Spring Break: Mombasa

The Crew:

Me
Julie: 26/27, Seattle, Washington
Jono: 23ish, Australia
Katie: 23, San Diego, California
Bud: 23ish, Tallahassee, Florida
Mikhaila: 18, Australia
Abi: 18, England

Friday: The trip started out with one of the single most uncomfortable vehicle rides of my life; nine hour ride to the coast. I was quite happy to get out of the bus and sit on the ferry as we rode across the bay. Upon arriving at our accommodations we were all surprised! We were staying in a cottagey kinda thing. It was SO nice! All open air, so the breeze filtered through beautifully. We had two (semi-warm) showers, a stove, mosquito nets, three different lounge areas, a pool, and last but not least... a washing machine!! It was truly lovely. We spent the first day checking out the local beach scene and cooked some spaghetti with homemade sauce and went to bed pretty early.

Saturday: Again we spent the day hanging out at the beach, but the real fun of Saturday came at night. We also have a barbeque at our cottage and were all quite keen on having a cookout. So we did just that. Saturday night could be summed up in three words: barbeque, booze, pool. Probably my favorite night of the trip. We started cooking just before dark and the night didn't end until two bottles of rum, great food, and tons of fun had been had by all, at about half past three in the morning. For an appetizer we had some sausages (well, I didn't. There is somethings I really just don't like) and roasted potatoes. We grilled kbobs which were delicious!! Peppers, onion, tomatoes, and chicken. I enjoyed helping make them and they were SO good. I just hear everyone at home saying “I told you so.” There was even mashed potatoes which is a home staple I've been really missing. The food was great. Our radio broke that night which kinda put a damper on things but we managed to have a blast regardless and I'm sure we still kept the locals up all night (oops). Overall the night was a smashing success.

Sunday: Julie's birthday!! Well, the day ended up being a bust to be honest. We'd planned to go snorkeling for her bday. But by the time we all pulled ourselves out of bed from the night before, and made it down to the beach, it was already high tide. So we scheduled snorkeling for the next day at 9am.Today was the day I enjoyed the beach the most (also the day we spent the least time there). We found a little place where there were lots of rocks and coves. It was so pretty!! I explored and played with hermit crabs while the others played on the beach/water. It was really nice. The tide came up so high while I was in one of the coraly cove things that I had to carry all my stuff above my head and walk on my tippy toes to get back to the main beach. The highlight of Sunday night was definitely Julie's birthday dinner. After consulting our trusty Kenya guidebook she decided that we'd be going to a place called Ali BarBour's for dinner. The restaurant was located in a coral cave on the beach, which made it awesome in itself. Moreover the atmosphere was just lovely. It was a really really nice place. The food was quite expensive, but in the end I think it was worth it. I ordered Snapper Ndizi, which was Red Snapper sauteed in a butter sauce served with some kind of bananas on top. It was super tasty. Everyone at the table was very proud of me for trying new things, haha. It was nice to have relaxing dinner and just have a calm night out, and I think in the end Julie was happy with her birthday.

Monday: Snorkeling time! :) I've never really been snorkeling and to be honest I wasn't so keen on the idea, but it ended up being a lot of fun. I saw a really pretty starfish, an eel, and lots of colorful fun fish. The water was nice and blue as well. About half way through the snorkeling adventure I started hurting too bad from my sunburn to continue so I sat on the boat and looked thorough the glass bottom at all the fish underneath us. I was kinda bummed I couldn't continue, but the anti-malaria pills we're on just make us so susceptible to sunburn that I didn't want to deal with Kenya's equatorial sun any longer.

After snorkeling we went back to the cottage and hung out and got ready for another night out. This time the destination was Forty Thieves; the most popular bar/restaurant in Dianni Beach. I had fish and chips for dinner which was fried, unhealthy, and awesome. The venue was more beach bar-like than the night before, and after dinner the dining area turned into a dance floor and the music was cranked up. It was good fun, it was probably the most lax night of all to me because there was a place to sit, a place to dance, a place to drink and a full beach to enjoy. I see why Forty Thieves is so well known; everyone was able to do what they wanted without pressure to move on to the next activity.

Tueday: Abi and my last day. We spent this day in the city of Mombasa; my favorite part of the trip. We started out by going to Fort Jesus and getting a tour around the old fort. It was cool, I don't have much to say on the subject, but if you're ever in Mombasa I would recommend checking it out for sure. Then we started a walking tour of Old Town. I loved this! I'm not big into architecture, but you couldn't help but be transpired when looking around here. The Arabic influence was apparent everywhere and walking down the narrow streets barely big enough for a tuktuk was a delight. It was cool to be walking down the empty streets when there was the call for prayer, and be able to listen to it echoing off the walls all around you. The best part about walking around was the street food. The vendors in Kenya are endless, but the food was a lot different then here in Ngong/Nairobi. I'm a notorious snacker, so this was my kind of thing for sure. It was a great way to have lunch, spending ten bob every 100 yds to try something new. I sampled fresh potato chips, donuts, somosas, dried mango, some sort of Indian hushpuppy thing, African pizza, and coconut cakes made of rice. The donuts were probably the best I've ever had in my life, cooked in a small pan in an alley covered with garbage, a small bit of oil and then covered in sugar; at one kenyan shilling (Ksh) a piece I was tempted to spend a fortune. The somosas were the best I've had on this trip as well (mind you I didn't even know what a somosa was a month ago) so good I had to go back for another. The African pizza was a new treat, and something I haven't seen anywhere else in Kenya. It's also called Chapti Pizza I believe. Minced meat mixed with some chopped onion then fried inside an egg pizza kinda thing. I can't really describe it, but it was yummy. We also visited the spice market which was pretty neat, but honestly being a mzungu makes things of that nature so hard to enjoy sometimes. You can't really walk around and enjoy things because people are so in your face trying to get you to look at their goods. I ended up finding some Kenyan coffee I was happy with and bought a couple bags to bring home along with some tea leafs. All in all Mombasa was a great place and I'd like to return if I'm ever in Kenya again. From there we said our goodbyes to some of the best company I've met since leaving America and caught our bus back home.

Other things to note:

We had cats. They were freak mutant cats. I'm convinced they were part lion, in fact. I've had cats my whole life and never seen any quite like these. They also made some of the strangest noises I've ever heard. And they stood on the bbq and stole our chicken. It was a love/hate relationship.

There were centipedes. The size of my arm. Ok, well not really, but it seemed like it. They were black with tons of tiny red legs. I think they are actually the first aliens to invade earth. They scared the hell out of me. And on that note, I had wondered where all the creepy crawlies in Kenya were, and I found out this weekend. Another than centipedes we also saw the biggest beetle I've ever seen. Jono called it a Christmas beetle... WHO WANTS A BEETLE FOR CHRISTMAS?! Not me. But still very very few misquitos which is pretty nice, hopefully no Malaria for this chic.

This one may not make much sense to some people. But I tried Vegemite. It was AWFUL. I can't fathom that Marmite would be any better. My point: The Australians and British have an inane argument going. They both suck. Peanut butter FTW.

The weekend was quite a delight, honestly though I am so so happy to be back in Ngong. Dirty feet, shotty electricity, and miserably cold showers are home to me now. Which brings me to my next adventure:

Mama Moraa is going out of town for the next three days; which means it's time for the Faraja crew to really having a taste of orphanage life. We'll be sleeping over, waking up at 5am, cooking, and attempting to run Faraja as well as Moraa does. I have a feeling the kds will end up taking more care of us than we will of them, but I'm up to the challenge! What an adventure this will be...