#36 Water, beaches, and locals.

HAPPY DECEMBER. I have been gone 4 months, has anyone noticed?

If you find yourself in Tanzania and are out on some local streets, but are worried because you don't speak the native tongue, Hakuna Matata=Don't worry. When you see people on the street, who ever speaks first just says "jambo" and the second person responds with "jambo". If by chance they say "mambo" you just reply "poor", and all is good in the hood. You can also use another saying that they also use in a few of the other African countries; that being "shop, shop". It has nothing to do with buying anything. If you say "shop, shop" it means-hello, how are you, I'm fine, ok thanks have a good day. (it could mean all of this or just part of it depending on how you feel and how they interpret how you say it, but either way it's a good thing to say.
If none of these things seem to suit you then you can say eminem or D12 or 50 cent and point to their shirt or hat since it seems that this was these rappers marketing plan: to outfit everyone on the continent of Africa with their apparel.
When I see someone with one of these on this is usually how the conversation goes: we'll say they have an eminem shirt on.
ME: oh, eminem Local: yes, eminem, I like very much.
ME: I'm from Detroit, the same city as eminem. Local: Yes, I like eminem.
ME: Detroit Local: deetwoit, what is deetwoit? ME: the city I'm from that eminem is from too. Local: Yes, eminem, from USA. You are from USA?
ME: Yes, I'm from USA, in Detroit. Local: I like USA...New York City.
ME: USA, New York City, no I'm not from there. I'm from Michigan.
Local: oh, Mexico. ME: shop, shop. Local: shop, shop.

If they can't understand me how in the world could they understand any lyrics from eminem or 50 cent? the answer: they don't.

In Malawi we stayed a few nights at some different camp sites right on the beaches of Lake Malawi which turned out to be great fun. We could swim at any point and then head nearby to the local villages to talk with locals and see the local villages (schools, hospital, how they grow and make their food, and I played some soccer) They invited us one night to a bonfire on the beach where we all played drums and danced and sang. (They taught me how to play the drums; they gave me a beat to play which if I play it alone when I get home you will think I'm going crazy.) I did some haggling for some handmade crafts. I really don't want most of the crafts but just find myself enjoying the battle of the price war that I end up with stuff. (this may mean that they won since I bought stuff, or we both won because we both leave thinking we got the best of the deal.)
The little kids love to get their pictures taken and think it is the funniest thing when they see it on the screen. I went through a battery just to entertain them with different poses for the pictures and then letting them look at it.

I made a bet with the driver and cook of our truck. They said I couldn't eat 12 eggs for breakfast. So with a big build up after a couple of days the eggs were made; I picked scrambled, with hot sauce. It filled up a full silver tray they had. Fork to mouth, fork to mouth, fork to mouth for about 10 minutes which at that point I held up the empty tray and collected my prize which was a bottle of Vodka. The funny thing was that when we made the bet, Lion-the driver wanted to bet a bottle of Gin which I agreed to. Then he bought the bottle of vodka and kept referring to it as whiskey. In conclusion: alcohol is all the same to them here, it doesn't matter what type it is.

Making our way into Tanzania we visited the countries largest city, Dar Salaam which is a pretty busy, happening place. This is where we boarded the ferry to Zanzibar, the island off of Tanzania. Our first night in Zanzibar Egg and I headed to meet Megadeath (Meredith from our old tour) who was staying in a five star hotel with a friend. Going from camping to a five star is like going from eating basic sandwiches to gourmet all you can eat with all kinds of meat, appetizers, desserts and a waitstaff to make sure you have everything you want. (I know because at the 5 star hotel we payed $25 and got to eat at this gourmet buffett along with unlimited drinks which I couldn't do because I was too full from the food.) The beach in front of the hotel was huge, we could walk for a mile or longer out without the water going over our waist, this with white sand to walk in. All of this in addition to Megadeath who is so excited and animated about everything which makes it hard to not smile and laugh the whole time you are around her (that or be astonished by what comes out of her mouth which also makes you laugh).

Zanzibar is known for all the spices that they grow here so we went on a spice tour and learned about all the different uses for a lot of them. For example: If a man eats ginger it gives him a lot of strong sexual power, it is like a natural viagra.
If a women eats nutmeg it will do the same thing. In the Western world women have to be careful about men dropping a date rape drug into their drink at a bar where here guys will slip some nutmeg into a girls drink to get them wired up.

Today I spent my day snorkeling near a smaller island off the coast of Zanzibar. It was breathtaking to see the colors of these fish, they didn't look real.
It made me think about when at some restaurants or places they have the contests where they give an outline of fish or something and the kids have to color in the fish and they will use the best one for their menu or something like that. Anyway, I remember thinking when kids would use strange colors that there would never be fish those colors. I was wrong!!! Every color combination you could think of has a fish that exists like that. I was in a trance floating there and watching these fish letting my mind try to soak it all up. I also saw a sting ray and lots of dolphins swam along near our boat as well.

Tomorrow we leave and head back to the mainland where we head north for our last week on this safari. The big group has done alright. I know now which I probably should have always known that I don't like people telling me what to do and when there are a lot of people and organized like this people try to do that and it doesn't go over to well with me.

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
- William Shakespeare