Here at last

Just arrived in Mombasa this morning, and I realise it will take me a long time to adjust to this heat. An average day is between 30-40C and it's not even sunny outside today! Dan and I are going to be living and working at the orphanage here, which is in a town called Ukunda, just south of Mombasa and right next to the famous Diani Beach :)

The 2 day stopover in Amsterdam was amazing, but so short-lived. We met up with Sandra there last tuesday and explored a few of the sights around the city. We saw Anne Frank's house, The Heineken Brewery (three free beers included in the tour, tour cost is 15 euro...definitely a must see if you're planning on visiting the city) We also took a canal tour of the inner city and ate at various cafes. The food and the coffee were both excellent, and though touring Amsterdam is quite expensive, it's definitely worth it. Sandra parted ways with us here on Thursday to go back home to Toronto, and Dan and I continued on to Nairobi.

Nairobi is..well...like no other city I've ever been to before. The poverty here is striking (biggest slum in Africa is in this city, Kibera..750,000 people in 1sq km) but at the same time so much of the city is beautiful and so lively. The traffic here is definitely a thrill and the roads are horrible. If you're a person that gets nervous in Toronto traffic, then don't come to Kenya lol. We stayed with a host family for 2 nights here and met several of the volunteers, and Rachel's family as well as the program coordinators have all been so inviting...it has really helped us immensely, because I was very nervous about getting lost in the city. We got to see a few of the sights in the city before we took the overnight bus to Mombasa last night (saturday) We visited a giraffe sanctuary where you could feed giraffes and take pictures with them, that was so cool, cause I never thought this was possible. We also visited the City Park, which is a beautiful park full of monkeys wandering around. Need to be careful with food here, if you don't hide it they'll snacth it right from your hands. One little monkey snatched a banana right from Dan's hand and scared the hell out of him haha. Lastly, we went to a restaurant named Carnivore, and as the name suggests, it is NOT a place for vegetarians..I was quite happy to find a restaurant that caters to us meatatarians :P This place is set in a colourful garden with cats wandering around, and monkeys playing on the roof tops and in the trees, definitely not anything you could ever find in Canada. The servers come to your table with various meats impaled on machetes (yeah, real swords) and slice off chunks...they'll keep coming until you surrender by dropping the white flag on your table. I had lamb, pork, chicken and chicken liver, turkey, beef, crocodile, ostrich meatballs(amazing) and a tiny tiny bit of salad lol. I felt I needed at least a few greens.

So we took the overnight bus and arrived here, where the journey continues. The 8 hour ride here was the bumpiest I've ever experienced...much of the highway isn't paved and is full of potholes; definitely not condusive to sleep.

Anyways, that's about it for now, hope everyone is doing well back home and enjoying their luxuries :P