The Spice Girls Take On Bohemian Rhapsody!

Fun fact about Zanzibar: this is the birthplace of Freddy Mercury! So appropriately, Julie & I went to "Mercury's" for dinner last night. The restaurant has an incredible beach front location in Stone Town, and great atmosphere. They weren't playing Queen though...bummer. I ordered the "Freddy's Favorite" salad, and there wasn't much to it...perhaps that's why he was so skinny...

This morning, we took a Spice Tour, and had THE BEST time! It was incredibly interesting to see all the spices we know & love growing in their natural form. Our guide was very informative, and spoke great English (Jules & I were the only two on his tour), and with him was an apprentice who was probably no more than 12 year old, and he'd climb barefoot up these tall trees & plants to bring us down fresh fruit, berries, leaves, etc. He was also constantly weaving leaves and making things for us. By the end of the tour we were holding woven purses with samples of every natural spice & fruit we'd passed (22 in total -- I was taking notes :)), we had woven grass rings on our fingers, casava leaf necklaces, frog shaped necklaces from more woven grass and stomachs full of the fresh fruits and spices the island is so famous for! It was fun to test ourselves as well. Before sampling any spices or fruits, they'd tear off a leaf, and crumple it up and ask us to smell it and guess what spice or plant we were looking at. I think we got about 50% right!

Our favorites were probably the island's "King" and "Queen" spices. King is the clove, and it's just so aromatic and lovely. Queen is cinnamon, and they use her leaves (in teas), her bark (they curl off strips and it dries into the sticks we buy from the grocery), and the root is a natural form of Vic's vapor rub (no joke -- they dug up a root and cut into it, and smelling it was just like inhaling Vic's!). Such a great tour!

Mere & Julie