Mbweni ruins yoga

Things at work calmed down a bit on Wednesday. I had a list of things to do and worked on them in the morning then one of the district supervisors came in with the last month of positive malaria samples. I did the voucher correctly and got the correct signatures, but then he had to wait for an hour while the accountant was at lunch and the bank. But overall it went well and I was able to leave a bit early so I could do a bit more grocery shopping.

I went to some different shops and found flour, dish soap, and some vegetables. The produce is picked very recently here and goes bad pretty quickly so it’s better to buy food for just one or two meals so you don’t have to waste so much.
With that accomplished, I set off for Mbweni ruins, where Stacy told me a yoga class meets from 5-6:30 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Mbweni is the part of the island where I’m staying. It’s sort of like a suburb of Stone Town. The ruins are about a 20 minute walk away, down by the ocean where I went swimming a few days ago. I’m not sure what the building used to be, but it was a 2 or 3 story stone building, right on the water. Some of it has worn away but some portions still exist. A fancy hotel has been built next to it. The yoga class is held in one of the rooms and is taught by a lady from England named Jo. It was a good lesson; my first real work out since arriving and the first time I did yoga in years. Since it was evening a lot of mosquitos were out and even though I applied bug spray twice, I still got a lot of bites that now itch a lot. We did a lot of sun salutations and warrior poses and I practiced a head stand for the first time since childhood. I’m definitely going back.

Here are some pictures of where I practice yoga:

Mbweni ruins

After the class I had dinner with Stacy, her sister, and Claudia at the hotel restaurant. The fish here is really good and super fresh. Then we walked back together and I said goodbye to Stacy and Marni since they are leaving Zanzibar tomorrow and I probably won’t see them. They were a great help making me feel at home during my first few days here and I really appreciate all of their kindness.