For my final weekend at the coast this semester, I cut out of work a few days early and headed to the veeeeerrrryyy far north-east corner of Kenya, aka Lamu :) Every year they have a major cultural festival and this tiny island town is overrun by thousands of visitors who come to see ancient Swahili culture replayed in dhow races, donkey races, Swahili food, Swahili music, Swahili dress, etc. The island has managed to stay almost untouched by modernity--there is only one car on the whole island and it is for use by the District Commissioner only. Other than that, your only mode of transportation is walking or....DONKEY ride!! The stone streets are narrow and unlit, so at night the town is almost completely dark but for a few porch lights here and there. All the houses and streets are made of stone blocks, and some are even covered by thatched roofs. The waterfront of the main town is bustling with small fishing dhows (traditional Swahili wooden sailboats), motorboats, small ferries to the mainland, kids swimming out to the sandbars, etc. It is really beautiful just walking along there. And just a short motor boat ride around the island is Shella Beach, a stretch of white sand and blue blue water.
The entire trip from beginning to end was fun and VERY eventful, starting with the bus ride from Mombasa to Lamu port. We took a discount bus line for the 8+ hour journey, and such buses in Africa mean that they will pack it as full of people, animals and goods as physically possible without tipping over. We were lucky enough to have seats at the very front, and lucky to have seats at all! I managed to grab a window seat and spent a pleasant 8 hours with a nice breeze blowing on my face........and the red dust of the road blowing onto me too! At one point, the driver must have gotten pretty bored because he actually began drag racing with another Lamu bus on a rural dirt road! The other bus creamed us and we were (literally) left in the dust!! It came in all the windows and every tiny open space and absolutely COVERED us all. Maryam and I were breathing through our washclothes to keep from swallowing it! I also had a lovely experience with traditional African flora & fauna--meaning that I had two whole pineapples rolling around at my feet (and pineapples are spiky!!) and a box full of baby chicks happily chirping away above my head. I just kept waiting for someone to bring on a few goats and complete the picture in there. In the aisle next to me were also 3 giant sacks of rice and beans, which eventually turned into a seat for a very old man who threw a temper tantrum in Swahili because he wanted someone to give up their real seat so he could sit there instead.
We got to the Lamu port and grabbed a motorboat to head to Lamu town. It was a nice, refreshing 15 minute trip after that long, stuffy, dusty bus ride. And then suddenly we were back in 18th century! The town is just so beautiful--I can only imagine what it must be like when there aren't so many tourists. It was such a reprieve from the horror that is Mombasa most of the time. People were genuinely friendly, no one hit me up for money the ENTIRE weekend! And even though there were thousands of people, life definitely felt a lot slower and more relaxed. It was like taking a huge, deep breath after feeling suffocated for so long.
Our hotel was a verrrry quiet villa outside of the main town. It was actually quite a trek through those tiny little streets to get there! I didn't like how far away it was and how we got lost every single time we tried to walk to or from there (especially at night!). But it was refreshingly quiet, and as you walked to the front gates through the sand, you could look up at the sky through the palm fronds and see more stars than I've ever seen before in my life. That was the most beautiful night sky--so romantic. Too bad I was there with my sister and friend rather than boyfriend! Haha.
Our first night there we were so exhausted from the traveling, we got an early dinner and then headed straight back to our hotel to go to sleep. Around 11, my phone rang and I groggily picked it up, only to realize that it was my parents calling to wish me a happy Thanksgiving!! I had COMPLETELY forgotten it was Thanksgiving back home! I was too tired and the connection was bad so I couldn't stay on the phone (sorry guys!) but it was interesting to realize that I'd forgotten that holiday. I have no concept of the time passing by here because the weather is getting hotter rather than colder. It feels like summer every day, so the fact that it's now December is shocking to me!
We spent our first full day in Lamu taking advantage of all Maryam's connections there, getting free boat rides, visiting beautiful beach homes, sailing on a dhow around to Shella Beach side of the island. Our venture to the beach house was interesting because we took a motorboat to the shore, but the tide was out so the shore began with about 30 feet of deep, squishy black MUD. Maryam is petite and our boat guy was able to carry her across to the sand no problems. But my sister Mariam and I were both about 4 inches taller than this boat guy, so being carried was not really an option!! I used him as leverage to get into the water and instantly sank about 5 inches into the mud. At least I managed to keep my balance though! Mariam wasn't so lucky and dealing with her buibui caused her to trip and get the mud alllll over her hands. We made it to the beach house without getting TOO covered in the matope (mud) and got to wash off and then chill looking out over the water. It was definitely the coolest house I have ever seen. It was huge and spacious, made entirely of wooden posts and woven straw mats for walls and floors! And there was a nice porch swing that we chilled on (and I eventually fell asleep on, haha). That night we also had quite an adventure trying to find me some shampoo & conditioner. I suddenly know what it feels like to not have any hygiene products designed for your type of skin or hair! Those who were in my MLC Seminar will know what I'm referring to. Anyway, there was only one store on the whole island that sold products designed for white people, and we spent like 45 minutes going back and forth trying to find it. We finally realized that we'd passed it about 3 times already and it was just closed so we hadn't noticed it! And it was supposed to be open 20 minutes before we got there, so we figured it would be acceptable to bang on the doors and yell at the people inside to open up :) which they did. Aaaaah Africa. I got my (overpriced) products and we made our way back to our hotel. I desperately needed to wash & condition my hair cause I had allowed Maryam to put henna in it the night before we left for Lamu, which made it a really pretty red color but also made it crunchy as straw! Then we went back to town to meet with my friends Octavius and Shalinda from the program and we got an unimpressive dinner at Busch Gardens on the waterfront. Make a note, if you go to Lamu, that restaurant is NOT as good they say it is in the guidebooks. Go to Hapa Hapa or farther down at the Waterfront Cafe (or something like that).
Our second full day started with watching the FANTASTIC donkey race down the center of the waterfront boardwalk!! It was too funny seeing that. Then I got real coffee & fresh lime and a HUGE American-style breakfast at the only coffee shop on the island. That was refreshing. And theeen Octavius, Shalinda and I chartered a motorboat to go to beautiful Shella Beach for the afternoon. We spent the day sunbathing and swimming in the perfect water, then went back and chilled on their guest house rooftop for a while.
On Sunday we were scheduled on a 7am bus.......or so we thought. After getting only about 4 hours of sleep and racing to catch the ferry at 6am, we got to the port and discovered our tickets were actually for SATURDAY...and the bus was full! We had a hopeless moment, then pulled ourselves together and figured out that we could get ourselves to Malindi at least, which is only 2 hours from Mombasa. So Maryam took the only available seat on the 7am bus, and me and Mariam took the last 2 seats on the 1pm bus. We ended up with the seats in the VERRRRY back of this ramshackle bus that looked like it was falling apart. And it kind of was! 5 minutes into the ride the tired popped and we spent 45 minutes fixing it. And the bus had zero shock absorbtion so 4 hours on the worst road I've ever been on went straight to our asses. I think we were actually airborne for about half that time. It was hilarious at first--nearly being thrown out the window every few seconds as we hit pothole after pothole. But it soon got exhausting and all we could do is try to keep a positive attitude about it all. I mean, what could we do? No use getting upset about it! Definitely the most uncomfortable trip of my life and I was so psyched to get off in Malindi. We stayed there on Monday to rest up a bit because the ride had completely worn us out. Maryam's family is from Malindi so we stayed with her mom and younger sisters, which was nice. And we got food at I Love Pizza, which I recommend to everyone who makes it to Malindi. SO delicious. And I got to go snorkeling among the reefs at the Malindi Marine Park! We headed back to Mombasa that night, and the next day I was back at work.
That was a fantastic trip and I would recommend Lamu & Malindi to anyone who makes it to the Kenyan coast. STAY AWAY FROM MOMBASA IF YOU CAN. It is not a nice city to stay in and there's really nothing to do there anyway, except maybe visit Fort Jesus, which is kind of cool but only worth a day trip. But the smaller towns are gorgeous.
Kwa herini loves!
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