Wunderbar Zanzibar

So Zanzibar the island that is supposed to be known for the best beaches, spices and the of course the best known Arab invention, slavery. So we left Dar es salaam by a ferry called the kilimanjaro. There were more similarities than you could imagine. Firstly you never see either of them. The mountain because of the clouds, the boat because it is always late. Secondly manoeuvrability, need I explain more? Once we arrive we had to get a visa. Anyone thinking that Zanzibar is part of Tanzania is ......... Right. I just think they forgot to inform the customs there. So after standing in lines we were finally in Stone town. A charming place that is great for a one to two day visit. Our hotel really made us feel like a part of the Zanzibar history. It included bars in front of the windows and great common shower where dropping your soap could be and issue.
The next day was hotel change time and the usual sight seeing. Merel needed sun glasses and on the way to get some her flip-flops broke. So we found a store (after what seemed a 1500 km hike) and the Indian store owner (who else) wanted 12000 shilling (6€) for them. Merel drove him to a frenzy with her hard bargaining skills and ended up paying 12000 shilling. Indian 1, merel 0. Next up were the sunglasses, the bargaining score here was (even though it was a different Indian) Indian 2, merel 0. After 20 min merel realised that one of the glasses was a lot darker then the other and thus merel could only see with one eye unless the sun was shining directly into her face. So the final score? Let's just say it was an easy win for the Indians.
Next up was my problem. I decided I wanted a haircut. So on a local market we found a barber and in I went. After my cut I decided to get a shave. By the time the barber took out, what looked to me like a sabre there was a crowd outside the barbers looking at the muzungu (white man) being butchered. According to merel I looked slightly frightened. In reality I did not feel that way at all. I was shitting myself. Anyway I survived and paid €1.25 for the ordeal, although slightly disappointed for Not getting and applause from the audience.
Our next hotel was better, although we think it was a brothel as the walls in the shower were all mirrors and it had more steps in it then the average staircase.
Now I'd like to complain about tourists dress attire. WHAT is wrong with you? You have two types. The 'I want to wear what locals wear guy' who then buys a local wedding attire that is only worn by tourists, unless there is a local wedding. I wonder if these people wear tuxedos when they travel in Europe?
The others are the 24hr prepared safari going guy. Wearing a panama hat in matching combination to their brown green outfit. Then they will carry a large knife on their belt that cuts deep into their leg every time they sit down. This much to my pleasure though! Then they will always have a compass. These people are always the ones that could not tell you where Tanzania is on the world map but the compass essential so that when they get lost at the hotel pool they'll know where north is.
Next up was the spice tour that I recommend but was uneventful and the jozani Forrest that is home to the red colobus and blue monkey. We were on the tour with a couple of french guys whose English consisted of yes and non. Our guide had such a thick African accent that we left him with the French so at least no one understood each other. Another reason we left the guide was that when merel ran after a lizard (if only I would get €0.01 for every time she did that) and she caught one and presented it to the guide he shrieked. Merel asked him what monkey were in the Forrest his reply was the red one and the black one and you saw that fear was within him that we would ask. More.

Top sport, desk gibbons and to many options

Aah.. our first week in Spain in almost ended. So where to start? Merel has been fighting with bureaucracy for the whole week as she had to show her diploma, first it had to be translated then she had to do more courses as the diploma was not valid in Spain, then it had to be the original diploma then a certified copy was ok. These desk gibbons just keep jumping up and down on their chairs waiving their arms around if they smell a hint of work coming up. However as typical as Merel is she did not give up and kept on calling and doing what they told her to do. The result you may ask? They told Merel it was ok. So at the moment it looks like Merel does not even have to show her swimming diploma to anyone. The desk gibbons gave up at the sight of a lot of work and noted that she has all the right documents. On the bright side of this all, it only took a week and Merel only has six more applications to do. ahahaha.....

On a more personal note, this week I decided i would join a real national top sport here in Spain. Now before all you vegetarians go all " bull fights are cruel, etc " (you know who you are:) I decided to join a sport i always considered my self good at. i.e. the national sport being lazy. Now suprised i was to find out that i am a mere amateur in this sport. In fact i am so bad i would not dare to ever say that i am lazy again just to not insult the Spanish. As we called the government (who close at 5pm) at 16.30 they decided that during mid sentence they would hang up. When we called back they where closed. Fair enough you would think, however it was 16.41. Even the bums here do not bother to stand up for money but just put a can in front of them whilst sleeping. The only exception is one bum that holds the can in his mouth and walks around as he has no arms and that makes it difficult to get up when lying down.

I have been trying to learn Spanish now and figured out that the Spaniards hate foreigners. I listen to what people say around me and go to the bar and repeat that. When Merel orders a beer for me she asks for a beer and she gets one. So i do the same at the next bar. However all of a sudden ordering a beer becomes a quiz show, do i want the beer cold, medium cold, local, Mexican, in a glass without a glass, shaken, stirred. As stupid as i can look the only thing from the 10 million dollar question i got was Mexican. So i guessed Mexican and for once the waiter seemed to understand me, however even in the Mexican section there where a billion options.
Now this is not the only time that happened, when merel orders tomatoes in the supermarket, there are no questions asked if i want a kiwi, it seems that every country north of the south pole produces kiwi's. Luckily I'm not the only one with the problem. It seems that when ever merel asks something in Spanish the Spaniards seem to think hey a foreigner and increase their speaking speed to the setting, the speed of light.