Market & H2O

I practically begged our team lead to let us go to the main market today. Most of the group is going on safari, but I’m just one day in Zanzibar, then starting my trek back to the US. So I was dying to make it to a traditional market to pick up a few items on my list. Having picked up on my many “subtle” hints, we were given permission and a guide to accompany us to the market. It was so funny to stop by the Mall to exchange money, and walk into a Shop Rite grocery store at the corner of the complex! A sea of dark faces passed by us at the entrance, and one of our guys commented that we weren’t being stared at. Sure enough, we found 1 in 20 people to be pale-skinned like most of us. It seemed people were accustomed to this in the area we were shopping in (unlike the area we were staying in). The first light-face that passed us in the doors of the Mall was large, round, and had two giant ears emerging from the top of his head. Mickey Mouse!

During our Tanzanian Mall experience we exchanged money, used the toilet (as it is more accurately called, not restroom), and picked up some yummy foreign snacks at the grocery. These snacks have got the worst of me yet, as I of course went for those tasty oat biscuits (with chocolate!) and proceeded to finish the box before the night was out. I got into a side conversation about my use of the water here. After spending 3 months in India, and getting sick a number of times after wading in the ocean, I am not so phased by the warnings to be super-cautious about letting the water touch your mouth. Each day I’ve got a bit more bold. First it was noticing a bit of water between my lips during shower, then wiping my mouth after tooth brushing with faucet water, then cleaning my brush from the faucet after, then straight up brushing my teeth with the water from the faucet. I haven’t died yet. And I’m certainly not gotten sick like I know very well from Indian water incidences.

Tomorrow we are going to the BEACH! We will see if the Indian Ocean is any cleaner on this side of the great chasm of water.

SHOPRITE:  In Tanzania?!?  Yes, sortof.

OCEAN:  The Indian Ocean from the west coast of Africa.