One year ago today: Oct 14, 2005 (Snorkeling trip on a dhow)

[Note: original post from the trip can be found here.]

In the morning, we went out with Captain Peace in his dhow for a short snorkeling trip. Dhows are very romantic looking Arabic sailing vessels, with sails made from sewn-together rice sacks and hulls of hollowed out mango trees. The snorkeling was decent, but certainly not spectacular, and Ian became rather seasick. Nonetheless, it was good fun. The rest of the day was spent lazing and walking around on the beach, with a few naps thrown in for good measure.

We had a fantastic dinner (Zanzibari food is really quite good, with lots of unusual combinations of spices) at the Casa del Mar hotel restaurant, just a short walk from our hotel. Since we were visiting during Ramadan, food was hard to come by during the day. Most Zanzibaris are proud of their strict observance of Muslim traditions, although no one we talked to could articulate the value of observing Ramadan beyond tradition. The other funny thing about visiting during Ramadan is the general mood of tiredness and malaise; since it was hot we'd see lots of people just lying down all day to conserve energy. In any case, it's interesting to observe a culture of collective and disciplined self-denial, which is quite different from the American culture, which is typified by unbridled consumption, energy, and competition.

Here's a short FilmLoop slideshow of our snorkeling adventure: