A belated Happy 4th of July from Zanzibar! We celebrated with a scuba-diving day. Moorish Idols are my new favorite fish. Almost beautiful enough to send me back to pure vegetarianism...
My run of summer visitors continues for another 10 days. Right now my guests are ‘the boys’: Cousin Jay, his friend Rich, and my Peace Corps buddy Brett. We have an unspoken pact that when all four of us are together at least one of us is laughing, while another is snorting, and another guffawing. You get the picture. I love it best when they come outside my house and sing, “We’re down here and ready for you to send the key in the basket.” [Even when they have a key, if they know I’m here they sing just because I like their singing and my basket that much. What guys.]
Their singing is in the style of the muzzein at the mosque next door so the neighbors don’t quite know what to do with it. And I’m scandalous because I have three male visitors and I don’t always have my arms covered when I lower the basket. Sometimes I wear tank tops in my house. Shock! Horror!
‘The boys’ brought me dark chocolate, lots of reading materials—everything from People to Wall Street Journal—good gin and constant entertainment. Even better, Brett just came from studying Thai massage in Thailand and I’m a willing guinea pig. Rich is a database rockstar so I put him to work within 20 minutes of seeing him again. I even convinced my boss to pay him.
There is currently a film festival going on here in Zanzibar. In the past week, I’ve seen English, Israeli, Mexican, and Kenyan films. The best among them was El Otro Lado from Mexico. Check it out. The festival is at an outdoor amphitheatre venue by the sea with stone seats—in Stonetown, imagine that?!
We go on safari next week on mainland Tanzania. It’s like a long time dream coming true. Going on safari, sleeping in a tent in the savanna of Africa with the animals all around.
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