As we've discussed, on our recent trip to Zanzibar Steve and I explored many new activities to share with the students, not all of them related to spirit possession. One day our friend Abdul brought us to the edge of a mangrove swamp to see how dhows, the traditional boats that have been sailing the Indian Ocean for centuries, were constructed. In many ways the dhows are still being constructed as they always have. We found out that a dhow costs around $3000 to construct, which has dramatically changed our retirement plans as we've planning on purchasing one and becoming full-time residents of a W. Somerset Maugham novel (it's always been my plan, but I think I've won Steve over).
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| The shipyard, around twenty minutes outside of Stone Town, on the edge of a mangrove swamp. |
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| Our great friend Abdul explaining the process to Steve. |
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| The man who is putting the finishing touches on this dhow. Anyone can stop by and they're more than happy to chat with you, although, and appropriately, they don't mind you leaving a little tip. |
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| The beginning of the process as you lay out the skeleton of the dhow. |
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| And this one is about finished. |
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| It was May, so we didn't escape before having to take cover under a roof constructed out of metal sheeting with the workers as we waited out another monsoon downpour. |
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