Patrick & Katie in Kenya: Dar Zan

On the day of my (Katie) birthday, we headed off for Dar Es Salam on the coast of Tanzania! It was so beautiful there and was clearly a beach town, something we haven't seen in a long time. The feeling was so familiar, something all beach cities have in common, even though the culture couldn't be any more different than sunny so-cal beaches. We were loving the smell, the relaxed attitude, and the change of scenery. When the taxi arrived at the Salesian center in an area called Oyster Bay we couldn't believe how nice this place was! This looked and felt like a hotel on the beach; it had marble flooring, high ceilings, big rooms that were cozy, nice bathrooms (with big shower-heads!), and comfortable seating everywhere. And to top it off, the food ended up being some of the best food we have had in Africa, especially the fruit. We were so sick of traveling and being on uncomfortable, hot, long bus rides, so seeing where we were going to be staying for the day/night put us in the best mood! We decided for the remainder of the day to check out Dar (what the locals call it) and see the ocean for the first time! We walked for about an hour and eventually ran into a beach (mind you the beach was only about a 5-10 minute walk, we just took the wrong road). This was the most beautiful beach we ever saw; the water was not just clear, it was turquoise too, and the sand was so white and soft with beautiful shells just chilling there as if no one saw them (but it was so typical that people didn't even care). We walked for a while along the warm water and just enjoyed being at a beach again, something we really miss being here.

After our walk along the beach, we decided we wanted to go get something local to eat. We walked again for a while and then it got too hot, so we decided to get a taxi, but there was a tuk tuk (a small three wheeled/open air-ed/motor taxi) so we took it. We ended up finding an outdoor bar called the "Reunion Pub" which was a typical eatery/bar for Eastern Africa. We tried the local brews, Kilimanjaro and Safari, and also got some chips (fries) that tasted like they had lime on them, which was good. Here we sat and got to relax and reflect on a lot of our trip so far. First we talked about what an amazing time we were having in Tanzania and how blessed we were to see so much more than we could have imagined. Then we started to get overwhelmed just thinking about how God has blessed us abundantly while here in Africa over the last 7 months. It was a moment we get only so often, but they are always good and they always bless us and make us so happy. We are able to not think about the problems, the things that are hard, or what we miss, but what we have learned, how much we love the place, how much we love the people, how it has brought us to so many new places, and how God is shaping us into the people He wants us to be. We have always known that this experience will change/shape the way we live our lives (as many things do), but it is one of those moments that really carry us though those difficulties and adversities in the future. After a while of this, we decided to head on back to the center where we had a great dinner!

We woke up the next morning, ate breakfast, then headed off to the Ferry that would take us to Zanzibar! Zanzibar is a tiny island off the coast of Tanzania. When we got there we couldn't believe what we were looking at. So even though Dar Es Salam had the most beautiful beach we had ever seen before, Zanzibar just slam dunked and went 2 up on Dar. It was that spectacular. The buildings were also old and beautiful, but had a lot of history behind them. The country Oman (across the Red Sea from Somalia, not Yemen) used to have a slave trade on the island of Zanzibar and would use these buildings to hold them, and eventually the slaves would be shipped off worldwide through auctions also held in these buildings. We found a guy that tried to sell us a ride to a beautiful part of the island on the north shore, Nungwi, but he said it would be $60. We then spit some frustrated Swahili at him that this was ridiculous and it was taking advantage of us, and then he ended up taking us for $10,000 T Shillings, which is equivalent to $7. So clearly we were originally being ripped off, but when you spit that Swahili they like you and treat you like a local, which is awesome.

We had about an hour and a half drive to Nungwi beach, but this was such a cool drive. Although, it was crazy to see such an incredible place that we associate so much with resorts, or touristic locations, yet to see people living in shacks made of just palm and other tree branches. The contrast was very new to us, beach locations normally have a very high price for living. When we got to Nungwi we hadn't yet gotten a hotel or a place to stay, so we checked out a few locations (mostly bungalows) and ended up finding a place that wasn't the nicest, but worked in favor for our preferred price. But what was cool was that it was right on the beach! Maybe 20 steps away. We settled there around 4pm and decided we would stay for 2 nights. That afternoon we decided to walk along the beach and then go and eat at a local place to get some good fish later. It was during this walk that Pat and I discovered a new passion; treasure hunting. The next day we got breakfast on a cafe that was literally right above/on the water and the view was incredible! There were a lot of really old rickety boats on the shore (they looked like small pirate ships) and the water, again, was a view to be admired. It started to rain and continued for a few hours, which was bumming us out, but we decided we could still do one thing; treasure hunt. We did this for a few hours until the sun came out where we tried to get a better-than-a-farmers-tan tan. Basically, this is all we did, which is all we really wanted to do. It was so relaxing, beautiful, and all around, a wonderful experience.

On the beach in Dar Es Salam