gone living

mambo! i was reclining on cushions on a sofa in the open-air room near the bar, leaning back against a whitewashed pillar, sipping a glass of kilimanjaro beer and reading richard feynman's "sure you're joking, mr. feynman!", when the sunset caught my eye.

a beautiful dark-copper sun was poised over the water, the light diffused through several layers of clouds stacked up just below the sun. the ocean was stirred by a series of gentle wavelets, and a single boat was in the water: an anchored sailboat rocking in the waves, a tanzanian flag on its mast flapping in the breeze.

my first reflex was to run to my room, and get my camera to capture it, and i stopped myself. no. enjoy the sunset and just take it all in. you have enough sunset pictures. just be in the moment and relax.

(and then of course i ran to use robin's laptop in her apartment over the dive shop to punch this all in, but at this point in my trip, writing is usually more worthwhile than taking yet another amateur snapshot photo.)

i truly feel that i've found a sort of paradise here -- i came to this beachfront lodge on zanzibar several days ago to visit my friend eli, who is working in the dive shop, taking guests out on scuba diving trips, and all the other dive shop fun. eli is also generously sharing his room with me (which is great, because this lodge is definitely out of what remains of my travel budget), and we go out on snorkeling and scuba trips in the afternoons, and enjoy delicious meals from the chef here three times a day. the food and alcohol is reasonably priced, and i have absolutely no plans until i leave for cape town, south africa on wednesday morning. no, i'm not summiting kilimanjaro or going on safari in the wonderful national parks of tanzania. i plan to do these things... but i want to do them when it's the right time for me, and when there are friends along for the ride. while staying here i have good people to hang out with, activities to do if i want them, lazing about whenever i want to, and cold beer for the asking.

yet again, life is good. i never told you in my post mentioning thanksgiving exactly what i'm thankful for -- nowadays i'm thankful for a hell of a lot of things, to be honest. and right now, i'm thankful just to be here and to be able to enjoy it.

oh, and here's my favorite wikipedia entry of the day (found linked from feynman's page on wikipedia): Free Spirit.