Off to Zanzibar!

Today was a long, HOT day. If we thought yesterday was hot, it was honestly NOTHING compared to today. I think it was maybe the hottest I've ever been. Not only was it hot, it was HUMID. Like, just standing outside you could feel the sweat dripping.

We kind of thought we were pretty close to the port town where we were going to catch the ferry to Zanzibar, but boy were we wrong. We were under the impression that we would have a nice relaxing day at the beach this morning until like 11. Turns out we were actually still several hours from the port and needed to drive there, including through the very traffic filled capital, Dar Es Salaam. We left our hotel around 8 and arrived in the capital around 11:15, enough time to purchase our ferry tickets, walk around for a few blocks, and get in line for the ferry, which was leaving port at 12:30.

We got in line to board the ferry around 12. About 200 people, standing in line, waiting to board the ferry. And there was only 1 checkpoint to get in. And everyone needed to go through security (and so did their bags). But there was NO point (until the door) where you went down to one line. So instead, for roughly 35 minutes, everyone pushed and shoved, sweating in the hot African sun trying to board the ferry. After about 20 minutes, people started screaming at each other in Swahili because it looked like some people were cutting. When Jon and I finally got to the front, we quickly went through security and were able to go right through to the boat. Standing in line. In almost 100 degree heat. And humidity. Sweating through our clothes. Being pushed and shoved. While people were yelling at one another. We can both honestly say it was one of the top 5 worst experiences of our lives.

FORTUNATELY, we were booked in the VIP section of the ferry - AKA huge, airplane style seats, TVs in front, a cash bar in the back, and AIR CONDITIONING. I've never been SO excited to be confronted with air conditioning!!!!! It quickly became a VERY different experience to that which we had just felt!!

After we got on board, I was quite nervous about sea sickness. Jodi had some extra sea sickness tablets which I gladly took, hoping to stave off feeling badly for a while. I took two tablets and then we proceeded to watch "Kingsmen", which was pretty great, except that we didn't get to finish!

When we arrived in Zanzibar I was feeling fairly woosy while waiting to go through customs (for some reasons Zanzibar has their own customs even though they are part of Tanzania.) Jodi looked at me and said - "I'm pretty sure we were only supposed to take one of those anti-nausea pills... I'm feeling quite funny." Jon asked me a question and when I responded he said "You sound like you're drunk!" Turns out we definitely WEREN'T supposed to take two of those pills - Jodi and I were TOTALLY out of it!!!!

When we got to our room I proceeded to pass out for about two hours while Jon worked out and showered. When he was done, he woke me up and asked if I wanted to go to the beach down by our apartment. I wasn't quite feeling up to it but didn't want to miss out on my firsts glimpse at the Indian Ocean, so I plodded along behind him, barely coherent. We got down to the beach and I basically passed out again. I was seriously so out of it! After only staying at the beach for maybe 20 minutes, we made our way back to the room where I took yet ANOTHER nap to try and shake off my drowsiness while Jon called Delta to figure out some issues we'd had with ticketing (long story short - everything fine but we are awaiting a refund for some incorrect charges. So annoying!)

Next came dinner at the hotel. I can honestly say I've never experienced anything quite like it in my life.

We sat down to eat around 8 and I was still feeling zonked out. We were told that dinner was included in our tour pricing and we could get food to a certain amount, otherwise we'd have to pay. So we all figured out what we were ordering...and then waited another 30 minutes for a waiter to take our order. We waited another 30 minutes for drinks to arrive. We were all starving after not having eaten lunch today, so after 90 minutes of waiting we were more than a little impatient. We asked the waiter and he said our food would be out in 5 minutes. 30 minutes later ONE plate of food showed up for ONE person (we were a table of 12). 10 minutes later ONE more plate showed up. Those people ate and went to bed. 20 minutes later TWO more plates showed up. It took us TWO HOURS AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES for all of us to RECEIVE our meals. I would have preferred they told us that in the beginning and to just eat cereal and milk!!!!! Jon and I were the last to receive our dinners - beef medallions - and it was so overcooked, grizzly, tough, and fat-filled that I could barely touch anything on my plate. After waiting nearly 3 hours for dinner, I basically ate plain rice. By far the worst meal I've ever had. Ever.

Now don't get me wrong. I am WELL aware that we are in a foreign country and expectations are different. I am also well aware that it is quite intimidating in a small restaurant to receive 12 food orders at once. I get all that. I also know that timing means different things in different places, and some locales are more lax about time constraints when it comes to restaurants. These are all things I know. All of that said, I'm still not sure exactly how it took that much time to churn out the garbage that we were served at that restaurant. No one of the 12 of us was happy with our meals. I would say about 1/2 went completely untouched because they were inedible. Not only that - they tried to charge each individual room for the meals when we were told that our meals were already paid for! GAHHHHHH.

Needless to say we were a bit frustrated. And hungry. And Hangry. And I was still fairly drugged. It was not a good night.

The only saving grace of pretty much the entire day was that our room had air conditioning. Thank heavens.

I was able to write a few more blog posts before passing out for the night. Ugh. I hope tomorrow is better.

Jess' and Jon's highlight of the day: air conditioning.