Many of you have already heard that I tied the knot with a beautiful Pemban woman, named Mwaka, on July 16th, 2010. Yes folks, I am happy to say that I am no longer a bachelor. It was a hectic but amazing experience, and I was fortunate enough to share it with some friends and family from back home, including my parents, my aunt, and my brother.

My folks truly took it in stride, especially considering that it was a traditional Pemban wedding, which in no way, shape or form resembles weddings as we know them in the western world. I'll give you a brief rundown of the festivities.

The night before I was scrubbed down with a clove paste that makes your skin tingle due to the novicaine-like substance in the cloves. On the morning of the wedding I basically hung out in my PJ's with family and friends until about 11:30am. Then I prepped by throwing on a konzu, traditional Zanzibari garb, a kilemba, the headwrap, and a joho, a dark brown overcoat with gold trim. I'll upload pictures later.

Then it was off to Panza Island to take my bride. We loading into cars and drove over to the closest port to Panza. Since the tide was out we had to wade out into the muddy water just to get into the boats. My entourage of about 120 people and I all loaded into three boats and crossed over to Panza.

After arriving the men and women split. The wedding ceremony itself takes place only among the men. As strange as it sounds, I actually married Mwaka while she was in another room. I sat on the floor in front of her uncle, who was in charge of marrying her off. I basically promised to take care of her, and then I took his hand and the marriage was completed. We then drank coffee and then I went to take my wife.

I went in to the other house where she was seated, and she stood up. I put my hand on her head, some more words were exchanged, and then we took a few photos. She wasn't feeling well (the room had to be over 100 deg inside) so we quickly took our leave.

She came back to my house and immediately was shuffled into the bedroom with some of her female relatives. My Mom, bless her for her patience, was then able to sit down and hang out with Mwaka for about an hour, which is all she wanted to do from the beginning.

Outside hundreds of people gathered to dance and listen to dufu, a traditional Zanzibari druming music. And that completed Day 1 of the festivities. Day 2 later...

-- Mike