Trip to Zanzibar #1

Anna Čapková

It's around 6 am and we are getting out of the taxi in a gray and quite quiet parking lot. Despite the low temperature and gloomy drizzle, we wear only light clothes. We are pulling our bags from the car trunk while our teeths are chattering. But what is happening?

We are at the Prague airport and leaving for Zanzibar soon. That is exactly why we wear only a little clothing even though the air around us is very cold. We push our luggages to the check-in. Even though an 8 hour long flight is waitting for us, we are over the moon.

I spend most of my flight by playing Angry birds - the game that makes me feel beautifully nostalgic. I lose track of time and before I can fully prepare myself we are landing in Zanzibar. When we get out a wave of heat hits us like a punch. We have to stop for a while and try to get used to it. Our bus is already waiting for us in the tiny parking lot in front of the gates. A man immediately offers to carry our luggages and basically pulls them out of are hands. Then loads them up on a seat right behind our heads, we are hoping that the bus doesn't stop too fast, otherwise our bags would probably behead us.

The bus is adorable. It is an old Japanese bus, we guess that it is from the 80's. My sister and I find it cute however the other tall men sitting with us find it rather uncomfortable. But the air conditioning is working perfectly so we are ready to begin our journey to the hotel.

We are driving through the suburbs of Stone Town - the capital city. For now the roads are ok so we can comfortably sit in our tiny cloth seats and look outside from the window. I play some nice music in my ears and watch the beautiful scenery of the busy town. People are sitting on plastic chairs or just on the ground. They are talking and laughing and they are looking so careless and happy. It makes me smile. There are shops everywhere offering fruit and grilled corn. I can also see lots of hair salons which I find a bit surprising.

By the time we get to our hotel, it is almost midnight. We are all exhausted from the long trip but one of the most difficult challenges is still before us. Checking-in to the hotel is awfully complicated. There are millions of papers to fill up and the receptionist's broken English is not helping. Then he tries to call out our names so he can give us our room keys. Whenever he reads a name out loud everyone goes quiet and we are all trying to recognize our name in the spell-like sounding words.

My sister and I finally get to our room. We meet a gecko in front of our door and our mood quickly gets better. But we get truly excited when we see that they left a little snack for us in the room. It is a plate full of fruit and half a sandwich. Before we go to bed we stuff our faces with the great and juicy fruit. And as I am falling asleep with full stomach, I keep thinking of what adventures are waiting for me in this amazing place.