Finding one's way around the narrow, maze-like alleys of Zanzibar's Stone Town is intimidating and intriguing. The route from our hotel to the main part of town originally took us about fifteen minutes to walk. Over the days we spent there, we found shortcut after shortcut until we were able to make the trip in about five.

You're surrounded by scenes that could be cover photographs for any travel or anthropology magazine. Narrow stone streets with two- or three-story buildings on either side and humanity going about its business in between.

"Every single time I'm ready to hurl over the rail."
But it was goodbye to Stone Town as we caught the afternoon fast ferry back across a piece of the Indian Ocean to Dar es Salaam. Somebody please remind me never, ever to get on a boat of any size or trip duration without having taken a week's worth of Dramamine beforehand. Every single time I'm ready to hurl over the rail. This time was awful as the "fast ferry" hurtled across the sea, bouncing from wave to wave... all as a Joan of Arc movie starring John Malcovich with a very interesting haircut portrayed people having various appendages chopped off.

Back in "Dar," as the cool people call it, we're arranging our transportation to the west toward Lake Victoria and brushing up on our Swahili. Unlike Southern Africa, people here really want you to speak a little of their own language. They greet tourists with "Jambo!" which means something like "how are you?" Lonely Planet says the correct response is "Si Jambo," meaning "I'm fine." Responding with a simple "Jambo" means "I'm OK, now please talk to me in English." We've learned a few words and the numbers from one to five.

"I'm pretty sure it was a duet with Kenny and Dolly Parton."
Today I walked by an expensive Land Cruiser with a local guy at the wheel. Blaring from his stereo... "The Gambler." And not just the Kenny Rogers version. I'm pretty sure it was a duet with Kenny and Dolly Parton. Which reminds me... I don't think I mentioned that on the bus to Dar they played Dolly's "I Will Always Love You," which was later remade by Whitney Houston.

A Very Blue Scene from our Hotel

And what a strange thing to see so much Americanization in a place we suppose doesn't much care for the western world. Today I saw an American flag hanging on the rearview mirror of a minibus. A girl who passed me on the way to this internet cafe was wearing a Cincinnati Bengals shirt. Many like American culture, if not our ways of dealing with the world.

"There's not a lot of meaningless violence."
The US State Department has all kinds of warnings for Americans traveling here. Watch out for bombings and carjackings and kidnappings, they say. And of course that's a real threat. This is where a US embassy got blown to bits a few years ago. But what seems to be nice about a predominantly muslim country is that there's no middle ground as far as serious crime goes. You're either gonna be welcomed or blown to bits in a bombing, which is a pretty remote risk if you're not hanging out at the embassy or expensive western hotels and restaurants. There's not a lot of meaningless violence like Latin America, for example.

We wanted to take the Tanzanian railroad across the country to Mwanza on Lake Victoria, but it's booked up for a week. So we're on the bus. The 24 hour bus. Over roads described lovingly as "hard sand." No air conditioning. No toilet. Should be fun.

Oh, and I've been wanting to write something about this but haven't found an appropriate opportunity. So lacking such, here's a random observation. On the bus out of Malawi into Tanzania there were two women wearing dresses they'd made from the same ream of material. It was a native-looking pattern, but with cell phones. Imposed into the old design were colorful cellular phones. How symbolic, Matt ande I thought, of western notions of wealth and success filtering into a culture.