Tag: play hard work hard

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Bokaap Cooking Experience

Today we did a cooking experience! The lady who hosted us had lived in her house her whole life and so did her parents, grandparents and great grandparents! There was two other people doing the experience with us. Their names were Libby and Matt. We started with introductions and our host talked about herself. Then we started cooking. The first thing we did was fill the samosas. There were gluten filled and gluten free! I was tasked with frying the samosas in oil and it was very fun. While I was frying them, the others started making the curry and rice. The rice was made with cardamom and other spices to give it flavor. The process of making the curry was ridiculously simple and fast. We put the spices in then the coconut cream ingredients in then it was done! By done, I mean ready to be put on the stove to be cooked. When it was time to sit down and eat I was very hungry. The samosas were the best! The chicken curry was a little spicy for me and the rice was super good! While we were eating our host and her helpers made us a traditional dessert of Ribose tea, sweet potato, and a ball with dates in it. I liked the tea and sweet potato but I don’t love dates.

The Experience overall was amazing! Being able to learn from someone who loves cooking and has done it for many years is very special. I really enjoyed myself and I would highly recommend doing a cooking experience with anyone!

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Stone town in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Our time at Hotel Verde was fantastic! The rooms were elegant, and the bathrooms were beautiful. Each room had a small deck with a super comfortable chair. The food in the restaurant was not good, the restaurant was empty and lonely. We ate at the hotel restaurant one night and went out the next.

Playing at the hotel.

The hotel had a pool, gym, spa, playground, and water park open on Saturdays. Bardez and I played in the pool and playground for one of the afternoons. The playground was more like an obstacle course than a playground, which made it even more fun. The pool was not warm, but it was probably about 70 degrees. I loved playing in the pool and the playground.

A Day in Stone Town

On our first full day, we went into stone town. We went on a walking tour around the town. Imron was our guide, and he was hilarious. We were looking at a weaving shop that had an actual loom, then the other people on our tour arrived. The time was amazing, and I learned so much! We went into the old fort and saw a big stone auditorium. On our tour, we learned about the doorways and the town’s history. We also visited a museum about the history of slaves on the island and one really surprising thing I learned was that there were black slave owners! this had never occurred to me. In the museum there was a story about a woman who was unjustly sold into slavery, she was freed and given money for compensation. She was asked what she would do with it and she said “I’m gonna buy a slave.” This was shocking! I asked why and mom said that she thought it was the culture to own slaves.

Hotel Review

I would give this hotel four stars. It was not terrible but the food was bad and the rooms were very smelly. My dad once said something along the lines of, if your experience is 99.9% amazing but there is one big thing that is not amazing it will lower the whole experience. Not being able to eat at a hotel is hard but it was kind of good because we got to go to other fun restaurants and eat their amazing food! I would recommend trying a different place in stone town if you ever visit. I’m sure there are other amazing hotels in the area that are waiting to be used. I would go back to stone town and see other amazing things!