Snorkeling...snorkeling...more snorkeling. Things could be worse...

So, remember when I though things couldn't get much better? I was wrong. For some reason everyday for the next 10 days I'll be taking short lecture classes in the evening under a huge thatched roof hut build around a baobab tree and snorkeling for a good 4 hours every morning. My commute to school consists of walking along the beach for .5 km in only my swim trunks and then a nice 30 minute boat ride into the Indian Ocean. We're basically living on a secluded beach on the mainland coast and I wish I had fast enough internet to upload a picture because it's absolutely beautiful. Currently I'm sharing a thatched roof A-frame hut with two buds, we have mats on the floors to sleep on but have instead been either sleeping in the hammock we've set up or on woven lounge chairs, both on our porch a good 5 meters away from the beach. Every morning, just in time for breakfast, we're woken up by the sunrise directly in front of us. Hopefully by the end of this program I'll have perfected the art of climbing coconut palms and will be able to fetch my own fresh coconut for breakfast every morning as well. This class is ridiculous.

This was my home:

Anyway, Pembe Abwe rocks. On Saturday morning, bright and early, we all piled into a small jet boat that picked us up on the beach of our hotel and dropped us off two hours later directly on the beach of the place we're staying. We were greeted with a fair amount of down town during the day until we had our first lectures in the hut beneath the baobab tree where we were introduced to what apparently is a bio class but also sounds like the most awesome 6 weeks of my life. For 10 days every morning at low tide we'll be taking a boat 9 km off the coast to two different coastal reefs, one federally protected and one which is not. After a few days of practice snorkeling and geeking out, we'll be assigned research areas where we'll need to survey and collect data in order to determine if a relationship exists between the plants and animals that exist in the different reefs.

This was my classroom:

After that first lecture, it was time to pile all 25ish of us into two vehicles and drive down the way to something none of us were expecting to see. A FUCKING BABY SEA TURTLE HATCHING. WHAT. Yeah. I don't know if you've ever seen a baby sea turtle, but they're absolutely the cutest things EVER. We witnessed 27 of them hatch and then climb out of the sand. Once they reach the surface (their buried about half a meter deep in their nests), they immediately get super stoked and book it as fast as their little baby sea turtle fins can make it to the ocean. Absolutely amazing experience. All of the turtles we watched hatched were relocated from an island off the mainland coast and transported here. The island has long been used as a place where female turtles return to lay their eggs, but due to recent deforestation and erosion on the island, the island has sunk further down then it used to. Because of this, the high tide will actually cover and rot any nests of eggs that a mother turtle lays. So, this small organization that happens to be down the road from here (Friends Of Maziwe), relocates and hatches them on this beach and we happened to be lucky enough to show up on a date one of the nests were happening. SO COOL.

Also look! PICTURE!

Day 2: Nothing all to special about this day. Getting acclimated to living the life and spent a majority of our time focusing on what we'll be learning out in the sea and preparing ourselves for our 30ish page independent research projects at the end of the semester (yes, I am learning things surprisingly...)

Day 3: This was our first day out on the water and DAMN. Around 9 we all piled into a few small boats and drifted out to a sand bar recently exposed by the low tide a good 9 km from the shore. There we unpacked on our own private island and prepared for a day of class that consisted of exploring a coral reef, catching (and consequently being inked on) by octopus, and having a fucking awesome time. When we returned we were assigned groups of sea creatures that we'll all be studying and researching for the next few days (I've got giant clams...).

Day 4: On our way out to begin learning about our sea creatures (clams...) first hand on the reef we were lucky enough to come upon A FUCKING HUMPBACK WHALE. Obviously we swam with it. It wasn't a full sized whale, but it was pretty big regardless. We noticed that it happened to be caught in a fishing net and a few of the professional researchers we were with tracked it down later on and cut off the net. We not only swan with, but we also saved a humpback whale. It was arguably one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. Oh, and there was a pod of dolphins swimming with us too. Be jealous. On a less cool note: I now know a lot about giant clams.

Day 5-9: Correction: I now know A LOT about giant clams. Anyway, the last few days have been spent spending a good few hours every morning out on the reefs snorkeling. Most days we've been getting up around 6:30 and hopping on a boat by 7 and then back by 1 or 2 for lunch. Soooo much snorkeling... Otherwise it's pretty awesome. No more whale, dolphin, or turtle encounters, but I have seen a fuckton of amazing things in the reef system. CORAL REEFS ARE SO COOL. The amount of diversity and just the whole ecosystem as a whole is absolutely incredible. These last 2 days have been used for collecting data at the two reefs we go to, one unprotected and one that is federally protected (fun fact: The protected reef we go to, Maziwe, also has a small island that used to be a favorite hangout and super private relaxation spot for Earnest Hemmingway). Anyway, my group and I have been laying 50 m transects along the ocean floor and collecting data on the giant clams that we come across. We finished collection yesterday and today was spent presenting our data to the rest of the group. None of our findings were statistically significant, but there was a large trend to more, larger, and healthier clams at the protected reef.

Other than that not too much new on the home front. I can't remember the last time I wore shoes and I'm much more tan than I've ever been in my entire life. I'm also frightened about going back to Portland weather. The other day the wind picked up and it started to rain, naturally we were all freezing and huttled together in a banda for warmth that evening. The next morning we were told that the low that night never went below 75... We're warm weather pussies now. Shit. Anyway, tomorrow we get to take a group of 6^th graders from a local village out to the reef and teach them about the reef system and how to snorkel! Then on Tuesday we head inland to Arusha for a few days (where I'll finally have internet access to actually post these 3 weeks of blog entries) before actually heading out into the bush for over a month when we do bunches of awesome things like homestays with Maasai and Hadza, countless safaris, and even something about climbing Africa's only active volcano. WOO!

Last days in Pembe Abwe/Arusha: So our last day in Pembe Abwe was a fun morning of taking a group of kids out to Maziwe and teaching them how to snorkel. The language barrier got in the way a tad, but we managed.... We also manage to bury Doopy up to her neck in the sand bar (she was standing). And I guess I'm still getting Bio credit for this? Anyway, that evening a few of us walked 40 minutes down the beach to yet another turtle hatching, which was still awesome. Then this morning we were off to Arusha to begin the safari portion of our trip. We were told the bus ride would take about 7 hours, but we should expect 9. It was 14. Oh well though, none of us seemed to mind all that much even when we got stuck in the mud (again). I managed to read a whole book. Anddddd now it's 2 am in a hotel in Arusha where I FINALLY have internet access. I learned recently that all of my clothes desperately need to be washed not by hand nor by me but this hotel charges like...2 fucking us dollars per article of clothing or some bullshit. I could eat for a week off 2 US dollars. Bullshit. I need to find a laundry mat....I also think my clothing is infested with fleas...oh well. That's Africa for ya....

ZANZIBAAAAAR

Zanzibar has basically been our fall break. This island, being both similar in size and location to Pemba, greatly overshadows Pemba. Having run the spice trade and the slave trade for hundreds of years, Zanzibar has since been put on the map as one of the largest tourist destinations in Africa. We stayed our first 3 nights in the old Stone Town by the main port and most touristy section of the island. Those days were fairly low key spent walking around the town, visiting museums, and checking out local venders. Walking around town was fun though because we immediately got hustled liked we were tourist where ever we went with people trying to sell us things for absurd prices. Though, the girls often wore traditional head scarfs when they went out and we made a note of speaking Swahili whenever we got the chance. The moment the locals realized that we were trying to be respectful, learn their language, and were students we were immediately given better prices and a lot more respect. Those nights also all happened to be birthdays of those in our group (Hope, then Tom, then Clara), which meant a good amount of birthday partying. The one night we went out to a club we only met one hooker, which was a nice change of pace. The next night was spent slightly more chilled out at a hookah bar inside the swankiest place in Tanzania (the Africa House. I suggest looking it up, this place is something straight out of a James Bond movie).

Wednesday morning we went off to visit Jonazi national forest to see the worlds only Red Colabis Monkeys. After so good times hanging out with these endangered monkeys and getting lost in the woods a few times we headed out to a spice farm where we all learned how to shimmy up a coconut tree and learned that eating cloves makes your mouth go numb. Then, as we got back to the hotel, we were off on our “free travel” days. A majority of us headed straight up to the northern tip of the island to get to some of the lower end tourist hotels. We ended up staying in the “Baraka Beach Bungalows” for the last two nights which was a party and a whole bunch of stories that my friends probably don't want me to post on the internet... It was great fun though to FINALLY have nothing to do and the ability to act like a tourist for once. Now we're a few miles down the beach at another much more low key hotel (also a moments walk from a beautiful white sand beach lined with palm trees and grass huts). Tomorrow morning we're waking up early to get on a small boat ready to take us across the Indian Ocean once again. Now we're officially done with our Islamic-Swahili Culture class and portion of the program (two classes done in 4 weeks, 2 more classes to do in the next 10...I can dig) and moving on to Pembe Abwe on the mainland coast and getting ready to...sigh...snorkel every day for 10 days before going on a month long safari. My life is awesome.

Pemba!

So leaving Mombasa was awesome. Woke up at 6 am to watch the sunrise over the Indian Ocean (awesome). Then, after that, Ian and I played soccer on a dirt pitch between a 500 year old Portuguese fort and the beach, also awesome. THEN. We were off. And by off, I mean a small plane filled with LC students down the coast on a beautiful Swahili day. After arriving in Zanzabar, we spent a good amount of time attempting to get visas to actually be allowed into the country (we eventually ended up paying probably double the amount, oh well...) Our next flight was even smaller and more and probably the coolest thing ever. Each plane only fit 13 and Devin got to sit next to the fucking CAPTAIN. SO JEALOUS. But I still had an amazing time watching the plane fly over Zanzibar, then across the ocean over to Pemba island. Absolutely the most beautiful flight I've ever been on.

Finally, after that awesome day, we arrived in Pemba, all very unaware of the next portion of our adventure. We soon arrived at the guest house close to sunset. I wish the internet was fast enough to upload pictures (or the pictures even did justice) to the most incredible view from a hotel I've ever seen. Picture: Indian Ocean, traditional dhows (Swahili sailing boats), sunset, and (I kid you not) literally 1000's of flying foxes emerging from a tree. Flying foxes, if you don't already know, are the worlds largest species of bats and native only to the island of Pemba. SO COOL. Then, after a talk with our professor, Dave, and a visit from the local woman's representative of parliament for northern Pemba, we were off to bed and off to our homestay's in the morning. We were really only given a few warnings such as that we might not eat for the next few days as well as that we were probably going to be more uncomfortable than we've ever been before. They were pretty right...

I'll preface this section of the blog with the note that you might have heard about the ferry incident off the coast of East Africa a few weeks ago. Yeah, that was this Pemba island. A couple of weeks ago, a week after the end of Ramadan, a ferry carrying almost exclusively people of Pemba island, all coming home after a week of celebration, capsized and killed over 300 people. The ferry was licensed to hold around 600 people and was said to have sank carrying close to 800, but estimates from both survivors and guards on this ship estimate that there could have been up to 1200 with over 500 lives lost. Needless to say, this incident effected the island and tremendous amount. The representative who we talked not only lost her sister in the accident, but 14 members of her family. The communities and families on the island are so close knit that no one wasn't effected by the tragedy.

Because of this, we all went into our homestays with a vibe probably a tad different than years past. We were taught by David the phrase “pole qua msiba” which literally translates to “sorry for your tragedy” and were told to say that upon greeting our families and other members of the village. This was often tough when you could tell someone has lost someone very close, but I feel like this small gesture helped a lot of us integrate into the communities easier and with much more respect than if we hadn't.

Anyyyyyway, all of us were split into 4 villages across the island. Mine happened to be the farthest, most remote, and one that has never hosted students before. This became fairly apparent when most of the younger people had ever seen many white people, let alone interacted with them and I was greeted mainly with stares of confusion for the following 48 hours. The community in itself seemed to be 100 years in the past (aside from my brothers cell phone..) with no electricity or any modern item of the sort. A majority of the time was spent with my host brother who spoke a fair amount of broken English, though, that still didn't seem to help much... In other news, the town of Makangale was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Picture rural tropical setting with palm trees, shamba fields, grass huts, and the Indian Ocean and you've got a vague idea of where I spent those two days.

There was not a moment in Pemba where I had any idea what was going on. Constantly I was in a state of utter confusion as to what was going on, where I was going, when/if I was going to eat, and what everyone was trying to say to me (no one spoke a word of English for the most part). The first night I was told that I was to go fishing with my host brother, which I was SO excited for. As we were going to bed, he told me that we would be fishing at 1. Now, Swahili time is weird, seeing that 1 can either mean 1 or 7 (there days start at sunrise at our 6 am as their 12 am). So, being told that time I still had no idea when we were going fishing. The next morning, after eating an early breakfast, I assumed we were to be off. Instead though, we sat on the beach from a good few hours as we waited for the tide to rise to push the dhow into the ocean. Dhows, by the way, are the most gorgeous boats ever made and I was getting so exited to sail in one around the Indian ocean in a fishing extravaganza. Thennnn, just as I thought we were going to go fishing finally, we went back home to eat lunch. As we got back into the cow cart (the main form of transportation on Pemba) we began to ride towards the other side of the peninsula to apparently meet my host father to go fishing with him. To make a long story short, my promised experience of night fishing turned out to be me sitting in a small canoe as my host dad spear fished hundreds of yards away from the boat. Not. Chill.

I was fairly mad that my Pemba experience turned out to be dull and not all too eventful for myself, especially after I heard some of the cool fishing stories of the guys in the other villages. But, even with that, my sitting on the beach waiting for the tide to rise experience was something any of the girls would have dreamed of doing. For the women in the homes, they are constantly on their toes to mend to the house, mend to the fields, and cook the food. All while wearing ridiculously hot head scarfs and similar full body coverings. Many of the girls got sick from heat exhaustion and had one of the most uncomfortable experiences of their lives. Some only were fed once the whole time, and the another took a shower outside as the whole village watched in awe. Katie's family was even the head of a major drug cartel for our village. So she spent a good amount of her days harvesting, packaging, and selling pot to the villages (they're not sending students back to that home next year...).

All and all a lot more is going on in Pemba but it's really too hard to put it all down. It's an amazing place that has a done a great job of not having much if any influence from western culture for hundreds of years. They people there are some of the most odd and confusing people I've ever met, but I'm sure I can say that they thought the same about us. Anyway, after 2 days and 2 nights sleeping on beds made out of rope and not knowing what was going on ever, we were picked up from our homestays and reunited to discuss heavily about how odd our experiences were. We were then dropped off at the most beautiful beach I've ever seen to relax and enjoy ourselves in the ocean as a group for the first time since we arrived on the coast. We ended our 4^th day and our time in Pemba at a small hotel on the southern tip of the island. After watching the sun set behind the ocean we were off to bed for an early ferry ride to Zanzibar!