zanzibar

After the bat mitzvah on Sunday, I headed to the airport for a red eye to Zanzibar – the start of my African adventure.  After a frusturating airport experience – never been pushed around and cut in front of in line by fellow passangers so much in my life!  I think I was also the only white person on the plane and the only one NOT in head to toe garb.  The lady at the first class counter pulled me out of line to help me since she could tell I was getting nowhere.  I also then had to go back into two other lines and the airport security pulled me out of line to question me since I was flying through Ethiopia.  I got questioned more there than an el al flight and if you have ever been on an el al flight, you would know that they question you like crazy.  I got asked everything from why I was in Israel, if I had been before and why, what shul I belong to in the states, and what holidays I celebrate and more!  Long story short, I made it!  The plane was possibly the most uncomfortable I had ever been on – don’t fly Ethiopian airlines.  After a 6 hour layover in addis ababa, ethiopia (and watching people clean their feet in the sink!), I was finally on my way to zanzibar. For those that do not know, Zanzibar is an island off the coast of Tanzania and represents the zania in Tanzania.  Zanzibar was a major hub of slave trade back in the day and instead of westerners buying slaves, most of the slaves went to the middle east and thus there is a HUGE Arabic influence on the island, even more so than the mainland of Tanzania.

By the time I got to the hotel it was pretty late in the afternoon so I decided to chill by the infinity pool.  They greeted me with a drink and everyone I met at hotel (and even later) LOVED the United States – they talk about it like people used to refer to the American dream.  And of course, they love Obama.  The sunsets were amazing in Zanzibar – just spectacular. 

On Tuesday, I started the day with a tour of stone town – the main city on the island.  The town was pretty dirty and run down but the history was pretty interesting.  Some interesting facts I learned.

• 1.4 million people in Zanzibar (which is made up of two islands).  However, 0.5 million live on Pembra (the other island).
•  95% of the island is muslim and most do not like their picture taken – they think it steals their soul.  Makes photography difficult
•  Something like 46 mosques in the small city center
•  The doors have pointy things on them to keep people/things out (now just for decoration)
• The doorframes are often decorated and the chain represents the slave trade
•  Instead of revamping old buildings, they just abandon them – see old school records in an abandoned building
•  Slave trade was very common- I even went to where they used to auction people and “store” them prior to auction.  Definitely got the chills there.
•  The outdoor market was unreal – I guess they don’t have any sanitary requirements for meat and fish. (see pictures)
•  The island is known for its spices
•  Kids go to school two times a day through 7^th grade – once for religious school and once for general studies.  Most learn to speak English – probably because of the amount of tourism
•  I bought a very cool hand carved chest in Zanzibar. Long story short I don’t have it now – wont bore you with logistical details of that!
• There is Portuguese, Scottish and Arabic influence on the island as the island was colonized/ruled/inhabitted by all of these populations.

After the stone town tour, I went on a spice tour, since the island is known for its spices.  Besides being a total tourist trap, I did get to see a lot of cool spices and fruits.  There was an orange grapefruit (much sweeter than grapefruits in the US), peppers, vanilla beans (much softer than the US version), cinnamon (which I learned uses 3 different parts of the tree).  The best part was drinking the liquid from a young coconut after I watched the guy climb up the palm tree to cut it down for me.  I gave in and tried a bunch of fruit against my better judgment to avoid any non-cooked foods, but I survived!  They were super nice and let me smell and try just about everything.

On Wednesday, I took a taxi back to the center of town to catch a dhow (wooden hand made boat in Zanzibar) to prison island.  I thought there was going to be other people on the boat, but nope, just me and the driver and his helper.  We took the short bumpy ride (well short in miles – probably less than 5, but took a long time!) over to the island, the home of very large turtles.  They were HUGE.  While the tortoises can roam free on the island, they definitely congregate in one location where the tourists go as the local conservatory feed them.  Each turtle has a number painted on his back which shows how old they are.  Some were over 150 years old!  So crazy.  They keep the babies separate until they hit 3 years and then move them to another section until they are 10.  Once they are 10 years old they are allowed to join the rest of the turtles.

On another part of the island was the location of the prison.  Even though it is called prison island and there was a prison facility, it was never used as an actual prison.  Instead, the island was used as a place for people with diseases until they decided it was too close to Zanzibar town (aka stone town).  After visiting the island, we took the boat a couple hundred yards away so I could go snorkeling.  The fish and coral were beautiful – so many colors and unique fish.  Since it was low season when I went, I was the only one out there and I got the whole prison island trip for a good deal!  The sad thing about snorkeling was unlike Hawaii which had regulations on where you could throw your anchor to protect the coral there were no regulations so I fear the coral will be damaged over time.

On my way back to the hotel, the cab driver told me all about the island.  There were tons of half built houses which he explained that people build houses piece by piece as they get the money – so it oftens takes a very long time.  Also, there were cows (oddly shaped) carrying goods and people on bicycles transporting large loads.  The island was fascinating.  Not sure I need to go back anytime soon, but glad I went.  Would definitely prefer Hawaii for relaxation and beauty, but interesting learning about the culture.  Also, did not enjoy the massive amounts of mosquito bites I left with – good thing I started my malaria medication before I went to Zanzibar.  I did learn that the Clinton foundation is doing quite a bit of work in Zanzibar to decrease the instances of malaria.

My major takeaway is that although they do not have a great deal compared to western standards, they are a happy people.

israel

I flew from Greece to Israel, my next stop along my summer journey.  I got in late Monday night and my cousins were arriving on Tuesday afternoon, so I spent the night/Tuesday morning in tel aviv.  Tel aviv is very different than Jerusalem.  When I went to Israel with birthright, we did not spend a lot of time in tel aviv.  The beach is tel aviv was beautiful – although I was confused by the sign the said no swimming. 

That afternoon I headed back to the airport, much to the confusion of the security guards at ben gurion to meet my cousin aud, her husband scott and her kids (anya, bear, mali, maya and tess), bubbe (scott’s mom) and heidi (scott’s sister).  We were in israel for their oldest, anya’s bat mitzvah.  We headed to jersualem from the airport to the apartment they had rented.  That night we headed to the shuk, an outdoor market, that had everything from restaurants to fresh fruits and vegetables to candy, toys and clothing.  It was less than a five minute walk from the apartment which was super convenient.  Later in the trip we found that they had the best juice – fresh squeezed in front of you in an old school presser – my favorite was the pomegranate peach, then blended with ice – so delicious – wish I could have some now.  I went to the shuk pretty much daily to get that.  Israel has DELICIOUS hummus and tomatoes as well – we went through tons of hummus and sundried tomatoes. 

 Wednesday, our first full day in Jerusalem we pretty much took it easy and walked around by the apartment in the morning.  In the afternoon, we went to pick kohlrabi (kinda looks like lettuce) for the needy.  We picked a pallet worth of kohlrabi which will provide a great deal of food for people in need. The organization was Leket Israel.  Leket Israel with the help of 45,000 volunteers, will rescue and distribute over 25 million lbs of produce and perishable goods, 1 million prepared meals, and 1.5 million (8,400/school day) volunteer prepared sandwiches to underprivileged children

By the time we got back, my aunt barbara (audis’ mom) and Hilary (audi’s friend) and her family had arrived from the airport.  That night, we located a kosher wine and cheese bar across the street from the apartment which we frequented as well. 

On Thursday, Heidi, Scott’s sister, and I decided to go explore the old city.  We walked to the Kotel (western wall) and also, decided we wanted to go up to the dome of the rock (the mosque).  We took the train (light rail style) about 3 stops to the kotel and then walked through the quarters – jewish, christian, muslim – admiring all of the stuff for sale in the quasi underground stalls.  You could definitely tell the difference between the different quarters based on the people, tourists and the items for sale (not just religious items).  We finally made our way to the kotel with the help of some idf soliders – it was very crowded the day we went.  We later found out it was yom yerushalim (ill explain in a little bit).  The kotel had many bar mitzvahs going on and all the women were looking over the wall to see their sons/family members getting bar mitzvahed at the wall.  There were many groups of people wearing the same shirts (like groups of them) dancing and singing at the wall and throughout the quarters. 

 

When we tried to enter the dome of the rock we were told we had to go through the entrance to the kotel which seemed odd – but became clear later.  After multiple metal detectors and xrays machines and a sign that said no jews allowed, we made it up to the dome of the rock.  It was the most peaceful place I had ever seen and with beautiful views of the city.  You could not hear the noise from the kotel at all. Even though we were wearing pretty modest clothing, they made us purchase an ugly scarf thing that they tied on us like a skirt to cover our who legs down to our ankles (we had to purchase from Israelis -  I wonder who got that government contract – making a killing for sure!).  we were not allowed in the actual dome – I think you have to have a guided tour to be let in there – but it was still a cool experience.  The architecture and detail was unreal. 

After the dome of the rock, we ended up taking a cab to ben Yehuda street – the famous shopping street in Jerusalem, also known as the site of many bombings in the early 2000s.  the street was super crowded with more people than usual.  I got my long awaited falafel – as good as I remembered from birthright days.  I was actually more nervous being on that street around a bunch of jews than I was at the dome of the rock as I felt that if someone wanted to do something bad that would be the place to do it.  You literally had to push your way through the crowds.

Yom yerushalim is the day of jersualem when all of the settlers come into the city of Jerusalem come into the city to celebrate Israel, Jerusalem and try and promote additional Israeli territory.  The settlers are a very political issue in Israel and many jews in Israel don’t agree with their agenda, as we learned from our cab driver.  Once a year they come into the city and dance, sing, parade and try to get to the dome of the rock.  Once we learned this, we learned why they were so strict on where we entered to get to the mosque, why we saw people singing and trying to invade the muslim quarter and why we saw palestinian protestors outside the Damascus gate.

 

I don’t remember which day it was but one day we were taking the light rail back from the old city and I went to buy my ticket  after waiting in line and a young kid – probably 10 or 11, pushed me aside while I was in the middle of a transaction to purchase tickets for some Palestinian ladies.  I was so shocked and my Hebrew was so limited that all I could do was say LO over and over again which means no.  later the Palestinian women came up to me and apologized. 

Ok moving along to the rest of the trip – on Friday, we headed to caesaria which is a town just north of tel aviv on the water.  It had roman ruins there including an amphitheater.  We didn’t quite make it to the ruins part, but we did get a nice afternoon by the beach after a 4 vehicle car accident on the way.  We headed back relatively early for Shabbat.  My cousins keep Shabbos so we had to make sure to get home before sunset.    Shabbos dinner was delicious with food from the shuk.  

On Saturday we enjoyed more food from the shuk – lots of salads on the balcony off the apartment – the balcony was huge!  almost the same size as the 4 bedroom apartment and had amazing views.  We walked back to the kotel on Saturday.  Less crowded that the last time for sure, but still lots of people!

Sunday was Bat Mitzvah day!  The Bat Mitzvah was supposed to be on the huge balcony off the apartment, but unfortunately it was too windy.  Anya delivered a beautiful speech, the food was yummy, the kids enjoyed a caricature artist, a guy who took photos and turned them into magnets and an art project for the local orphanage.  In addition to family, quite a few friends who live in Israel came to join in the celebration.  Scott had prepared a beautiful video capturing bits of anyas life since birth – quite touching and also setting a strong precedent for the next four kids.  Still super proud of anya, glad I could be there to join in the fun and cant believe she is already so old!

Overall, it was wonderful hanging out with my cousins, my aunt barbara, cousin heidi (scott’s sister), bubbe (scott’s mother) and hilary (audi’s friend) and her family.