Zanzibar, meh

Wow, I really looked forward to visiting Zanzibar last week, mystery, gorgeous beaches, history. well, not quite. First the good:  I made it on a 10 seater plane for the 20 minute ride without getting ill whoohoo! There was a bar in a hotel that faced the Indian Ocean that had a beautiful view, named Sunset Bar for good reason. I met some lovely people at 2 universities who are working on starting social work programs, visits that also made me appreciate the place I do work and others prior to this job. We had an interesting tour guide for the old part of the island, Stone Town, centuries old, very old-Arab traders supposedly arrived in the 8th century and one mosque is dated at 1107. Mostly Islamic but also Christian, Hindu and others.  It is known for spices and we went on an interesting spice farm tour learning how tumeric, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, and fruits-tangerine, oranges, starfruit/jack fruit, and several I don't recall but were quite tasty. The most powerful piece of the trip was visiting the old slave market. Whole families taken from Congo and other locations ended up in Zanzibar, sold to Arabs and others. The Anglican Church came in and stopped the market around 1855. The Bishop had a large church built on the site.  I did wonder who built it-were the people released from slavery made to build it? Just wondering. It was powerful to stand in the "dungeon" for lack of a better word, where people where kept until they were taken upstairs to the market.  Ok, that was the good.

The first misunderstanding I had was that I was sure they were going to put us up in a hotel on a beach, even Saundra's leader got them into a lovely resort after being in a nasty hostel (no hot water, bath in a bucket with collected water since it only dribbles in the shower, clothes washed by hand-one pair of her pants clearly had mildew spots).  So a taxi picks us up and takes us to Stone Town; parks at the back end of a tired old hotel. Not looking hopeful. He walks us up an alley with rubbish and rocks and construction and mud to the front of the hotel. The Africa hotel, looks on the inside interesting, this must have been a Sultan's home, amazing painting on the ceilings, carved wood, heavy furniture. Ok, I'm willing to try it, though I really wanted that beach. They take us up 2 flights of big old wooden stairs, down a hall, through a door right off the bar down more steps into a narrow hallway with a mirror on the end. It's pretty dark, and the light over my door is out. So the manager opens my door-too dark to see the keyhole in heavily carved brass. The room looked over the ocean and that was nice. I went to wash up as we were to head right out to a university meeting. Ah, no water. I tell the manager who says it has to come down from the hotel above so their wells weren't filled yet, no problem (never trust this phrase again) we will get water later and it won't occur again. I asked if he meant ever again, during our stay, or what. He smiled, no problem! We come back at night and I do have water so I figured I'd better shower, hot water and all. the bathroom could be cleaner but I was glad to shower. I did notice every time I sat on the toilet, the back of the seat fell into my back while I sat and then when getting up. I am disappointed. I prepare for bed, pull back the blankets and pick up a pillow; the pillow case is ripped down one whole side which gave me the chance to notice the mildew/mold all over the pillow itself. Oh, and I could not get on the promised internet which I needed for work. I slept poorly, it was very noisy, furniture moving, some I could not tell what it was. Oh, that's right, my room is under the bar. Ok, I wake to meet K at 7:30 because he made all the plans and decided that we should eat then and head out to the next school. this is a pretty small island, it shouldn't take long, I asked if he had checked with them about us being there so early. No problem. I go upstairs to the restaurant for the included breakfast. A good thing-big bowl of fresh fruit-mango, papaya, guava, pineapple, watermelon yum. Then the menu-banana pancakes with chocolate sauce? no. Several types of eggs, err no not since my last experience. Ah, "bakery goods" and coffee (I think, tasted good but I question whether it was really brewed). This turned out to be a big plate with a few slices of bread which turned out to be the best thing, then some muffins and rolls all crumbly dry old.Oh, did I mention that I was there at  7:30 and no one, no guest no worker was there? And that I finally after about 45 minutes went back to K's room to see what kept him. He was brushing his hair and happily smiling and said he'd be up shortly. Oh, and I did forget to mention that when I woke, there was.....no water...and...no electricity. No problem!  K didn't seem troubled and laughed when I asked if he had, oh it just came on. (and yes I've gone through the whole thought process that I don't know if he has water and/or electric at home and that almost anything is likely better. But dang that was not part of the payment plan for the rooms!).  Again I complained, he smiled/laughed a little. I said we did not reserve a hotel with the possibility of having no electricity, no water, no internet (and moldy linens). I was ready to check out and pay for myself at some Hilton or something. Well the manager and K. speak to each other, I can tell it's about me because they keep saying "mama" or "madam". And we end up being taken to their other hotel the Zanzibar up a few alleys. But that I'll save for another blog because this is long and I'm tired since the project people set up a 4 day training I'm to do starting tomorrow morning after being gone for 5 days, returned on Saturday.
Think I'll post photos in a separate post. Have a good day!