On the way home

Written July 3rd

I am now on the plane on the way back to Entebbe. I'm glad I'm going back to Uganda for a bit but I seriously wish I could have stayed longer in Zanzibar. When I come back to Uganda in the future I'll definitely make another trip to Zanzibar too and stay for 3 or 4 weeks and see the entire island. Yesterday was a good day though. Leila (from England) and I did a tour of Changuu/Prison Island after breakfast. Unfortunately our guide was absolutely awful and really didn't guide us anywhere but it was still good to go. He just pointed and said 'tortoises are here' and 'the prison is there'. Super terrible but we found our way around. The tortoises and peacocks were pretty cool. The island is called prison island because there was originally a prison built for the purpose of holding slaves. It was never actually used for this purpose because the trade was abolished but instead was used as a yellow fever quarantine camp. It has since been turned into a tourist restaurant. It was a bit disppointed that nothing of the original prison still existed but the island itself was stunning and it was good to get away. The boat ride itself was worth it for me. I could live on a beach. Or a boat.

Once we got back to town we did some market shopping and wandered aimlessly eventually realizing we were completely lost and asking everyone along the way for directions back to our hotel. It was good for a laugh and it's actually worth getting lost when you're with someone. Leila and I met Lisa and Jazmin later for dinner and drinks and watched the sunset. Then we walked around and saw the night market which was packed. It's basically vendors selling food in this big open garden area by the water and it seemed like everyone in town was there. After walking around a bit more we parted our ways and said our goodbyes since it was my last night. I'm so glad I met these girls because it ended up being such a good trip. Not that it wouldn't have been otherwise but it was cool to meet people from different places and we were all there for different reasons but connected and got along like close friends. Again my trip was nothing like I had expected but in all the best ways. I would have seriously kicked myself for not going.