Eid in Zanzibar

I've been in Zanzibar for about a week and its wonderful. Even better
than the last time I was here in 2007.
I met up with a friend from the train and we're staying in our own 2
bedroom apartment in the middle of Stone Town for about $9 a night.
Each day begins and ends with us sitting on our balcony and watching
the street below.
Stone Town is the main town of Zanzibar Island and a beautiful place
with ancient stucco buildings and a maze of tiny streets only wide
enough for a moped.
If you leave town, the beaches look like a default Windows desktop.
Its one of my favorite places in the world.

For the past few weeks, every place I have been as revolved around
Ramadan. This means I've ducked in to a cafe to have a sip of water
while the sun is up. Everyone is pretty strict about keeping up with
their prayers, enough so that I can use the call to prayer to judge
the time.
My best Ramadan experience was last week in Dar Es Salaam. After
sundown, a friend and I met up with a local we'd met the previous
week. While we ate he explained to me that that night was the most
important and longest prayer because it commemorates Mohammed's
revelation of the Koran. Then he invited me to GO PRAY WITH HIM.
So I did.
He gave me a quick run down of what to do and joked that my beard was
long enough I wouldn't get too many strange looks.
I don't have time to go through the entire process of washing, motions
and procedure, but I will say that it was one of the best experiences
of my trip.
Anyway, Ramadan has just finished in Zanzibar which means that we've
entered the 4 day festival of Eid. There is a collective relief and
spirit of joy throughout the town. The poor are fed, candy and toys
are dolled out to children and everyone is constantly moving around to
see friends and family.
For Eid it is tradition that everyone wears new clothes (clean ones
for me). The happiest are probably the little girls strolling around
in brightly colored dresses covered in flowers and plastic gems.
Walking around town there is a constant refrain of "Eid Mubarak" (may
you enjoy a blessed festival).