Hello again everyone! We survived our trip to Mombasa! We’ll start at the beginning:
The week after Kisumu was pretty chill. We did the regular stuff, but maybe with a little less energy than usual because of our exhausting weekend. Contrary to what you might be thinking, our trip to Mombasa was actually quite rejuvenating. We left on Thursday night from Nairobi. The roads to Mombasa are extraordinarily better than the roads to Kisumu; we were actually able to sleep. We have been told that since most of the international trade that comes to Kenya travels through Mombasa to Nairobi, the roads are of a much higher quality than those from Nairobi to Kisumu. Regardless, when we arrived in Mombasa at 6:00 am Friday morning, we were a little tired.
At the bus station, Jonathan and Yockey slept for a couple hours while Fiedler found some stray wireless internet and downloaded the Google map of Mombasa as well as directions to the main attractions and the place we were staying for the night. After getting rested up and waiting for the sun to rise (partly for safety, partly to avoid mosquitoes), we ventured out from the bus station to discover what Mombasa had in store for us. Perhaps one of the most memorable encounters was when the receptionist at the desk of the station asked us where we wanted to go and our answer was an honest “We have no idea.” Her look was priceless. The first thing we did was buy some toilet paper just so we were prepared for all possible situations. We eventually wandered over to Old Mombasa, where most of the sights, attractions, and museums are. We spent a while sitting in a cool tea room at Jahazi Coffee house sipping tea and eating samosas. There we met a cool American named Chris who had many stories of his travels around the world. We explored Old Mombasa for several more hours learning about its historical connections with The Middle East, India, and the Far East. We had lunch at a Middle Eastern Restaurant where we had to wait until afternoon prayers had concluded to order. By the time we had made the trip to Diani beach (the most popular beach in the area which is about 15 miles south of the main city), we were ready to jump in the Ocean (The Indian Ocean). We met some cool British guys (playing American football), and reconnected with Chris for dinner. Saturday we spent wandering the beach, getting sun burns, and turning down countless vendors trying to sell us their shields, necklaces, shells, spears, pictures, bracelets, knives, jewelry, sunglasses, sandals, masks, artwork, and everything else imaginable. One of the most useful Swahili phrases we’ve learned is “Sina pesa” which means “I don’t have money.” For some reason, it is much more effective than a simple English “no” when trying to convince vendors that we really are not going to buy anything. Saturday night we had a great Mexican dinner with some Americans we had met and our British friends from the day before followed by a fire on the beach. Sunday we checked out and returned to the city where we explored some more and saw Cars 2 in an air conditioned movie theater (a taste of America in the heart of Mombasa). The bus ride back was once again far more bearable than Kisumu had been, and this week we’ve been recovering from our sunburns and getting back into the swing of things. Next week we will be leading worship at a VBS in the slum, and then one week of Safari before we return home! We’re so excited to see everyone again but at the same time sad that this feels like the beginning of the end of our time in Kenya. Look forward to our blog next week about VBS before we leave for Safari!
Tuonane Yakonana!
