Day 63 - 80.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a written update and I’m sorry! To be honest, I have been too busy and too many things have been going on in the past month!
August is our holiday month, and since I have already spoken a little bit about Zanzibar I will fill you in on my Mombasa trip.
When I got off the plane in Mombasa I was so happy to be back in Kenya. I decided I would stay in the city of Mombasa, relax in a nice hotel, and get my bearings before I would go to the beach. I ended up getting my hair braided in Mombasa, which you will see on my facebook page. My hotel was very nice, and the food around town was good too. Mombasa is a great city compared to places like Nyeri; because no one cares that you are white. Often when I am in Nyeri it’s not enjoyable or comfortable to walk around town. They don’t see many white people in Nyeri, so you are always going to get comments, laughs, and looks. Mombasa was not like this due to the copious amount of tourists that go to Mombasa.
I took a matatu to the ferry and then prepared to board the ferry! I was the only white person on the ferry, and of course the priest that was preaching had to comment and single me out. No biggie, I’m used to it by now, I just laugh and smile. The ferry was hilarious; they literally PACK the ferry in like a matatu. Actually I was reading the paper a few days ago, and one of the ferries stalled in the middle of the water!!
I got off and took another matatu to a place called Ukunda. Ukunda is a small town right near Diani Beach, and then took ANOTHER taxi to the beach. I told the taxi driver, I want to go right on the beach, so I could find a hotel. When I stepped foot on the beach I was laughing so hard of how beautiful the ocean, and sand was. Also once I got off the taxi, the beach boys came. During my stay at Zanzibar and Mombasa, locals on the beach will sell you everything from drugs, snorkeling trips, and even just bringing you to a hotel or cottage. I told them to go away, and walked along the beach. The first resort was gigantic and looked like a fortress from the beach because of the security and whatnot, and I walked up to the reception. I didn’t even want to shop around and look for the best hotel, I just wanted some luxury! I found out it was well within my price range and decided to stay! I ended up staying for 7 nights, all inclusive. Breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner, and…. Open bar. The hotel was gorgeous the food was great and I even got a honeymoon suite!! I had a beautiful balcony and the Indian Ocean was a few hundred feet from my view. I ended up getting a massage every morning because for one hour it was about 8 or so US dollars. I did some windsurfing, big game fishing, and mostly just swam in the ocean and the pool that was about 20 steps from my room. I played a lot of squash, and the first day I played I even beat the trainer.
There were times I would go out to local bars and such, but it was tough meeting locals in Diani. It is very hard to tell who are the people that genuinely want to be your friend and the people that just want you to buy them dinner or a drink. That part of the adventure got me a little frustrated, because for someone like me that is traveling by them self I wanted to meet people! Anyways, it didn’t stop me, I had a total blast! I went out with a few people from the hotel, some locals, and some tourists. It was literally like paradise staying at this beautiful resort. I would walk around smiling the entire time. I felt like I was dreaming for the week I stayed at Diani Beach, and I can’t wait to go back to Mombasa =)
Monday starts teaching, I will write more about that tomorrow, my Form 4 students, and a little about Nairobi.
