Refreshing week on the coast

So last Friday, the day after my previous post, I found out that 10 volunteers had come down from Nairobi the same day to visit Diani Beach. I was quite happy to find this out as I was taking my host family out to dinner in Ukunda. Once we finished dinner, I took a matatu to their hotel at around 9pm. Diani house (the hotel) was literally a 5 minute walk down the beach from Forty Thieves and obviously the group had done this purposely :) We had three little guest houses booked there and it the setting was so relaxing and peaceful, with monkeys leaping through the trees, tiny suni antelopes grazing in the early morning and palm trees swaying in the ocean breeze. I decided to move in with the group for their stay, as I was getting pretty lonely being the only volunteer down here for so long. I should say right off that we had many grandiose plans to explore some spots around the south coast and maybe do a short safari to one of the nearby parks, but what happened was a completely different story. The first night we ended up buying a bunch of drinks and stayed up playing drinking games with cards. We got pretty rowdy after a while and went for a late night swim. The next three nights here followed a similar pattern, and I haven't had the chance to sleep in for so many consecutive days since I arrived in Kenya! We had a nice big breakfast at this place called Ushago and did a bit of shopping at the local supermarket just down the road. I also had to travel back and forth from my homestay in Ukunda a few times to get more clean clothes/money. We had dinner at Forty Thieves pretty much every night and I must say their pizzas were really good. I had one with spinach, chicken and beef; and shared one with blue cheese and chicken with a couple others. The third night was particularly funny, as we drank more than we realised before heading to Forty Thieves for dinner. We must have been such a pain to our poor waiter; trying to bargain for almost everything, we sure looked like wealthy tourists didn't we! Someone ordered a plate of cheese out of the blue, and they must have taken at least 5 minutes to explain to the waiter that they just wanted a plate of cheese. This random guy came and sat with us for a while and we could tell right away that he was a loser. He claimed that he was half masaai (a popular kenyan tribe) and I have no idea who has every believed him in the past as he had pasty white skin and blue eyes...As he lies piled up, we did get many good laughs at his expense, and I don't think he realised it either.

We danced a bit under a disco ball and on a completely empty dance floor before staggering back to the hotel. Two of the girls just layed on the beach laughing for almost half an hour. We also spent a day in Mombasa so that some of the volunteers could see Fort Jesus and Old Town just adjacent. Kiara (a volunteer that I met before my trip to Uganda) and I had already explored these sites and instead of paying again we took a tuk tuk (motorized bike with three wheels and three seats at the back) and walked around the city centre. I guess we forgot that it was sunday and that almost everything was closed in this very islamic city, but we came up with a random idea and found a massage parlour that was open. Kiara had a sore back and I had never had a massage in my life so it was an interesting experience. We met up with the other volunteers at an indian restaurant for lunch and then headed back. Three more volunteers headed home on monday night and we spent most of that day laying around and nursing hangovers at the resort. We took the three to Ukunda to catch their night bus and grabbed some cheap but tasty dinner at Diani restaurant. On Tueday morning, with only 5 of us left, we headed into Mombasa to try and catch a bus north to Malindi. We found one shady bus that was already full, and instead of trying to cram all of us in like the conductor was trying to do, we instead took a matatu for the 2 hour journey. This decision was really no better, but we did get there eventually and more quickly than the bus. We made and ate some sub par sandwiches on the ride as our first meal of the day and complained for a while about the cramped seating for the journey ahead. About halfway there, this drunk guy got on the matatu and stared at one of the girls constantly. We told him to stop many times and he did tone it down but he was a constant pain. He was speaking an english no one understood and was just being a loudmouth with everyone in the van, locals and us alike. We were glad to see that he didn't get off at the same stop as us, because we really believed that he was just positively nuts. I noticed the difference in Malindi as soon as we arrived. The charm of this coastal town reminded me of Shimoni, but on a larger scale. Mosques were scattered throughout town, and tall concrete buildings towered over the narrow streets. The usual hustle and bustle of Kenyan life was there though, and there were even more vendors and people here offering their services to us mzungus. The town had a very easy going air about it though, and everyone was quite friendly for the most part. We stayed at this luxurious resort called Scorpio Villas for a night. We really have been living like tourists for the past week, but a trip well deserved in my opinion. One of the tuk tuks with the guys broke down on our way to the hotel, and later on the boda boda (motorcycle) that I was on broke down as well, but we all keep a certain acronym in the back of our minds - TIA (This Is Africa) - which we used quite religiously. The resort really was amazing and I wish I could easily post pictures here, but I'll have to wait until I get home. We lounged around the pool, and later snuck in some alcohol and water because the prices for drinks there were way too high. We did bargain for a good price on one room though...paid 800ksh each, like 12 dollars.

We visited the Gede Ruins on our last morning here, which was a wealthy arab village that was abandoned a few hundred years ago for reasons not completely known. I believe it has been there since the 11th or 12th century. It was quite a sight to behold, with remnants of arabic masonry in the remains of the buildings - namely the arched doorways - and the beautiful coastal vegetation overtaking what used to be a nice little bit of civilization. I was sad to go home and leave such a great group of people that night..but all good things must come to an end, and I think I'll be seeing them all next week anyway so I can't be too upset about it. 4 new volunteers had finally arrived when I arrived back in Ukunda around midnight. Should be more exciting stories to come soon :)

Missing you all

Scott