May 21, 2011 - Kara's Birthday, Zanzibar Spice Tour, and Prison Island!

Today was Kara's birthday and has been an amazing day, hands down. We had a great breakfast on our rooftop then headed out for our tour. We took a dhow boat over to Prison Island and then we got to see and feed giant tortoises! Some of them were so huge and over 100 years old. We walked through the original prison they built (and the reason for the name of the island), but they actually ended up keeping slaves there. Then we went snorkeling in the Indian Ocean and I saw lots of tropical fish, blue star fish, and a school of squid! After snorkeling we headed back to Zanzibar for lunch at a locals home. We took an Eco Tour with the NGO, Eco and Culture Tours, and they try to support locals as much as possible, so a local woman made us a delicious Tanzanian lunch that consisted of rice pilau, baked bananas in sauce, curried potatoes, fried fish, and a green. One of the woman's daughters had a birthday today as well, so we sang happy birthday to her and Kara. We then headed out for the spice tour which took up the rest of the afternoon. It was neat to see where all the common spices we use in cooking everyday come from and look like before they are ground down. We saw cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, lemongrass, iodine (for cuts), turmeric, cocoa, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla and lots more! Near the end of the tour there was this man named Butterfly (I think I mentioned him in my blog from yesterday) and he was so cool, he actually climbed a palm tree while singing and swinging his legs off it every once and awhile. He climbs it to the top to get coconuts and then after he slices open coconuts for us and we drank the juice and then he chopped up the coconut too and it was delicious. The tour guides also made us watches, frog necklaces, hats, and baskets out of banana leaves! At the end we had the option to buy soaps, perfumes, and spices all from the plants and trees we had just visited! I bought some for souvenirs and all the money goes to the local farmers. We ended the night by going to Freddy Mercury's for dinner! It was a good day! On Sunday before we left we did a bit of shopping and walking around in Stonetown and some people went to the beach.