In less than an hour today, we walked into a medical clinic and got antibiotics, paying $15 on the spot (everything is fine), found a replacement micro-USB cord for my external hard drive, bought fresh bananas from a local market, paid less than $7 for three days of unlimited mobile 3G internet connection and booked ferry tickets for later in the week. All of this on an under-developed island off the coast of Tanzania where donkeys still roam the streets.

Upon arriving to the beach, there was a chain of events, that together with the ones above, offered a ripe opportunity for reflection. We were sitting on our beach chairs reading while a hyperactive boy from London (his family originally from Tanzania) whizzed around us dancing and talking gibberish like he must have been one of the Lost Boys. A group of little street girls had already crowded around us a bit and instantly became fascinated with the London Tornado (real name, Ahmed). We watched as their interaction transpired like a medieval play-- first the girls extremely hesitant and confused by his erratic behavior, but then eventually moving closer and closer until they were all rolling around and dancing in the sand together. After mistakenly threatening the girls with throwing sand, they called Ahmed's bluff and gave him a taste of his own medicine, sending him running down the beach scared of the impending sand battle.

Just 50 yards down the beach in the direction Ahmed was running, we saw a Japanese tourist teaching a group of local boys break dancing and Capoeira moves. At one point he had two or three of the athletic beach boys holding handstands while kicking their legs straight up in the air like donkeys. It was truly a sight to behold.

Sitting on the beach and taking this all in got us thinking. Witnessing two such distinctive interactions was a reminder of how humans can relate and communicate on such fundamental levels, while having absolutely nothing in common. And in essence, that's what this trip is all about. Travel is about opening oneself up to experience and throwing away preconceptions. Striving for a true connection with the people, places, and things around you. These were great examples of that. While our experience earlier in the day was a reminder of how quickly the world is becoming flat. Sure, we marvel at and appreciate the conveniences of accessible medicine, 3G mobile Internet, and electronics stores, but we’re simultaneously reminded that things everywhere are starting to look more and more the same. You find yourself in a bit of a conundrum, hoping that varied cultural experiences aren’t slowly becoming extinct, and at the same time wanting to believe that technology and modernization will lead to a better way of life for those in need.