Just finished week 1 in Kenya. When I
booked my flight to Nairobi it was only supposed to be a transition
city on my way to Tanzania, but has turned out to be so much more.
Landed in Nairobi at about 130 am after a stop in Ethiopia and a
bittersweet goodbye to great friends in Ghana. At the airport in
Ghana it took everything I had and a few tears not to board the Delta
flight to New York. Christmas with my loved ones was only a flight
away, but thanks to positive thoughts from Sioned I boarded the
scheduled flight to Kenya... it was already paid for after all. On
the flight to Ethiopia I met a lovely gentlemen who lives in Spain
and does work for Global Fund in Ghana and Zambia with malaria, HIV,
and TB. He has contacts in Tanzania so I'm planning to email him
this week and hopefully work out a time to volunteer with them
whenever I make it to Tanzania.
Getting the Kenya visa was surprisingly
easy... most of the countries I plan to visit want some sort of
verification of departure and since I have no departure details that
was a bit of a concern. Fortunately I was welcomed with open arms
and big smiles, paid my $25 USD and arrived at the hostel around
230am... after passing zebras in the taxi! The first day I was too
exhausted to face the bustling city of Nairobi, which is dubbed
Nai-robbery in the travel guides. Hung about the hostel, walked to
the bank and the market, had an overall relaxing day. Met 3 guys
from the US who have started an NGO called Books Build Hope
(booksbuildhope.org). I had planned to spend the holidays in Mombasa
on the beach, and after a few phone calls found out everything was
booked so the boys were nice enough to offer me a place to stay in
Lamu, provided I was up for the 16+ hour journey. Lamu was a place I
had planned to make it to anyway so I headed to the bus station the
next day. My making it there must have been in the cards because
after trying about 10 different bus stations looking for a ticket to
the first stop, Mombasa, I got lucky and found a ticket departing
about 2 hours later... the only ticket available until after
Christmas. Rushed to the hostel, packed up, and headed back to the
bus station for a 10 hour journey which fortunately I slept through.
The bus arrived in Mombasa at about 530am and me being the planner I
am, didn't even consider the fact that I would have the same issues
finding a bus from Mombasa to Lamu. But again, luck was on my side.
One of the security guards at the bus station took me under his wing
(with the ulterior motive of marriage and me bringing him back to the
states of course) and ran me all around town trying to find a bus to
Lamu. Once again, everything was booked until after Christmas....
things were not looking good. Then, in broken english Omar kept
saying “staff seat”... with no other options I agreed to find out
about the staff seat. He sat me in a chair and ran off, only to
bring back the conductor of the 9am bus to Lamu. After some shady
talks I was snuck onto this bus and was on my way to Lamu... the
first of many Christmas Miracles!
Another 8 hour brutal bus ride and 30
minute boat ride to the island of Lamu... made it around 5pm. I had
no idea what I was getting myself into. Lamu is absolutely gorgeous.
Soft white sand, water so blue it's nearly black, and accommodations
so amazing they should cost at least double the $20USD/night I paid.
The next 5 days were the stuff dreams are made of. There were 6 of us
plus 3 French people staying at Abdul's EcoNest and we all exchanged
names for Secret Santa, so on Christmas Eve when the boys had work to
do at one of the school's, Jolene (one of the guy's girlfriends) and
I did some shopping. First stop was to buy me a scarf to cover my
shoulders... the town is mostly Muslim and my exposed chest and
shoulders felt extremely uncomfortable for everyone. For dinner
Abdul and his crew cooked us a delicious Lobster dinner, we exchanged
presents, decorated the tree, and enjoyed each others company until
the wee hours of the morning. Woke Christmas morning to mango and
banana pancakes and made our way to the beach. Stopped for what we
all thought was just a drink on the way home at Lamu House and after
glancing over the menu decided to
splurge on one of the best meals of my life (plus 3 glasses of wine)...
mind you the splurge was a whole $25USD. Dare I say it...
best.christmas.ever.... don't tell mom!
The
day after Christmas we were all feeling lazy and only really had
enough energy for a good ol' fashion Sunday Funday! Sat at Petley's
bar overlooking the town and drank one too many Tusker's chatting
with other travelers. From what I remember it was a great day. Came
home to one last phenomenal seafood dinner... the best calamari I've
ever eaten and huge delicious crab.... again with a hefty $6 dollar
price tag.
The
fun came to an end on Monday when we began the journey back to
Nairobi. Arrived last night around 830p. Spent the day enjoying the
cooler Nairobi air... read, napped, drank, and ate. This is the kind
of life I imagined during all those 12+ hour work days...
Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth - Martin H. Fischer
