National forest

Visited the National forest in Zanzibar, home to the famous Colobus monkey and a Mangrove forest...

Spice Island...

Today I did a short spice tour and was introduced to the King of Spice Island, the clove tree

The Queen of Spice, Cinnamon

Add some lemon grass...

Jack Fruit

Beach kittens...

And the owner of the beach kittens....incidentally I keep looking to talk photos of the girls, they are seldom seen... at least they are not playing on the beach or in town.

fishing boats...

This morning I talked with one of the fishermen from the Si Whote, the boat in the middle of the photograph, they were just coming in from a night of fishing. He told me that there are about 15 men who live on the boat and they leave the women in town. They are happy now because when they get lost, they can use a cell phone to call for rescue. When I asked who does the rescue he pointed to an equally run down "patrol" boat. 

Queen...the rock group

Freddie Mercury from Queen was born here in Stone Town, there is much dispute about where he was born, so I decided to pay homage at the bar that bears his name....

Ferry....

In truly African style, the ferry loads cars directly off the beach. It is a mad dash of crazy driving, sand and a race to get on the boat. What is missing from the photos are the men yelling and moving cars to put themselves in the best position to take one of the limited spots on the boat....
sure was fun to watch!

a more sobering note

Zanzibar was a stopping point in the East African Slave trade.  This is a memorial outside what used to be the slave market. You can go underground and see the holding "cells." It was an intense and sobering site.

Jaws Corner

Through many twisted small streets one wanders and comes upon an open square known as Jaws corner. This is where the old men come to talk politics, they have a chalkboard where they post the topic of the day... let the debate begin. Todays topic was whether or not Zanzibar should be its own country.  They also wanted to talk with me about Obama...

Stone town fish market

After wandering through Stone town we came to the fish market, quite a bit different then Pike Place for sure. The men are standing around at the fish auction...

Giant Turtles....

So today I took a short boat ride with a local fisherman out to Prison Island, they built a prison here but apparently never used it. On the island is a tortoise sanctuary, this guy is 128 years old! Amazing. They like to have their necks scratched/rubbed- I imagine this is what ET would feel like!

And don't forget the babies, he is heavier then he looks!

Zanzibar

After a series of short flights on a propeller plane and much beauracy I made it to Zanzibar.... I arrived last night in the dark, so I didn't see much. This morning woke up and went for a walk on the beach.... amazing!

Kids playing soccer, fishermen coming and going...

Independance

Happy Indpendance day Uganda!! 50 years since you kicked out the British... hoping for a peaceful celebration today.

Stuck in traffic photos...

I took these two photos when we were headed home, needless to say we wer stuck in traffic, random Ugandan life on the side of the road.

International School of Uganda...

Just a couple pictures from the school.

This is a third grade class

It was a lovely school,mosrtly outside with wide open spaces for kids...

Ugandan Independence

Finished at the school today, and the witch doctors are still keeping me up... Tuesday is Ugandan Independence day and the government hasn't decided yet if Monday is a holiday or not. I am noticing an increase in Military and police presence for sure, let's hope its for peaceful celebration. One can never be sure in this part of the world.

Witch Doctors...

Every night since I have been here, I have been woken up at around 3:00am to the sounds of chanting and drumming off in the distance. When I asked about it at breakfast, I was told " that's the witch doctor who lives up the hill... I mean traditional healer." 

Arriving in Uganda at night

Arriving in Uganda at night, I forgot how dark it is, not a whole lot by way of competeing lights. And I was reassured at the airport that the Ugandan government hasn't had a case of Ebolla since August 24th. .. why do they even mention that?
I am staying at the home of one of the teachers and her family, give the status of the hotels around here, I think I lucked out.

My bedroom, with mosquito net of course

Outside on the verandha- it is nice and cool here compared to India.

Cremation sites

Today we also went to one of the ghats that is a sacred cremation site for Hindus. It was an uncomfortable place for me.  People believe that dying here in Varanasi ensures a clear pathway, if they don't come here to die, families will often bring the bodies here from other parts. I have seen more dead bodies in the weeks here then ever in my life.  They carry the bodies through the tight alley ways on a wooden stretcher to this spot where the family selects the wood and the eternal fire, the better the wood the more expensive the cremation. They have it down to a science, about three hours per body. They cremate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are only men allowed on the site and typically the oldest male relative accompanies the body. The ashes are spread in the Ganges.  The cremation is done by the untouchable cast (contrary to what the Indian government says the caste system is alive and well.) You can pay one of the guys standing around to take up to where the pyres are built, smoke billowing off. I politely declined. 

These two

These two were on the there way to school this morning. You can see the boy has coal around his eyes which mothers use to ward off evil spirits. 

all that is missing.....

This is not the best photo, all that is missing is a cow, a 100 people or so and the smell, you have a pretty good idea what the streets are like around here.  ( I took this early this morning)

Bathing in the Ganges

This morning there were people bathing in the Ganges, it cleans away all your sin. I will upload video when I get home... it is really quite something.

Hindu evening ceremony

Thousands of people come to visit the river every day, in the evening they have a ceremony...

Preparing for the ceremony...

On the banks of the Ganges River

Just to get to the river you have to go through narrow streets lined with beggars and garbage, thousands of pilgrims and holy men making there way to the sacred river.

Boat men, the river is really high right now because the monsoon season came late, the river is following very fast and very high so they are reluctant to take people out.

Looking back at the ghat, there are steps here that lead into the river, but it is flooded right now.

Sarnath

Buddha came to Sarnath to preach his first sermon, and meet his first disciples. It is considered one of the most hoy Buddhist sites and many pilgrims come here from all over the world to pay respects.

The tall stupa marks the spot where Buddha met his first disciples.

Monastery grounds

Always the school groups....

The girls were polite and reserved;

The boys were crazy... and liked to follow me around.

Jain temple at Ranakpur

I had never been to a Jain temple before and I will say that this one was really extraordinary...

Inside the temple, fully covered and no shoes...