This post comes a bit late, but still with a heavy pull on my heart as I left the country I love so much this week. I returned from Kenya on Thursday and it has been a whirwind of a month! Yesterday we had our annual Youth Summit and I got the chance to facilitate workshops with some amazing kids from the Toronto area... these youth never cease to amaze me!
Anyways, back to Kenya... so after our trip in Osenetoi ended, six of us facilitators went on vacation to Mombasa, Kenya. If you don't know, Mombasa is on the coast of Kenya, all beaches, and the number one tourist destination in the country. As soon as I stepped off the plane, I knew it was going to be a tough few days for me - it was SO hot and humid... and for anyone that knows me, I don't do well in that sort of heat! We started off the trip at a backpacker's hostel in Nyali Beach, just north of Mombasa. It was a beautiful hostel, had lovely staff members, two adorable dogs, and a gate - which made me very happy given then rate of crime in Mombasa. We dropped our bags and headed down to the beach bar where we would spend our next two nights. The place was GORGEOUS. It was a bar along the beach with couches under an awning, but then there were couches on the beach as well with tables. Towards the end of the night, we wanted to go see the water because we still hadn't seen the Indian Ocean... as we walked down to the water (the tide was really far out) a guard with a gun stops us and tells us we can't go in the water because of the pirate issue. Apparently pirates have been known to kidnap tourists on the coast for ransom money from the Kenyan government. Oh boy, that just proved this would be an interesting week.
Day #2: We woke up in the morning and headed to "Old Town Mombasa" to see Fort Jesus. We walked out to the street expecting to get a cab, when a "tuk tuk" (google image this lol) pulls up. These are only supposed to hold three people, but the driver decided he could fit all six of us... four in the back seat, one in the trunk area, and me up front with the driver. It was quite the adventure and once we got to Fort Jesus, he ripped us off for the price. Regardless, Fort Jesus was beautiful(I'm still waiting to get people's pictures) in spite of the hot weather. We ventured around Old Town Mombasa for a while, getting lost in some alley ways, until finally getting a cab that brought us to a seafood restaurant that came highly recommended... Yes, I tried seafood - and a lot of it - and liked it! After a delicious meal, we went back to the hostel and got ready for dinner. When we went back to the beach bar there was live music playing, so naturally I was dancing. Soon after, a few guys came over and were dancing with our group and we went down to the bar area with them... turns out we spent the night partying with the British Navy, who was in Mombasa to help guard the ports from pirates!
Day #3: This is the day that we had a 40k bike ride planned. During the orientation, the owner of the company said if at any point we don't want to continue the 40k, to let our guides know and we could take the short cut... We all figured, "nah, we'll be fine!". We started our "along the coast", level 1 difficulty, bike ride down the road until we turned off onto a dirt road. Pretty soon, the bulk of our ride was through sand - we were all falling over, getting stuck, and sweating like you've never seen someone sweat in your life! We continue on and this "along the coast" tour takes us through small village, weaving around people's homes and under their laundry lines. To say that I was mortified, is an understatement. It became clear that this was a tour (not along the coast as advertised) for the type of tourist that wants to see "how Africans live"... not for people that work in development. We were all extremely embarrassed as people yelled "mzungu" ("white person") at us, and rightfully so, and couldn't wait to get out of there. Finally, Andrea said she couldn't do it and wanted the shortcut and the rest of the girls agreed. The boys went on to do the 40k and our short cut had us totaling out at 30k!! It was CRAZY!
Once we got back from the bike ride, we were scheduled to go down to Diani Beach (south of Mombasa) for a night to stay in a treehouse hostel. We decided last minute to call and see if they had space for two extra nights so we wouldn't have to cab all the way back up to Nyali Beach. Sure enough they did and we headed down. When we got checked in, we were brought to our treehouse. It was a windy path through the woods until we reached a treehouse up on stilts. Inside was three beds, and that was it. We were extremely excited about this adventure! We headed over to "Forty Thieves" to check out the beach bar before heading to dinner. That night, we had dinner in Ali Barbour's Cave Restaurant... a beautiful restaurant inside a cave! Now, to say that this was the best meal I have ever eaten, is a huge understatement. We ate like kings that night, ordering appetizers, meals, desserts, and sharing all with each other. I tried crab, seafood pate, and red snapper. This restaurant was exquisite and delicious! No wonder it's a huge tourist attraction.
Day #4: I'm laying in bed in the treehouse and hear what sounds like a bird walking across plastic. I look up to see what this noise is and there is a monkey trying to get into my baby wipes!!! Galen had gotten up to go to the bathroom and didn't latch the door shut and a monkey was in our treehouse like 5 feet away! I woke up Larissa as quietly and quickly as possibly to ask what the heck we should do. The monkey jumps down, starts trying to unzip Taylor's backpack, and Larissa and I are yelling at it and clapping trying to get it to leave. Finally it runs out, we slam the door, and laugh our heads off for what feels like forever. That morning while we are eating breakfast, Larissa is telling the story about this evil monkey. As she's talking, monkey's brother hears her, jumps down from a tree and onto my chair (there's a really funny picture of this moment), jumps onto the breakfast table, smacks Larissa's coffee to spill all over her, and runs away! After that, we spent most of the day on the beach...
Days 5 & 6: These days were spent lying on the beach or lying on the couches under shade (that would be me). We didn't go into town again, we just decided to hang out and relax. We ate lots of delicious food, had great Kenyan beer, and enjoyed each other's company. On the last day, we were driving back to the airport and we get pulled over. Our driver (who we met the first night and had been in touch with him for rides all trip) gets out of the car to talk to the police officer. He comes back and tells us he needs 500 schillings but won't say why. When he returns, he needs 300 more. Finally, we are able to go and ask him what was going on... turns out his insurance sticker was going to expire that day and the police said to pay them 500 schillings or go to court and pay 2000 schillings. We got a long lesson about the corruptness of Kenyan police and Kenyan government... it was scary.
We left Kenya on Wednesday and returned in Toronto on Thursday. It was a very interesting, and amazing, three weeks that I feel blessed to have had the opportunity for. Nathaniel arrives today for a visit this week and we'll be heading to Windsor, Ontario tomorrow (borders Detroit) for four days of a speaking tour. I'm really excited for this because these schools have never had am FTC speaker before and are really pumped I'm coming. I think it will be a good week :)
Until next time...
-Nekishon
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