2011 Highlights

2011 has been a great year. I like the last few months of the year – they allow you to pause, reflect and make plans for moving forward.

2011 started out with a trip to snowy Bend, Oregon, a place that I am dying to return to. Ms. Casey Judy was an excellent host – bravely driving me around in her huge truck.

Anyway, 2011 is the year I began to love the snow and mountains, and these lines of the poem Shoveling Snow sum up why I love it so much.

If day after day
I was caught inside this muffle and hush

I would notice how
birches move with a lovely hum of spirits

How falling snow is a privacy
warm as the space for sleeping

How radiant snow is a dream
like leaving the body

And rising into that luminous space
where sometimes you meet 

The people you’ve lost

Being in the snow is almost like a religious experience, or at least a spiritual one. The tall, cathedral-like trees, the bright silence, the reflection of the suns rays – the beauty is simply consuming.

So of course, I took every opportunity to seek out snow trips.

One highlight was a trip to Tahoe at the end of March, complete with a cabin right on the lake. Josh, Bri, Chad, Callie, Ashlyn, Reece and I loaded up into Josh’s suburban and headed up the mountain. Our cabin was the prefect combination of rustic and comfort, and did I mention it was right on the lake? The next day Reece had his first skiing lesson and he loved it. Northstar was extremely windy, but nonetheless I did my first powder run (I sucked).

When summer came, I did not mourn the melting snow, mainly because it did not melt until mid-July. However, I had no time to think of such snowy distractions when it was time to play on the water. Much as I love the snow, summer is my absolute perfect season for the opportunities it provides to play in the water – jumping off of rocks, rope swings, swimming under the water with my eyes open, diving in, wakeboarding, attempting to ride the air chair – I love it all!

In 2011 though, summer took it’s sweet time arriving, so I took off to Tennessee to wait it out. No, just kidding, I went to Tennessee to go to Bonnaroo on a whim, and it turned out to be the most incredible trip I took all year. Many people have used worn-out descriptions to describe this intense music-festival; sweaty, gritty, steamy – and all are apt. I would add another one: aural bliss. We saw, in the span of three day: Sleigh Bells, Bela Fleck, Old Crow Medicine Show, Allison Krauss, The Decemberists, My Morning Jacket, Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, Buffalo Springfield, Eminem, The Scissor Sisters, Girl Talk and Railroad Earth, just to name a few. The best tweet I saw about Bonnaroo was this: I keep waking up and thinking I’m still at Bonnaroo #disappointment.

Still waiting for summer to arrive in Butte County, I took a trip with my girlfriends to Utah. Mountains, rock formations, swimming, cards and campfires. What more could you ask for?

The rest of the summer carried on in usual fashion complete with houseboat trips, Giants’ games, camping trips and backpacking trips. There was even an attempted climb up Mt. Shasta, and a successful climb up Mt. Lassen,

Fall marked the arrival of Lobster hunting season in Southern California, and this year I finally got to go with Josh, Marty and Brad on their annual Lobster dive. Pulling into the Catalina harbor and seeing our home on the water for the next four days made me extremely happy! Sleeping, eating and diving – the next four days were going to be awesome. As it turned out, I narrowly averted what could have been a disastrous situation, but that’s a story for another blog. The diving was beautiful however, and never have I felt closer to flying than when I am under the water swimming with the brightly-colored fish. Josh even picked up a sea hare and handed it to me!

This year I also met a great guy in the most unlikeliest of places and we have been having a great time going to shows, hanging out in the city and in the East Bay, and most recently, in Tahoe, hiking and playing in the snow. Though just like summer, winter is taking its sweet time to get here, we made the best of it. Skiing at Sierra was fun, even with only two runs being open. Our cabin had a great view of the lake, and we went on a great hike to see Horsetail Falls.

As the year comes to a close I am enjoying life by exploring the city, hanging out on Fillmore street, and contemplating my goals and ambitions for 2012. Today we leave for Sonoma to ring in the new year and kick of a 2012 just as exciting and fulfilling as 2011!

Race Review: Embarcadero 10K

Wow! I just discovered the Dolphin South End Sunday runs and I am hooked! Just 5 bucks to participate in a low-key run held in beautiful places around San Francisco. This run began at the Maritime Museum and turned around near AT&T Park. It was a beautiful day and I would’ve enjoyed the run a lot more if I wasn’t so worried I was going to get a parking ticket. However I did okay with a time of 49:28 and was the 15th female finisher out of 118. Not too bad, but hopefully I can do better this weekend at the Golden Gate 10K.

Five Days of Beans and Oatmeal: My Diet as a Result of The Food Stamp Challenge

As part of an effort to raise awareness about hunger and nutrition for Hunger Action Month, I took part in the Food Stamp Challenge. This challenge mandates that no more than $4 a day (or $20 total for the five-day span of the challenge) can be spent on food.
With a resolute vow to avoid the oh-so-easy dollar menus, I began the challenge.
Sunday, the day before the challenge began, I found myself spending a lot of precious time in Safeway. After a few price comparisons and deciding that I was in no position to spend $2.50 on strawberries, I purchased a bag of dried red beans for $1.24 and picked up a pack of 10 tortillas for $1! Score! Delicious floury tortillas for the low price of $0.10 each? This week was going to be a piece of cake – no pun intended.
Monday morning began with oatmeal with peanut butter and brown sugar added. Luckily brown sugar was a freebie – considered a condiment rather than a food item. I began to dream of brown sugar-based desserts that I wouldn’t have to count on my log – but decided I wasn’t that desperate (yet). Even with my ritual cup of tea, my breakfast only set me back $0.38. I decided then and there to repeat this simple, filling breakfast every day of the challenge. Too bad I was blatantly shunning my own advice, which is to eat fruit with breakfast, to reach the lofty goal of two cups of fruit a day. Though this breakfast was low on micronutrients , it was a good mix of carbs and protein, making it a good breakfast after my morning run.
Lunch found me in the breakroom opening up a can of tortilla soup, with which to enjoy my delicious low-cost tortillas. If I was actually on food stamps, I think I would be eating a lot of soup. Unfortunately this left me starving at 5 pm, leading to an uncontrolled, unplanned eating attack on the Japanese snack mix I had stashed in my car after a recent road trip. As I was mowing down the snack mix, I guiltily wondered how much this snack mix was setting me back (on the first day!!). A rough calculation determined that I’d eaten only $0.87 in snack mix and it turned out after all of that snack mix I wasn’t hungry for dinner. I rung in on the first day at $3.32. I had succeeded monetarily, but didn’t do so well nutritionally. I was not worried, however, as I had previously cooked up a large vat of beans which were to provide me with plenty of micronutrients throughout the week.
Tuesday I discovered that the beans were a little bland, but I doctored them up with some tomato and avocado and of course a tortilla. A variation of this meal was repeated many times throughout the week. Though eating beans got a little old, I couldn’t really complain because the time I spent in Uganda taught me that people are physically able to eat beans at every meal and not complain. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself! And of course in Uganda they have yet to discover cheese! Cheese makes everything better. But seriously, beans are an excellent buy, from both a financial and nutritional perspective. I don’t know if I could’ve made it through the week under my budget without them.
Also fruit, as it turns out, is expensive. Snacking on fresh fruit is easier said than done. A single apple set me back $0.62 while a nectarine (and they are in season!) totaled an exorbitant $1.02! Never had I appreciated so much the sweet taste of a nectarine as when I knew it was costing me 25% of my food budget that day. I was starting to see how people might opt for a lesser priced, not-as-nutritionally-sound snack. How much are those Hot Cheetos again?
All kidding aside, the food stamp diet can actually be somewhat nutritionally sound, especially if people can be motivated to flex their problem-solving muscle. For example, I wanted to make (what else) bean tacos and a recipe I was following called for frozen corn. Surprisingly, frozen corn is expensive and there is way too much of it for one person. To get around the cost and volume issue I purchased a single ear of corn for $0.34 and boiled it to add the kernels to my tacos. It worked marvelously and greatly reduced the chance that I would find $2.00 worth of corn months later rendered inedible by freezer burn.
A bill is currently on the table to increase the funding for school lunch programs while subsequently cutting food stamp benefits. A closer look at the bill states that instead of a cut of food stamp benefits, the proposed 2013 increase will simply not happen. In my book, that’s different than a cut. The way that this bill is proposed actually makes sense (and the increase in funding for school food programs has to come from somewhere). Why bother increasing food stamp benefits if the foods currently being purchased are not healthy? Why not give extra money to the passionate and dedicated food service directors who can then use that extra money to hire a staff person to prepare healthier meals? A recent meeting with a food service director put things into perspective. Of course the bill only increased the meal reimbursement by $0.06 per meal. But that could mean a large chunk of change to any given school district. That equals another staff person to cut up oranges – which this particular food service director found had a huge positive impact on the children eating them.
My weeklong food stamp diet led me to believe that people CAN feed themselves on $4 a day, though it’s not fun. Beans every day aren’t the most exciting thing on the menu. But with a little planning, meals can have fresh fruits and vegetables. Besides, people on food stamps are eating on America’s dime and as the old adage states: beggars can’t be choosers.

For more info on the Child Nutrition Bill, click here

The Best Album Ever Recorded

What would you consider the best album ever recorded?

I’ve heard numerous votes for Paul Simon’s Graceland.

My brother would likely go with a Bob Dylan or Led Zeppelin album.

My father’s choice is The White Album, by the Beatles, and so I bought him the remastered edition for Christmas. My dad knows the album down to the last cymbal crash and therefore could actually tell the difference between the original recording and the remastered edition. Only a true Beatles fan…

It’s amazing what a little music can do to improve an otherwise stressful holiday. This is because my dad and I don’t get along. This is just a fact. We disagree on nearly everything, and I make no secret of my opinions, which can get a little old for the listener, I’m told.

However, the Beatles have a uniting power. On Christmas Day, after my dad opened his new Beatles CD we popped it in the stereo and listened to the whole thing sitting next to the fire and perusing the liner notes.

Listening to the Beatles allowed us to forget our disagreements and simply spend time together. He told me where he was when he found out that John Lennon had been shot and how somber the mood was at the bar that night. He told me of the time he and his friends skipped class to go and hear the release of the new Beatles album. We talked about which songs were our favorite on the album, and even which lyrics were the best.

Though Christmas had the potential to look like a Beatles recording session, with disagreements abounding and a Ringo Starr-like exit, listening to their music apparently has the power to bring people together. Their album was the gift that keeps on giving. Awwwww.

A month and counting

I’ve been back a little over a month now, and really do feel like a normal person now. It is funny how much my life has come to resemble the one I have left with a few major exceptions

a) I currently reside with my mother, but hopefully that statement will not be true in the near future

b) A LOT of my friends have moved out of Chico

c) I’m unemployed

However this last one does not mean I’m less busy than before. It’s strange how being unemployed almost takes up more time than being employed, because if I have a “spare” moment, I feel the need to use it for job searching.

I feel like a normal person again because I have a car (which Erica has affectionately termed my birth control), a semi-schedule and all of the stresses and enjoyments of American life that I had before. However, I would emphasize the latter since  it has been soooo great to be back and catch up with friends and family. Especially friends with new babies!

Also, I’ve come to appreciate things I forgot that I’d missed! Here are a few of those things:

• The view from my dad’s living room window

• Getting warm by a wood fireplace
• Bright orange Hachiya persimmons decorating now leaf-less trees
• Running in the rain and mist through the pine trees of Paradise, the only sounds being thousands of tiny droplets on beds of pine needles
• Garrison Keillor’s voice reading poetry on Writer’s Almanac every morning
• Browsing the new books at Barnes and Noble
• Snow!

• Road trips in a nice care with the proper number of people inside, and the ability to stop for bathroom breaks on a whim

Josh is not usually so ghost-like

What else is there to do on a road trip but try on cowboy hats?

Overall, though I miss Uganda terribly, being back has been great, and I’m terribly optimistic about the future. I really thought I would be a) bored or b) hyper-concerned about the consumerist American lifestyle. Right now I’m neither of those things and hopefully that will not change.

Happy Holidays!

Thailand!

Just thought I’d post a quick note with a few pictures for your reading pleasure. We are currently in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, enjoying what appears to be one of the coolest cities on earth. From our teak wood guest house (very tree house-esque) to temple spires rising out of misty rainforests to mouth-watering food, Thailand has exceeded our expectations. This place is amazing-and cheap! Lunch usually sets us back about $0.60 each. I can’t even go into how great the food is but the assortment of cilantro, basil, lemongrass, coconut milk and rice noodles makes for an epicurean experience every time!

One highlight of our trip so far was renting a moped (for abour 4 bucks a day) to journey to the top of Doi Ithanon, Thailand’s tallest peak. The moped did pretty well on the 60 kilometers of freeway, but once we neared the top of the mountain, we topped out at about 4 kph. The Dumb and Dumber references came thick and fast.

“Pullover!”

“It’s a cardigan, but thanks for noticing.”

The next day found us at the top of Doi Suthep, outfitted in so much padding and armour that I was convinced was given to us because so many people had perished doing the very activity we were about to undertake–which was to speed down the side of a steep and slick mountain perched on a bicycle. I nervously pedalled around as my kneepads and elbowpads fell off. Not a very good start. I did get down the mountain in one piece however on my “intermediate” route and actually had a lot of fun. As someone who enjoys endurance sports I felt we were cheating somewhat by driving up the mountain, but going down proved to be hard enough. I squeezed the brake so hard I thought my hand would fall of, and every muscle in my legs were tense in concentration. The moral of the story is that bikes can go over rocks-even big ones-and stay upright. Who knew?

But Chiang Mai has much more to offer than fun on two-wheeled vehicles. Ryan took a rock-climbing course today and I went zip-lining through the jungle. However, there was a disappointing lack of dramatic drops, making it more peaceful than exciting. Tommorow we are taking a Thai cooking course on a farm outside the city and the day after we are taking an overnight meditation course at a nearby temple (wat). From there we will head to Laos for a two-day boat trip, river tubing, waterfall exploring and possible kayaking. When we come back to Thailand we’ll head south to Krabi for some scuba diving and to hang out at a beach house with some newly-minted RPCVs (that’s returned peace corps volunteer for those of you who don’t know the jargon ). Due to visa constraints I will likely head for home shortly after that, ending my near three-year American avoidance. And I can’t wait! See you all soon!!!!

Enjoying Thai food in a steamy local joint

Pretty waterfall

Top of Doi Ithanon

Workin on my downhill technique

A Few New Pics

The Tazara Train-The gem of East Africa. Ha!

Ryan and I on a catamaran to Likoma Island

The utterly magnificent baobab tree, prolific in parts of East Africa

The magnificent Ilala Ferry, which shuttled us across Lake Malawi

The beautiful Nkwichi beach. Nkwichi means "squeak" in the local language because that is what it does when you walk across it

Playing around after splashing around in the waves--note the hair

Shark Week

I’m beginning this blog entry from a deck overlooking the beautiful and magnificent Tofo Beach, after a long long journey from Northern Mozambique. It won’t do anybody any good to describe the harrowing journey, but let me just say that if I have to catch another 4 am bus I might shoot myself.

The one shining gem in our north-south odyssey was a side trip to Ilha de Mozambique. The small island houses an enormous amount of history and culture, as it used to be a huge stopover for the Portuguese and Arab traders. I toured the Palacio de Sao Paulo, the digs for the former Portuguese govenor. He spared no expense in decorating his expensive home, complete with tiny elephants carved into the furniture sporting tusks made out of-what else-elephant tusks. What a worthwhile endeavor-poach elephants for their tusks only to fashion them to carved ones.

Another cool site was the Fortaleza de Sao Paulo. a massive 16th century fort complete with cannons in the ramparts. Many Africans were held here before being sold into slavery.

However even just wandering through the white-sand streets lined by old stone buildings was an experience in itself. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to explore everything the island had to offer as some sort of sickness invaded my body and forced me into bed for 2.5 days. Being in a somewhat remote place without hope of even a microscope I have no idea what it was but I took the medication for schisto (a sickness people get from swimming in some African lakes) and slowly recovered. I guess there are worse places to recover than on a woven cot under a thatched roof on a deck overlooking the Indian Ocean.

But now we are camped at Tofo Beach, at a cute little place called Fatima’s Nest and all is right with the world. If I floated outside of my body and looked down on Ryan and I at the beach. I’d have to do a double-take to make sure we aren’t actually five years old. Tiring quickly of our books we toss them into the sand to dig holes, make sand sculptures or splash around in the waves. The look on Ryan’s face as he is trying to ride the crest of the wave is one of unadulterated excitement. That is, until the angry foam washes over his head.

Our last day was spent on a “ocean safari,” which consists of motoring around in a big boat and jumping into the water at the first sign of a big fish. By big fish I mean the biggest fish in the world-
the whale shark. The one I was snorkeling a foot away from was 6 meters long. It’s a beautiful creature with luminescent white spots and dorsal fins that stick out of the water and make you want to hum the opening bars of Jaws. Luckily these plankton eaters are perfectly harmless. In an attempt to duck dive I accidentally banged my wrist on a fin and he didn’t bat an eyelash, or he wouldn’t have, if he had one. Of course in my mind’s eye I saw him turn on me with the wrath of God and swallow me like Jonah. Needless to say being around huge sharks makes me a little jumpy.

But nothing went wrong and actually the stars were aligned in our favor, as we saw every animal there is to see on our $50 safari, making the price per animal sighting drop dramatically. Our guides said it was the best trip in months. We saw gliding manta rays, dolphins mating, and three humpback whales slicing through the waves. And of course plenty of whale sharks.

One downside to the trip was that the density of jelly fish must have been about one per cubic centimeter, and I’m not kidding. They stung my face, arms and legs. At one point when Ryan propelled himself a mile away I put my face in the water to catch up and saw three jelly fish right in front of my face.
“&@$&@,” I thought and tried to swim around them to catch up to Ryan who was probably kissing up to a whale shark at that very moment.

In other news, a cut I acquired on the top of my foot a couple weeks ago has developed into something that looks like a sea anenome and has become infected. My fat foot won’t fit into my running shoes, which is bad news for me and worse news for anyone who has to endure my injury-induced running hiatus, so Ryan is also hoping for a speedy recovery. He does however take any opportunity to make fun of my newly- obese foot. Hopefully it will return to it’s normal svelte state soon.

In this condition we are about to finish up the Africa leg of our journey and head to Thailand. I will update more if I can tear myself away from the $0.50 bowls of pad Thai. No promises.

Miss you all and see you soon!

Gettin My Dive On

A lot has happened since my last post, and i’ve been slacking on the blogging, so I’ll try to summarize the more interesting parts.

• Zanzibar proved to be just as beautiful & amazing as I had remembered. We found a simple, cheap bungalow about 10 minutes away from the beach and enjoyed the sunshine with the other holiday-makers, shocked by the unabashed public displays of affection in this new touristland. Decidedly, we are not ready for America yet. As an aside, we were led to our bungalow by a local named Mudi who sported long dreadlocks, cut-off jeans & had a penchant for using the phrase “What’s up guys?” which sounded extremely strange when said with his accent. His preoccupation with our daily activities was a bit disconcerting, but eventually he wandered off.
• To get down to the border with Malawi from Dar we decided on the near-bankrupt Tazara train. Buses are for wussies. In addition to being on the verge of bankruptcy, there is a workers’ strike going on, adding to the probability of delay/breakdown. Most of this we found out post-boarding. Not worried, we just ordered an overpriced beer from the drinking car and watched the scenery go by. For about a half hour. Until breakdown #1 happened. Two more breakdowns put us about 17 hours behind, but hey, Malawi wasn’t going anywhere! An apt description of the train from An African Diary, by Bill Bryson: “To begin with the beds were small & decidely on the hard side, but it was the wild & extaordinary motions of the train that made even light dozing impossible. Normally I love overnight trips by train but this was like trying to sleep through an earthquake. Even in its more tranquil spells, which were few, it was like being on one of those agitating conveyor belts that mining companies use to shake diamond loose from piles of rubble.” Ryan’s description was a little less wordy: “Terrifying.”
• Immediately upon entering Malawi we hopped on a minibus taxi which proceeded to be loaded with smelly fish, and of course one box ended up on top of my bag giving it a strong & very persistent odor.
• One of the Lonely Planet “Highlights” of Malawi includes sleeping under the stars in the Ilala ferry. The Lonely Planet does Not say that in order to get to the top deck, you have to claw & push within an inch of your life to get there. Really! Haven’t these people ever heard of lines? To make matters worse, everyone has their belongings/goods piled on top of their heads, so an unlucky backpacker is likely to get clobbered in the eye by the corner of a wayward suitcase. However, once safely situated on the top deck we did enjoy a cold Carlsberg under the stars with our new friends Urlich and Barbara, who are BIKING across Africa. From France. Obviously some boats are involved, but still. They put our little overland trip to shame. Getting off the boat at 3 am was even more fun. Climbing over people/bags we worked our way down to the bottom & hopped in a little dinghy that motored us to Chizumulu Island. Urlich had to go back & unearth the bikes from the cargo deck, a task I did not envy, especially in the wee morning hours. With wet & sandy legs we walked to Wakwenda Lodge, set up our tent and passed out.
• Lake Malawi, or the Lake of Stars, as some guidebooks call it, turned out to be way more alluring than expected. Planning on spending a few days working our way across the lake, we were somewhat surprised to find ourselves on the lakeshores a full 14 days later. Accomodation just kept getting better, from our little campsite perched on the rocky shores of Nkhata Bay to the pristine, white, sparkly sand of Nkwichi lodge. Each time we pitched our tent in the sand in a new place we were more impressed by our gorgeous surroundings. We also did our fair share of diving and snorkeling (Ryan got his open water certification) & the snorkelling lived up to its stellar reputation. Diving under the aquamarine water into beautiful beige rock formations teeming with colorful fish was an absolutely surreal experience. Nkwichi Lodge on the Mozambique side of Lake Malawi holds about the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen, and those who know me know I’m somewhat of a conniseur. We spent one perfect day there, dining on their delicious food on the beach, reading out loud from A Fine Balance (excellent book, I highly recommend it), snorkeling, swimming, & playing beach volleyball. Dinner was around a campfire on (you guessed it) the beach, and we were even entertained by an amateur firedancer! The one downside of our stay was the fact that the beers were $3.50 each, which was under normal circumstances, more than we spend in a day. Ouch. We recovered by forgoing transport and walking the 70 kilometers in the hot sun to the next town (Metangula). On the way I acquired the biggest blisters I’ve ever seen in my life. My feet are still kind of angry with me.

Now we are in Mozambique and have fully experienced all of the headaches involved with overland transport in the northern section of this country. Which is a blog in itself. Let me just say I am happy to be in a hotel room that doesn’t smell like pee. Ah the small things.

Miss you all and will update this thing with our Mozambique (mis)adventures soon.

Wanna see my knee?

Never had I imagined that showing a knee, or even a calf would make me feel so scandalous. But that is how I felt on the island of Pemba, where 99% of the population is made up of devout Muslims. The disdain for an uncovered woman was palpable.  

After being herded like cattle off of the small, crowded boat, we stepped out onto the small island town of Wete. Finding reasonable accommodation turned out to be a problem. Our first attempt yielded an overpriced room, and our second attempt was unbelievably maddening, as the stoic Muslim man wouldn’t even talk to me (we figured it was because I was a woman as he answered Ryan’s questions without hesitation). Our third attempt led us to a man who peered furtively at our hands when we requested a single room. Back and forth, he looked at our respective hands , as if rings would materialize. Finally, he asked Ryan (of course not me!!) if I was his wife. “Yes,” Ryan said, not convincingly. Though it was clear he didn’t believe us, and in his mind declared us sinners, he showed us a room. Too expensive. Oh well, sorry for wasting your time. Not really.

Finally we found a reasonably priced room and gratefully and sweatily set down our bags. Of course we had to wait for the owner to return so we passed the time, watching one of the few TVs on the island, which was turned to Al-Jeezera, a bloodier, more exciting version of CNN. We spent the afternoon walking around the small town, which was mostly closed as people went for their afternoon prayers. Bored, we bought some popcorn and mandarins (yum!) and went back to our room to wait for the street vendors to open. The street food kind of made up for the boringness of the town-shrimp and chips for street food? Awesome!

The next morning we decided it would be best to get out of the small, boring town of Wete and hopped on a bus for Mkoani, on the southern part of the island. In Mkoani we found a beautiful guest house with a deck overlooking the ocean, rimmed by tall, slender coconut palms. There were hammocks, white tablecloths, and lots of other interesting travelers/expatriates to talk to. The first thing we did was rent some bikes and head to the beach. The best beach however, was on Misali island, an island we boated to the next day for a snorkeling trip. The highlight of the island was coming in close contact with a coconut crab, an arthropod the size of a basketball and blue in hue. Apparently they climb the coconut palms and eat coconuts. But it kind of looked like it wanted to eat me. Maybe it was just angry at the circle of tourists encircling it, trying to get a good picture.

Finding ourselves acting too much like tourists after the planned out snorkel trip, we decided to go hang out with the locals. Instead of dining (expensively) at our guesthouse, Ryan and I walked down to the port for dinner. We sat outside the fragrant clove-packing warehouse on the cement and drank spiced chai and bread baked with coconut.

It was a perfect final evening on the island of Pemba, an island that will always be associated with scores of Muslim schoolgirls in white school uniforms, piles of cloves and peppers drying by the roadside, tall palm trees silhouetted in the setting sun, and of course, the blue pincers of that huge coconut crab!