Do you have passion? ... how much are you selling it for?

(I wrote this 9/13... sorry for the delay in posting it!)

While the title of this entry might seem like a lame attempt at a pick-up line, it's not.  It is a tribute to the deliciousness of the passion fruit.  I can ask someone this in the market and they won't blink an eye thinking I'm strange or creepy.  And, I'll "get the goods" without doing anything morally or legally wrong.  I will miss these when I leave Zanzibar!  

On the opposite end of the food spectrum, Choco Beans are the most disgusting candy ever.  What we thought was a substitute for M&Ms was a sore disappointment.  The kids here concluded that Choco Beans taste like puke, and that they'd rather eat thrown-up M&Ms than fresh Choco Beans.  That's saying something...  And why they have talcum powder and titanium dioxide in their ingredients, I'm not sure.  Can't be healthy.  I'll stick to the passion (fruits), thank you very much.

We went to a sandbank off the coast today.  The closest one is frequently populated (during the day) by white tourists, making it a possible location for an EU meeting, complete with too-small Speedos on men too old to be wearing them.  We went to the sandbank about 20 minutes by boat past that and had it all to ourselves.  It was fabulous.  The water was a spectrum of turquoises that look fake in the pictures (hopefully they'll actually load!  see below).  It was so nice to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and surroundings.  If you want to join in, come visit!  I’ll take you to the secluded sandbank unless you’re itching for some speedo eye “candy” (clearly in line with Choco Beans quality, not M&Ms). 

A photo of birds, a few kids, and the turquoise Indian Ocean surrounding the sandbank we went to last weekend (9/13).  The kids liked scaring the birds away, as shown here.

here is our canopy & picnic site:

I've been going on runs in the night time rather than during the day, and think I've converted to doing so, perhaps permanently.  It's cooler during the night, fewer cars are on the roads, and the sensory experience is nice.  If your runs are your time to let your mind wander like they are for me, having less scenery and people to see is great.  It’s something between sensory deprivation and heightening: visuals are obviously lessened, but it makes you much more in tune with your running form, your surroundings, and either the sounds of Zanzibar at 10pm or the playlist on your iPod.  There are more people running in the evenings now than during the day because of Ramadan.  People generally expend as little energy as possible during the day because they can't eat or drink until sunset.  After that, people come together for a meal and usually stay up fairly late visiting together.  Some people wake up before sunrise (when you can't tell the difference between a black thread and a white one) to eat, while others sleep in to reduce the amount of time they are awake and unable to eat.  I think the harder part would be abstaining from drinking any water during the day rather than no eating. 

Next weekend (ie: this weekend) I’ll either be trekking around the island via motorbike or going to some place with rocks and cliffs made for jumping.  I’ll report back to let you know how they go!