Hakuna Matata

After two days of traveling, we have finally arrived back home in Zambia.  It still feels a bit awkward to call Lusaka “home,” but it really does feel nice to be home.  Our week in Zanzibar, a beautiful island off of Tanzania, was both refreshing and therapeutic.  After 4 months of battling major stressors like picking up and moving to a different country as well as encountering countless frustrations in struggling to understand a culture opposite from one’s own, we decided we needed a quick get-away to relax and calm our minds.  And this was quite the get-away.
We stayed at a beautiful hotel sitting along the northern coast of the island (Nungwi).   

The white sand beaches and crashing waves created an idyllic scene as we soaked in the infinity pool, relaxed beneath the umbrellas, and ate breakfast from the beachfront restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean.  

With 98% of the population being Muslim, most people dressed their part in conservative yet colorful clothing despite the sunny beach atmosphere.  

The sing-song chants of the frequent prayers were heard throughout the day.  The locals spoke Swahili, so the common phrases “Jambo” (hello) and “Hakuna Matata” (no worries) were often flung our way.  Tourism, fishing, and spice farming seem to be major industries on the island, and the women would daily walk to the shore with big buckets, hoping the fishermen would come back from a good catch with thousands of tiny silver fish.  When the tide was out, the women would wade into the water with their full garb.  

Children would play their part in helping contribute to the daily earnings. 

Stonetown was an interesting place, with a lively mixture of outdoor markets, mosques, artwork, and shops.  

We saw many different shapes and designs for doors.  Many had spikes protruding from them, which were intended to thwart off elephants.

The narrow roads were frequented by bicycles and scooters zooming past the pedestrians.  

Although Zanzibar is mostly Muslim, it’s a very peaceful place, and the Christian church seemed to coexist just fine next to the mosque.

The highlight of our trip was the opportunity we had to learn to SCUBA dive.  We ventured out into the hotel pool, then out into the open sea to learn the basics of diving down to the depth of 50 feet.  What a thrill it was to learn to breathe underwater, to feel weightless and neutrally buoyant in the Indian Ocean, and to admire the whole new world of sea vegetation and God’s wonderful ocean creatures on our exhilarating open water dives.  Now that we’re PADI-certified for open water diving, we hope to get more opportunities to explore the underwater world throughout the world.  Hopefully by then we’ll have an underwater camera.

Another highlight was meeting Conchester, a local masseuse, who induldged us with an hour long massage session each day for 4 consecutive days.  I also enjoyed reading some books from the Reading Room.  We certainly got our R&R this holiday season.  

Now back to reality.