The rest of today was so much fun. My roommate and I, both feeling overwhelmed by actually being here, just laid in our bed and listened to the sounds of the neighborhood. Zanzibar is like a symphony of different sounds; a sound scape of children laughing, men shouting at TVs that they use to watch the world cup on in the street, babies crying, bicycles ringing, motorcycles buzzing, roosters cockle-doodle -dooing just to name a few. And each time we listened more, we heard more sounds. It's an amazing thing.
Then we went to dinner on the rooftop of this fancy hotel called Ebony and Green. We got there at 6:00 to watch the sunset over the ocean.
Just as the sun disappeared, a new symphony began. The call to prayer. You could hear mosques from around Stonetown singing their own traditional songs. The wind was blowing a cool air from the ocean, and the fabric on the restaurant ceiling was billowing a deep percussion to accompany the music in the air. We didn't make a sound. We just sat in this place listening to these new and beautiful sounds, completely awed and humbled by the experience.
We followed dinner by a walk around Stonetown. I don't know what everything looks like during the day but at night, it looks like a movie set. It can't be real. But it all is. Then we went to a rooftop bar, had a drink, toasted to a safe journey and watched for shooting stars.
I am going to like Zanzibar.
the call to prayer is still one of my favorite sounds in the world. soak it up while you're there. you'll miss it when you're gone.
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