Ah, Zanzibar. Land of spices and seafood and humid hot beach breezes. It's one of those places -- like New Orleans or New York -- that is unmistakably itself. There is no other Zanzibar.
Our family adventure began in Stone Town, as you know, then moved to the northern tip of the island at Nungwi for two nights, then the east coast at Paje for 4 nights. We finished in Stone Town for two nights.
In Nungwi Cora got her first real dose of oceanside beach. The first day she was interested in the water, but hesitant. The waves were intimidating, the salt water was a surprise. But as usual she was game to try it all, as long as she had a hand to hold or a hip to ride.
The sandy beach, however, she had no problem diving right into. Digging, burying body parts, finding seashells, making castles and moats, chasing sea birds... this was all right up her alley. Within minutes of arriving at the beach, she had sand in every crevice known to baby.
The second day, Cora was ready for the ocean. Suddenly she loved the waves, the lapping seaweed, the feel of the water in her hair. Splashing, kicking, blowing bubbles, paddling around in her little pink Barbie float toy (found in Stone Town for $8 as we headed for the daladala to take us to the beach)... she was in heaven.
She also opened right up to beachside cuisine. Surprisingly, her favorite new food of the trip was ugali, the typical Tanzanian/Kenyan cornmeal dough, kind of like polenta. Here's a photo of what it looks like with the usual condiments (green stewed kale, red oily sauce, beans and sauce, and some meat - the photo has chicken but ours was usually fish).
Cora also ate fish, prawns, rice, fruit of all kinds (she calls most of it "paya" like papaya, though we more often got mango), and of course chips (french fries). I think she tasted octopus at one point, but it was too tough for her. And she is not a fan of pineapple. But pretty much everything else was a go until later when her new teeth came through and eating became quite a task (then chips and ugali were our go-to foods).
Our vacation was ruled by "baby time", as we explain it to Nate's coworkers in Ethiopia (when they can't believe we are going to dinner at 5:30pm). Early mornings and early evenings... plus lots of downtime during the day for naps. Very relaxing.
In Nungwi we stayed at the Jambo Brothers Bungalows for $30 a night, and it was certainly a case of you-get-what-you-pay-for. No towels, no toilet paper, no cold water (you read that right - our barely-dripping shower was BURNING HOT and you couldn't cool it off with cold water), no soap, and the lamest free breakfast we've seen, well, anywhere on this Ethiopian/ZNZ adventure so far.
We could tolerate all of those inconveniences, but there were also some kind of bugs that penetrated Cora's sleep tent and ate her up overnight. The first night the bugs got her right arm. We washed her sleeping sheet and silky and hung her bear in the sunshine the next day... but the second night the bugs went for her face! She woke up with red marks all over her poor little smiling cheeks.
At the same time, we'd all gotten sunburned and the heat and light of the northwestern beach -- great for a sunset, but the heat of the day just grows and there is nowhere out of the sun for the entire afternoon -- was feeling like too much for us. So on day three in Nungwi we made a snap decision to try a new part of the island.
On to Paje!
Our family adventure began in Stone Town, as you know, then moved to the northern tip of the island at Nungwi for two nights, then the east coast at Paje for 4 nights. We finished in Stone Town for two nights.
In Nungwi Cora got her first real dose of oceanside beach. The first day she was interested in the water, but hesitant. The waves were intimidating, the salt water was a surprise. But as usual she was game to try it all, as long as she had a hand to hold or a hip to ride.
The sandy beach, however, she had no problem diving right into. Digging, burying body parts, finding seashells, making castles and moats, chasing sea birds... this was all right up her alley. Within minutes of arriving at the beach, she had sand in every crevice known to baby.
The second day, Cora was ready for the ocean. Suddenly she loved the waves, the lapping seaweed, the feel of the water in her hair. Splashing, kicking, blowing bubbles, paddling around in her little pink Barbie float toy (found in Stone Town for $8 as we headed for the daladala to take us to the beach)... she was in heaven.
She also opened right up to beachside cuisine. Surprisingly, her favorite new food of the trip was ugali, the typical Tanzanian/Kenyan cornmeal dough, kind of like polenta. Here's a photo of what it looks like with the usual condiments (green stewed kale, red oily sauce, beans and sauce, and some meat - the photo has chicken but ours was usually fish).
Cora also ate fish, prawns, rice, fruit of all kinds (she calls most of it "paya" like papaya, though we more often got mango), and of course chips (french fries). I think she tasted octopus at one point, but it was too tough for her. And she is not a fan of pineapple. But pretty much everything else was a go until later when her new teeth came through and eating became quite a task (then chips and ugali were our go-to foods).
Our vacation was ruled by "baby time", as we explain it to Nate's coworkers in Ethiopia (when they can't believe we are going to dinner at 5:30pm). Early mornings and early evenings... plus lots of downtime during the day for naps. Very relaxing.
In Nungwi we stayed at the Jambo Brothers Bungalows for $30 a night, and it was certainly a case of you-get-what-you-pay-for. No towels, no toilet paper, no cold water (you read that right - our barely-dripping shower was BURNING HOT and you couldn't cool it off with cold water), no soap, and the lamest free breakfast we've seen, well, anywhere on this Ethiopian/ZNZ adventure so far.
We could tolerate all of those inconveniences, but there were also some kind of bugs that penetrated Cora's sleep tent and ate her up overnight. The first night the bugs got her right arm. We washed her sleeping sheet and silky and hung her bear in the sunshine the next day... but the second night the bugs went for her face! She woke up with red marks all over her poor little smiling cheeks.
At the same time, we'd all gotten sunburned and the heat and light of the northwestern beach -- great for a sunset, but the heat of the day just grows and there is nowhere out of the sun for the entire afternoon -- was feeling like too much for us. So on day three in Nungwi we made a snap decision to try a new part of the island.
On to Paje!
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