoing text messages free per month
- Unlimited incoming calls and messages
- No timezones, all calls within Norway are local.
- Approx. 5 cents per minute for outgoing calls inside Norway after the fist 120 minutes are used up.
- Approx. 5 cents per outgoing text message after the first 90.

Telus is pathetic...

Stone Town Zanzibar

Elaborate carving adorn many of the doors and door posts in the old town. A testament to European influence in the days of the slave trade.

Incredibly lucky with this little girl's pose in the doorway...

Typical

Tanzanian Culinary Delights: Spar-letta Tangawisi sp?

Fizzy form spice in a bottle

Tanzania is not a place I will remember for the food. According to a solid source there really is no official national food. The one common culinary denominator that unites this nation is unfortunately a simple corn porridge that with varied liquidity can serve as breakfast, lunch and dinner. For me I will always think of Tanzania as a bountiful basket of fresh fruit and glass bottled soda pop. You can find good brewed beverages in this area as well with inspiration from the mighty Kilimanjaro and genuine quality of Kenyan "Tusker", but after living in Belgium I really can't get too excited about the available local selection. Instead, wherever we went that glass bottle of frosty, sugar loaded, incredibly carbonated nourishment was never far away. Instead of being invited in for a coffee or beer it was all about the soda pop. One such beverage is especially distinct in my mind, the Sparletta Tangawisi. Essentially this beverage is a strong ginger ale with an African flair. Fittingly I sampled this fine ware on the isle of spice and a quaint cafe on the beach front of Stone Town Zanzibar. Some say it has near unbearable kick, but that comes mainly from apparently soft palleted norsemen with little training in the world of spicy food and spicier drink. Try it if you get the chance. Soda pop will never be the same again. Why do we call it soda pop? What a ridiculous term for a drink...

My Current World...

Yesterday in still shots. Enjoy.

I think my back as cancer already. Never snorkle without a shirt in these parts, especially if you albino like me. But I can still take pictures.

Tanzanian Culinary Delights: Fish Plate

Tropical fish in their right element...

Speargun fishing off the north coast of Zanzibar can get you some fine catch. Just off the shore of where we are staying you can snorkel your way to a tasty meal in minutes. Unfortunately I was sidelined by my now blistering back from the first day of snorkling, but some friends managed to catch these fine specimens of local sea wildlife only a few front crawl strokes off the beach. The local fisherman deliver fresh meter long kingfish, dolphin fish and others to the resort restaurant in the late afternoon and in the evening you can purchase a price meal for a meager $18. My budget doesn't stretch quite that far, but with me newfound source of $3 mangos and $1.50 loafs of bread I might be able to grab some tomorrow night...

Island of Spice

The view from where I sitt...

I am sitting here at the computer shack with near second degree burns on my back from a few hours of snorkling at a nearby reef yesterday, but I can't complain. This place is incredible. Ever minute of this area is like living in one giant postcard, the scenes are unbelievable.

After a 9 hour bus ride from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam we spent a very sweaty night at the YMCA in the city. For $6 we got a room, breakfast and armed guards at the gate. The next day we moved on to the Island of Spice via a highspeed passanger boat complete with full Kung Fu film entertainment the entire way.

We are now staying at the Kenwa Rocks resort on the north west coast of the island until Wednesday and then its back to Dar and Norway via Nairobi and Amsterdam.

It is not challenging to adjust to a life of throwing on your shorts, taking a morning swim, breakfast, beach, water, more beach, some volleyball, more water etc. For a total of $80 we get 5 nights accomidation in private beach bungaloos with breakfast included. Additionally we have the nicest beach in the area with pearl white sand and tourquoise still water. It is 30 degrees on land and nly a few degrees colder in the water. The place is nearly deserted as this is the off season, but we have met a group of Americans from Zambia and a couple of groups of Norwegians.

As I mentioned earlier we spent the day boating and snoking yesterday.For reference, $20 for a day of snorking and a kingfish lunch on the beach. The reef was a rather long journey in the two stroke powered longboat, but once there we were treated to spectacular vibrant multicolour corral reef and literally hundreds of different types of fish swimming around us in crystal clear waters. I am taking a free diving course this spring with Bildoy and yesterday we took the opportunity to practice some basic techniques to get down to about 8 meters to check out the underwater wildlife up close. Swimming up to the surface again through white beams of light and schools of near mythical fish was quite the experience. Unfortunately despite very liberal use of sunscreen the water exposure resulted in my back becoming a very frightful shade of red and has given me a rather drousy and near fever state of being that I hope changes course before we have to leave this tropical paradise.

Life is good. I am on Zanzibar, perhaps one of the most exotic tropical destinations on earth.

Karibo

Sitting here cramed into an office in a luxury hotel in Arusha Tanzania I am very excited to be heading to the tropical paradise of Zanzibar tomorrow. Henrik, Andres and I have got our flights rebooked and will be heading back to Norway next Wednesday from Dar Es Sallam instead of Kilimanjaro so we save nearly two days of extra travel etc meaning almost 48 extra hours on Zanzibar compared to what we had originally planned. We head east via Moshi to Dar tomorrow on an 8 hour bus journey. Once we arrive in Dar we will spend the night and then hop on the morning jet boat to Zanzibar for what should be a great extended debreif from a trip that has left many deep impressions on all of us. Historically one of the Indian Oceans primary trading posts and colonary desires and currently known as the island of spice and one of few relatively undeveloped tropical wonderlands on earth, Zanzibar should be well worth the effort.

This trip has been full of absolutely astonishing experiences some of wish I mentioned in the previous post, but I will write a more complete recap once I have had time to digest everything I have been presented with.

Here are a few key items since the last post:

- Safari in Tarangire National Park, saw a cheetah.

- Blew a police checkpoint in the Land Cruiser the other day. Driver; "I have nothing to give them, I never stop, no point". Life is simple and care free... Our driver is also underaged to be driving our 8 seater offroader, another reason not to stopf or the law.

- Visit with a Masaii family in their traditional compound, not something usual for tourists. One of our guides who lived in Tanzania for nearly 20 years had never been invited to such a family before. The man of the house had some 9 wives and dispite looking 80 was still making children...

- Trying to learn the art of bartering at the many markets here, they dont budge far with me. Andres can buy something for nearly half the price of what I can at the exact same shop for the exact same item, frustrating.

- Went to a cimema night in the bush an hours drive on double track from Katesh and witnessed 1500 tribespeople turn up to watch old music videos and a movie about the Gospel According to Luke for 3 hours in the pitch black and fresh east African night.

- The contrasts between rich and poor in this country are overwhelming. We have gone from literally living in the bush to living in a 5 star hotel in only a few days. Only blocks from our hotel you can find extreme poverty and near slum like conditions. At the same time most people rich or poor are incredibly open and welcoming. People here are thenkful for anything and everything, it is very refreshing.

Tanzania and Africa is an incredible place. Time to go and discover some more of it. Next report will be from Zanzibar. In case you were wondering my bowels are now functioning to 80% of their standard capacity and are thus ready for another week of challange.

5 days of this...

Africa

Just a few short minutes for a quick update on my trip to Tanzania.
After one week I feel like I have been here for a month, we have experienced so much. Everything from the bustling streets of Arusha, to a Safarii in Lake Manyara National Park, incredible natural impressions, unbelievable people, poverty, everything. I have had my fair share of beans and rice, washed with a cold bucket of water in a room that makes your barn look fit to live in, played soccer on fields with 1 m elevation differences, small trees and pasturing cows. All too much to put in to words at the moment.
We are currently at Hai Dom hospital out in the bush. Playing our second soccer match against another local team in about 2 hours. It is super hot and I have the runs, but life is good.
In other news and in the spirit of true pdot spontaneity I arranged a small extension of this trip to Zanzibar for a week with a couple of the others in the group. Should be a nice little adventure. We will be back in Norway on the 20th just in time for Easter.
I'll try to post more when we get back to Arusha.