Days six and seven - contrasts!

day six was spent on the bus from Dodoma to Dar es Salaam ... Nearly nine hours again ... We arrived at the hotel through a very poor district through rough dirt roads ... With a sense of foreboding ... And whilst the staff were very pleasant and we watched two premiership games of football on the TV ... The rooms were not good (an understatement!)
Day seven started at 4.45 am ... Having had very little sleep, it amused the students grately that I slept straight through two alarms positioned right by my head ... So for once one of them had to come and wake me! How the mighty are fallen :-) ... i took it in good grace! A quick breakfast of bread and boiled egg (I am sure I heard someone say that by now they have had at least six months worth of eggs on this trip!) and mango juice we got onto two dollar dollars (or as the locals say darla darla) ... Minibuses that the Tanzanians overload hugely that act as local buses ... And made our way to the port to board Killimanjaro IV a fast catermaran service to Zanzibar ... Once again the students were amazing ... Just getting on with it in good humour. The ferry left a little late but we got off in Zanzibar and were onto two new minibuses soon after 9.30.
First was a tour of stone town ... Seeing the many sights, Freddie Mercuries birth place, the lovely teak doors, the fort, the food market (where some chose to avoid the smelly fish auction section where there were fresh octopus, tuna, marlin and many others ... But most did it all ... Through into the meat section with cow and sheep heads and many different joints of meat ... Then into the veg/fruit section and the spices) ... We also visited the Africa and Dowh Palace hotels as they are very special places in East Africa ... Opulent splendour ... A wonderful morning ... We visited a restaurant for lunch that was very pleasant .. And then the jewel in the crown ... We drove to a Government spice farm and spent three incredibly happy and informative hours wandering through the plants, seeing turmeric, cardamom, ginger, coffee, pepper, cloves, cinnamon, pineapple, cocoa, lemon grass, sour custard fruit (!) and many other spices, fruits and other tress in their native form ... We tasted
nearly everything on the walk. Then we went to the central area and sat and ate mango and green Orange (oxymoron?), grapefruit, jack fruit, banana, pineapple, lychee and so many other fruits, before sampling three spiced teas (lemon grass, ginger and vanilla). Then we watched 'butterfly' climb a tall coconut palm which had to be 30 m at least straight up with no branches to help the climb ... He cut down some coconuts that we then drank from and sampled some of the flesh. He was a show man and sang as well as doing various tricks ... The only help he got was from a rope loop around his ankles that he used to help grip the trunk ... Quite amazing. After buying various spices for home we then set off for the visitors inn in the South East of the island ... Seeing wild red colobus monkeys on the way ... What a change from last night ... From 0 star to 5 star!
The ocean is mere feet away ... The pool is currently populated by most of the team (I have told them I am reserving the wifi code until I have finished the blog as it has been taking me three hours or more to complete most nights due to poor wifi connection!) ... Dinner is at 7, we have planned a beach fire for 8.30 that they don't know about yet ... Then it's a slightly later bed time (twin rooms this time which they prefer) ... Then breakfast between 7-9.30 rather than at a set time ... Out of rooms by 10 but we then have until 2.30 to rest on the beach or by the pool before we head back to stone town and our fish market dinner tomorrow night (which we are all looking forward to).
Sorry about the lack of a blog last night ... But hopefully today's makes up for it ... We are having, as many of you have commented ... An experience of a lifetime ... So many students have recognised a passion for Africa that I hope will continue throughout their lives.
One thing to note before I sign off and get a quick dip in the pool before dinner ... A couple have asked whether they really have to be in school on Thursday. I have made it very clear ... I will take an incredibly dim view to students not being in school for Thursday and Friday ... This experience has already cost four days of school and it must not cost more than that at any cost please ... I hope I can rely on parents to support me on this matter!
Sorry ... Got all serious there ... But it is important.
I hope that we will have wifi tomorrow in stone town so that I can update you on our day tomorrow ... Until then ... kwaherini ...
Mr L