safari ya kenya :: Day 7 :: in Malindi

Wednesday, June 18

We checked out of the hotel this morning and got on a bus that would take us to Kambi ya Waya, where we would then walk to the house in the country. Rod kept trying to call Wilson (his older brother) to see if he was home, but couldn't get him. The bus hadn't left yet, so we just got off.

We decided to check in to another hotel and found one on the beach - still about $10 for a single room for one night. Our tuk-tuk driver waited for us, then took us to Malindi Marine Park. We didn't know what it was, but apparently it's mostly for snorkeling. We didn't have our swimsuits, so we just walked along the beach, then sat in some shade talking until we got hungry for lunch.

From my hotel window

After lunch we took naps. I checked on Rod after a while, and he was sleeping so soundly. I woke him up accidentally, but he couldn't stay awake. I thought he would sleep all day. Finally he did wake up though, and we took a walk, checked out an even more expensive safari place, and checked email again.

In the pub on the ground floor of our hotel

Beaty called to ask for Rod's youngest sisters' measurements - Khadija and Chorus, who are in high school. I guess she's also finished Mom's dress now.

After checking emails, Rod called Moses and Francis again. They came and drank tea with us in the same cafe as yesterday until it was almost dark. Moses had permission from his wife to stay there at the cafe with us as long as he wanted, but his vehicle (which I think was a motorcycle or a scooter) didn't have working headlights, so he had to leave before 7 when it gets dark.

We walked back to our hotel. It's a full moon, or close to it, and the moon reflected on the ocean. It was beautiful and romantic. So we walked back to the hotel along the sidewalk next to the beach, watching the moon and holding hands.

We had dinner in the hotel's pub. I was thinking of curry and the waiter said one of the curries was the best - his favorite food on the menu. So I had that. It was unlike any curry I've had before.

We did eventually hear from Wilson. He was going to a funeral for one of their uncles' grandmothers. The funeral is tomorrow. So there will be no one at home in the country. We'll probably go back to Mombasa.

safari ya kenya :: Day 8 :: in Malindi and Mombasa

Thursday, June 19

We thought about going to the country again this morning, and returning to Mombasa in the evening. But when we got to the bus station and surveyed the incoming clouds, we changed our plans and went straight to Mombasa.

Loading a bus is a complex process in Kenya. The bus won't leave until it's full. And a large number of people don't want to get on until the bus is leaving. Every so often, the bus will begin rolling forward in hopes that people will think it's leaving so they'll get on. Eventually, the bus will reach the end of the parking lot and back up into its original position. Just before the bus actually leaves, there will be a rush of people getting on. These people have been just hanging around the bus station, refusing to board a bus or matatu. They seem to all suddenly decide to take this bus after all, and the bus is finally able to leave, not on schedule because it was waiting till it was full to leave. It was a long bus ride to Mombasa, and once we got here, we were both dying to stand up and move around. We had lunch a bit before 2, as soon as we were off the bus. Then we checked out a couple of hotels that are farther away from the mosque than the hotel I had been staying in. But they were not very nice, and I'm spoiled. So I came back to my very nice hotel with a 5 a.m. wake up call to prayer. The other hotels seemed like they were nice when they were built, but no maintenance has been done on the facilities at all, i.e. broken toilet seats are not replaced, missing knobs for the shower are not replaced, it still has the original coat of paint that is now peeling off...

This picture was taken from the bus that took us back to Mombasa (that's why I'm higher up than the matatu)

In the afternoon, we went shopping for some souvenirs. Rod told them that I am his wife / I belong here / am not going anywhere / and not a tourist so that they wouldn't insist on charging me the tourist price. After seeing everything that was there, I decided what I wanted and made Rod a list to go back and bargain/haggle some good prices for me. He loves that. He got me some good stuff, too. While he was doing that, I wrote some post cards. Then we had dinner, watched TV, and called it a day.

safari ya kenya :: Day 9 :: in Mombasa

Friday, June 20

This morning we finished my shopping. Rod made a deal yesterday with one guy that he would buy 3 chess sets for $15. I wanted to buy one for Trey and didn't really know what to get for Dad and Matt. The guys wanted $10-12 for 1 chess set, but made the deal with Rod. He made sure it was ok with me, and we went and picked them up this morning, first thing.

After breakfast, Rod went to Bamburi to pick up our moms' dresses. He was gone for a couple of hours. I stayed in my hotel and read a book, which was very nice. The dresses look great!

The dresses for our moms

When Rod got back, we took our postcards to the post office (he wrote 2 for his moms in Brenham) and mailed them. 95 KSHS to mail a postcard to the US. The one I sent to Cat in Senegal was only 75 (but that's still over $1 USD).

Then we met up with William and took a ride down to the ferry. We walked along the road by the river, looking at the baobab trees and watching a container ship coming in to the docks. Rod had taken me down there on my first day in Mombasa, but I was able to enjoy it much more today since I wasn't jet lagged.

The famous Mombasa elephant tusks (they are not from real elephants, just a metal sculpture)

We came back to GPO for lunch, then went to the beach. We walked from Pirate's beach down to Travelers' beach. Agie was still working and there was a volleyball game going on. Rod and Agie joined in.

William and Rod on the beach

Rod brought me back to my hotel to clean up while he went to buy some more shoes - his had gotten wet playing volleyball and he didn't have any more shoes in Kenya he could wear tomorrow besides his dress shoes. When I shaved, the top layer of sunburn on my legs peeled off (I'm sure Cat will find that particularly appealing).

We just took it easy till dinnertime. I wanted to try biriani, which has the same main ingredients as pilau, but is different somehow. The first restaurant we went to had only chicken and chips. The next one had only beef liver left. The third one assured us they did have food, but also had a limited selection. Fortunately, one thing they did have left was very good. Chicken fry - which is chicken with sauteed veggies and a tomato sauce. I'll have to try biriani some other time.

safari ya kenya :: Day 10 :: in Mombasa

Saturday, June 21

This morning, Rod decided to close his bank account and open an account at a different bank. We left early enough that there was no line at his old bank (the Kenyans were taught to queue by the British, who make it an art-form), but by the time we got to the new bank there was a long line. At least 50 people in each of 2 long lines (that's a conservative estimate). The new account line only had about 5 people, though. So Rod got an application, which I filled out while he went next door to copy his national ID. Then when he got back, he returned to the new accounts line and I got in the cash deposit line to save him a place so that he could make a deposit into his account after he opened it. I don't know how long I stood in that line. I would guess over an hour. It was great to experience how much more efficient you can be when there are 2 of you.

Then we met Beaty so Rod could buy some fabric for her to make his mom another dress (Beaty and Angeline shamed him into doing this since the other dress they made is from my mom, and he believes his mom deserves everything, so he can't resist getting her something - he is really a mama's boy). He also bought fabric for himself a pair of black slacks.

I tried again to have biriani, but there was none, so I had a fish with the head still on for lunch, but I did not eat the head, as Rod would have.

We had lunch late and finished shopping afterwards. Then we took the rest of the afternoon just chilling, reading, and watching TV.

We had great pizza at Blue Room for dinner. It's the nicest restaurant I've been to in Kenya.

safari ya kenya :: Day 11 :: in Mombasa

Sunday, June 22

We left for breakfast a little after 7:00 this morning and I didn't get back to the hotel till about 10 pm. Long day.

I went to the English service at church this morning. Rod didn't make it because he had to go back to Agie's house after breakfast and change clothes. He wore blue jeans to breakfast, was thinking of wearing them to church too, and he looked nice. But since he was preaching in the main service he had second thoughts about his outfit and went to get nice slacks, shirt, and tie. He looked VERY nice in that. :)

The rain at church

After the English service was a Bible study, during which I had no idea what was going on. Rod had arrived by then, but was sitting in the back. He had left William responsible for me, but William wasn't translating for me.

By the time the main service started, Benson had arrived, and he did translate everything for me.

The English service was from about 9-10. Bible study ~ 10-10:30. Main service ~ 10:30-2 pm. No breaks in between.

Rod preaching

After the main service, the pastor gave me a kind of formal farewell and sent his greetings to America through me. I guess specifically my church, but I hereby extend the greetings to ALL OF AMERICA.

Then, when all the extra stuff at the end was over, I went out of the building, headed for the outhouse. Rod had been standing right outside the door since finishing his sermon, so I was going to talk to him before going to the outhouse, but I had to wait for him to finish talking to someone else first. While I was waiting, one of his cousins (I think her name is Esther) put her arm around me and led me aside so we could talk. She calls Rod "brother" even though they're cousins because Swahili had no word for "cousin." She said she would call me "wifi" (or something like that) which means "one's brother's wife." Her sister also joined us after a while.

Finally, we went to eat some pilau, and I got to use the restaurant's outhouse, which is a nicer one that the one by the church. [This is an important part of the African experience so I will describe it. If you don't want to know about outhouses, skip to the next photo.] There's really no plumbing, just a hole in the ground. But the hole isn't like our outhouses that have a little chair over the hole. It's actually a hole in the ground that you have to squat over. The ways the restaurant's outhouse was superior: 1) It (the restaurant's outhouse) has four full walls, a door, and a ceiling. The one by the church is a corrugated tin lean-to. 2) You can't see down inside the hole at the restaurant. By the church, you can see everything that's in there, which is mostly...um...worms...So that was nice.

Me and Benson Sunday afternoon, after chai

Then we went to Aliston's for chai, which was made from a plant we were sitting next to. At first I thought it reminded me of chamomile. But it may have been something like lemon grass. They crushed the blades of grass and made chai with it, which we drank sweetened but without milk.

We sat with Aliston, Ben, and William for a while, then went to Pauline's. She made us Mahamri. We didn't have time to sit and eat with her, but she wanted to make us mahamri anyway and send it with us.

Then we went to dinner with Florence, who I was originally supposed to stay with. It was a great dinner, with great conversation.

With Florence and her sleeping children, after dinner

Coming back from her house was a muddy adventure. But none of us fell in the mud. I did slip and slide around on the mud a lot, though.

Rod says that mud is my official welcome to Kenya.

Our muddy shoes, though not as muddy as the next day...