Since we found out we would be traveling to Tanzania, my
teammate Emily has been planning a trip for us to the island of Zanzibar.
So on Monday, our last Sabbath day in this country, Emily,
Alex, Tracy, and I all boarded a ferry at 6 in the morning and set sail (?) for
a getaway. The hour and a half was spent quite nicely, watching the Office and
trying not to give in to sea sickness. When we approached the island, I felt
like we were coming to America and should be passing the Statue of Liberty.
Much like an immigration experience, we got stopped at customs and told we were
not allowed to enter without a passport. It was ironic as each of us usually
carries our passport around and we each consciously took it out of our gear and
left it at home for safety. Why would one need to have a passport to enter a
different part of a country you already have a visa for you ask? Well, we never
got a good answer to that question. We were afraid for a few minutes that we
were going to be packed back onto the ferry we just exited and sent back to Dar
Es Salaam. But instead the Immigration Officer did us ‘a favor’ (to which we
were wondering if we needed to pay him for) and allowed us to create a written
request (on a sheet of computer paper) to enter the island of Zanzibar. I was
dying to take a picture, but did not want to offend the officer and have him
revoke his good favor. But it went something like this:
Dear Zanzibar,
Please allow us to enter you without a passport.
Love,
Alex, Emily, Carrie, and Tracy
(Not verbatim, but the same general gist.)
We were thankful for the Lord’s favor on a potentially huge
downer of a situation. After that we went to check into our hotel, that we got
a sweet deal on.
Then we got breakfast. And yes, on the World Race getting a
good cup of coffee is worthy of taking a picture. Then we went to some shops.
A majority of the day was spent right here next to the pool.
I got sun; we played pool games; we walked on the beach; we played Spades; and
I took a ton of pictures.
At night we got gussied up and wore our new African clothes
(the girls and I wore out skirts we had made and Alex wore his new Tanzania
jersey), and went out for dinner and ice cream. (Ice cream!) These friends on
my team are becoming jewels to me.
We slept good sleep. Had the best continental breakfast I
have ever, EVER had. (Praise the Name!) And boarded another ferry for the ride
home. This ride was spent on the top level, with the wind blowing through our
hair the whole time. Emily and I played real life Battleship with ships in the distance (‘D-4’,
‘Carriership sunk’). We could have not had a better, more relaxing, refreshing,
and fun time. I am thankful for this blessing.
