There are lots of geckos everywhere, and we love when they live in our houses; they eat mosquitoes and other bugs. This is a baby one Justin caught.
This is a typical village house. I'm not sure which village this is, since Justin's visited relatives of friends in a couple different spots on the island. Houses like there are the cheapest--the walls are made of coral rocks, sticks, and mud. The roof is made of thatched palm leaves, with a frame of sticks. The floor is just bare, packed, swept dirt. A place like this has no electricity or running water, of course. A majority of Pembans live in houses just like this one. Others have houses made of coral rock cut into large bricks or locally-made concrete blocks; these often have tin roofs.
This is the view from Justin's house, I believe. This is the same street we lived on in years past, but on the opposite side.
Meet Justin's pet spider. These giant buggers live all over the islands on these huge, intricate webs a few feet above people's heads, usually between roof awnings, electrical wires, and tree branches. There aren't very noticeable, but if you pay attention and look up when you are walking through an alley, you can see dozens. If you're lucky, you can see them moving to catch insects in their webs, or to repair their webs after a heavy rain. (Click on the picture to see it up close and life size.)
The blue building at the end of this alley is called Obama Restaurant. Justin eats lunch there every day. People in Pemba (and all of East Africa) love Obama.
Here's an example of Justin's lunch: rice and a whole fish, fried up, and some hot milk.
Lastly, this is the Old Fort (built by the Portuguese, British, or Arabs, I forget which) where the Archives are kept. Justin spends from 7:30am to 3:30pm here, five days a week. Once he has the right paperwork in hand, he'll also be spending some of his days in towns and villages interviewing people.
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