Beaches, Beer, Hammocks, and Motorcycles

Unfortunately I find myself writing this post from my all too familiar office nestled in the heart of Nyala. Only a few short days ago I was lying on the beautiful white sand beaches of Zanzibar Island and now I find myself in the surprisingly cold(winter in Sudan...who would have thought?) dust bowl of Darfur.

After 6 months straight in Darfur (stupid American travel restrictions…why can’t I be Swiss, everyone loves the Swiss) I finally got a much needed break. To be honest it was a bit of an anticlimatical moment. During the 6 months, I sat anxiously waiting for news of the travel restrictions being lifted…and then one night over dinner a friend from USAID casually mentioned that I was free to move again. I was expecting fireworks and parades…all I got was a pat on the back and a valid travel pass (which in my mind was the most valuable thing in the world at that point). Wondering where I should go two options lay heavy on my mind. The first was trying to make it back to Chicago for Christmas with the fam, the second was Zanzibar Island with friends from Boston. Now while family is very important to me, the idea of passing up white sandy beaches on the Indian Ocean for cold and dreary Chicago just didn’t seem sane. So instead of winter hats and mittens I threw some shorts and sun screen into my bag and jetted off to wonderful Zanzibar!

I was there for nearly 3 weeks, during which the most stressful thing I did was play in the afternoon volleyball game (which I was able to do with a beer in my hand) or walk down the beach to find which restaurant I wanted to gorge myself on sea food at. Most of my day was spent sleeping in hammock under the palm trees and the sea breezes rocked me back and forth. By sunset I had usually worked up enough energy to float in the ocean and a glass of wine before dinner.

That’s not to say that my time wasn’t full of excitement. There was a toga party where I thought Europe how to play “flippy-cup” and “beer pong” and of course no New Years on Zanzibar would be complete without honoring Freddy Mercury with lots of cool mustaches! Drew and I had plenty of motorcycle riding along the wide open roads of the tropical paradise and we even managed to dazzle the locals with our Frisbee ability. After three weeks of this life my body and mind have recovered enough to will myself back to work in the ever increasing mess that is Darfur.

So to all who may still read this blog, I hope that you had a wonderful holiday and I wish you all the best. Sorry about the lack of photos…my camera was unfortunately swiped by someone who is surely getting a good laugh at the photos on my camera…o well such is life.

And don’t worry I promise to write some type of melodramatic post about the deteriorating situation in Darfur some time in the near future…but for now just let me bask in my Zanzibarian memories and pretend that all of this sand around me still means I am at the beach.