fish tales part two

After gorging ourselves on gelato, pizza and pasta we waved ciao to Malindi and headed out to another eco lodge on the way to Mombasa. We had high hopes, but while it was nice and peaceful, it was no Abdul’s Eco Nest, so we headed on after only one night. We had friends from the hostel in Nairobi that were waiting for us on Tiwi beach just south of Mombasa to spend Christmas together. We had heard stories of Mombasa beaches just being places where women get hassled alot, but we heard you could avoid a lot of that by heading south. We jumped in a mtatu (mini bus) and spent the next cramped few hours sailing past fields of pineapple. When we finally arrived in Mombasa we jumped in a tuk-tuk and headed straight for the ferry, stopping only to secure bus tickets for our trek to Dar Es Salaam later that week.

Upon arriving in Tiwi beach we were struck by how white the sand was and how beautiful and private the hotel was. There were even monkeys crawling around the hotel grounds. For $10 a night you really couldn’t ask for a better view. We found our friends and headed to the beach. I’m happy to report that the hassle level was very low on this stretch of beach and the water temperature was just right. We made friends with people from all over the world that night, from Kenya, the UK, Israel, the States, Germany, and Australia. While we all had different reasons for being away from our homes and families this year, we all agreed that this wasn’t a half bad place to spend Christmas.

On Christmas eve we took a walk down the beach to a small restaurant that prepared a private dinner for our group of friends. Delicious King Fish, coconut rice, octopus, and vegetables were served up family style under the stars as the tide rolled in. No one had any Christmas music with them so we chose to make our own chorus, singing at the top of our lungs whatever bits of carols we could recall. Turns out Grandma Got Run-over By a Reindeer is not the international sensation I thought it was, but I’m taking it around the world and spreading the love…

The next day on Christmas morning Sara and I decided that for Christmas we would buy each other massages. Excellent decision. We went into town in the afternoon to get some supplies for our bus ride the next morning and were pleasantly surprised to find yet more gelato. As it was lunch time we decided our tradition needn't be left in Malindi and indulged. We headed back to the hotel to spend some time with the friends we’d made and enjoy our last evening in Kenya. We went for a dip in the Indian Ocean that night which was a wonderful way to close out Christmas 2009. We squinted at the sands and smiled at our white Christmas.

Onto a bus and across the boarder we went, down through the winding hills of northern Tanzania. We saw a few baboons along the way and marveled at how green and lush this part of the country was. After about 12 hours we finally reached Dar Es Salaam. For two years I had been looking forward to going again to Addis in Dar, an Ethiopian restaurant I fell in love with the last time I was in Dar, but was sorely disappointed to find that it was closed for the holidays. Next time...instead I got to meet up with a friend I had made in 2007 while I was volunteering in Tanzania. She and her sister met us for dinner and it was such a delight to reunite!

The next morning we hopped on the ferry to Zanzibar!! Contrary to popular culture, you can not actually get to Zanzibar by motor car. The ferry dropped us in Stonetown and it was every bit as enchanting as I remembered it: narrow cobbled streets and spices in the air. We took the day to tour around town and found ourselves at several of my favorite places from the last trip.

We went to Freddy Mercury’s for cocktails and met an Australian couple and an American guy who were keen to join us for the fish market that night. The fish market is an experience. Every type of fish you can imagine is being caught in front of you and skewered and barbecued for your enjoyment. King fish, barracuda, red snapper, octopus, squid...the list goes on!! I put on my best haggling hat and got us some pretty awesome deals. The guy working behind the table also offered to organize some drinks for us, so I paid him and we ate our fish and waited for the drinks. And waited. And waited. And then we found he was nowhere to be found. This didn’t sit well with me and I went up to the other man behind the table and asked for my money back for the drinks that never came. He argued with me and said the other man didn’t really work for him but was just helping out and that it was this other guy who took off with my money and wasn’t his responsibility. Those of you who know me know that I can be a bit...stubborn. Especially when my sense of right and wrong has been offended, and this situation offended my sense of justice. I stood and argued with the guy for a good thirty minutes until other merchants started taking notice and coming over to see what was the ruckus. And then something beautiful happened. Organically a leader emerged and asked for my side of the story, then allowed the man to give his side of the story, then discussed it with the other merchants and came to the conclusion that the man should give me my money back. Just like that the man accepted the decision of the group and repaid me. It was really amazing to see this sort of group of merchants come together and create an impromptu council and decide the matter. I was impressed!!!

After this we headed up the coast and booked a room on Kedwa Beach. This is hands down the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Easy. The place we were staying, Kedwa Rocks, was aammmaaaaaazing. We met up with the Australian couple again and soon made friends with some South African guys and commandeered a ship to become real pirates. Er, well, it was a stationary ship on the sand that actually was a beach bed to relax on, but we were real pirates.Kind of. We hung out for four days and basically did nothing but soak up sun during the day and dance away the nights. It was glorious.

One of our South African friend’s, Dave’s, dad owned a lodge on the main land and was bringing over some guests for the “Big Party Ever” (the New Year’s Eve party at Kendwa Rocks that was literally advertised everywhere as the Big Party Ever). On the way over they caught a 20 kilo yellow fin tuna. Dave’s dad insisted that we just gut it and slice it open on the beach and enjoy sashimi with lime. How can you argue against the freshest sashimi you’ve ever had?? We sliced it open and dug in like savages. I have never had such delicious fish in my life. MMMMMmmmmmmm.

That night we washed the fish guts off and cleaned up (quite nicely I think) for the big party ever. And boy was it. Turns out about 2,500 people showed up to big party ever. It was a full moon and Kendwa is known for their full moon parties in general, so this one was amazing. There was one tiny hickup in the middle when some genius let off a can of tear gas….took me a minute to figure out while all the sudden people were running for the ocean and my eyes were stinging. Teargassed on new years eve, can check that one off my list!! It took them only a couple of minutes to clear everything and within minutes everyone was back on the dance floor as if nothing had happened.

We stayed up all night, caught a taxi the next morning to the ferry, took the ferry to the mainland, caught a taxi to the train station and hopped a train to Zambia. Well, a 52 hour train to Zambia. I would recommend doing this train ride at some point. Its really beautiful and you go through a game reserve in Tanzania so you get to see animals from the window. I saw lots of impala and some warthogs. Apparently the other side of the train also saw some giraffes, but I missed it. We met interesting people, played a lot of cards, and read a lot of books. Train travel is definitely the way to go.

And so finally, we arrived back in Zambia. It was an amazing vacation full of lots of adventure and even more memories. But if the last six months are any indication, new adventures aren’t far off…