Out There: Back For More Lazy Days in Zanzibar

So I've been asked to put more pictures of me on my blog. I've been reluctant to do so for a while now and I couldn't figure it out. But it finally hit me. It's because I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed of how many pictures catch me asleep. I mean it. I bet half of the pictures from my latest R&R find me asleep. Jeremy came with me to Zanzibar this time so he kept catching me unconscious. But you know what I've realized? Whatever. That's who I am, it's what I do.

This first one mercifully gets me awake and actually moving. This is in Stonetown, the major city of the island. In the background is Mercury's Restaurant, named after Zanzibar's most famous native, Freddy Mercury of the band Queen. Strangely, I've probably been in that restaurant 10 times and I've never once heard Queen on the sound system. They play everything else from Enya to electronic dance music. Anyway, in the extreme background is the harbor and the fish market.

I love my new knit hat. I picked it up in Stonetown from this Rasta guy named Zacharia who was carving figures from ebony and rosewood. Freaking sweet guy! But now when I ignore the solicitations of the street vendors who push their products harder than my mom did on a certain October day in 1980 I get, "what kind of a Rasta are you, you don't look out for your Rasta brothers?!" Whatever. I like my hat anyway. It keeps my hair off my neck so I stay cooler. I know what you're thinking...how could I get any cooler? I know, I know.

Well, there I am, at rest in what is apparently my natural state. I'm asleep in the lobby of our Stonetown hotel waiting for the taxi to take us up north to the Promised Land, Nungwi. It's a land flowing with milk and honey, beer and seafood, beaches and girls. See, understand why I was asleep? I had to save my strength.

The other person asleep is Nancy, a lady from Colorado we met who is backpacking around Africa for a few months. She tagged along with us for a few days then went her own way.

Breakfast in Nungwi

I have to admit this one might as well be a sleep shot. I fell asleep on the bow of this wooden boat on the way back from a snorkeling trip. The sail kept hitting me in the face, otherwise this would be just another picture of me dozing through my vacation. If you look closely you can almost see the angst in my countenance over being rustled from my slumber.

On the snorkeling trip we met Lital from Israel. She works as an event planner there and was just on vacation like us. We hung out for a few days in Nungwi and hated to say goodbye when we left. She definitely measured up to the reputation of Israeli women for having fiery personalities. Super cool and fun to be around!

In this one I'm over a quarter of a mile out on the water. A storm came through the night before and low tide was REALLY LOW afterward. There were all kinds of starfish and little fish trapped in puddles. Fun stuff.

This is the morning I got sick. I caught some type of flu-like mess and was down for the next three days. I think I do look kinda green. So I slept all day for several days. I know, completely out of character right?

Ahhhh, vacation. Gimme a break. I was probably still sick in this one. Sick people should rest you know.