Diani Beach, Mombasa

Ahhhh, yes! On Thursday, March 11, we left Nairobi for a "vacation" in Mombasa. We left at 10 PM, destined for an 8-9 hour bus ride to the coast. It was the noisiest, bumpiest ride of my life!! We were in hysterics at times because our heads were bouncing about 3 inches off the backrest, over and over and over again! Got off the bus with slight whiplash...

We arrived in Mombasa about 7 AM and met up with another volunteer, Joy. And that is exactly what she was...an absolute JOY to be around. She was from Ireland, and her dry, sarcastic, Irish humor had us laughing the whole weekend. We then took a matatu, and then a ferry across to Diani Beach, meeting Elyse and Fernanda at the pier. None of us knew them, but had gotten word they were joining us. Here's a benefit being in Africa - through the sea of people pouring off the ferry, we easily picked them out of the crowd as being our "new friends" - they were the only "mzungus"!! (I must add that Fernanda certainly proved that "you should not judge a book by its cover". She was a large Brazilian, wearing HUGE red glasses, droopy jeans and totally covered in tattooes - yikes! She turned out to be one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Louise and I actually spent a day with her once we got back home. She was volunteering at an orphanage in Thika town, about an hour east of us. We hope to see each other again sometime- either in Canada or Brazil. Both Louise and Fernanda have already left Africa.)

Ferry from Mombasa to Diani Beach: Cheryl, Me,

Kevin, Joy and Matt

We ended up being a group of 10 volunteers from all over the world: Cheryl, Louise and I from Canada; Kevin and Elyse from New York; Joy from Ireland; Matt from England; Maria from Holland and Fernanda and Diogo from Brazil (Diogo joined us near the end of our stay). We ranged in age from 19 to 33. Yes, I said 33, because that's the oldest the group guessed my age - Oh, how I love these folks!! So 33 is what I'm sticking with! For the rest of my stay here in Africa, I am wholeheartedly 33!!

We rented a beach house and had an awesome time! We stayed for 4 days, until Monday night (one day later than originally planned).

It averaged 42 degrees every day - YES - extremely HOT!! It was surreal to be swimming in the Indian Ocean! Most days were very windy, which was a blessing due to the heat, but other than the first day, kept us from lying on the beach because we got PELTED by the sand.

Dinner that night - fish and octopus - just caught                Want a ride?

Kevin, Matt, Fernanda, Elyse, Maria, Joy, Louise and Cheryl

We found a restaurant/bar (Forty Thieves) down the beach and practically lived there. They had tables, chairs and couches on the beach, with umbrellas to shade us. They had pool tables, CLEAN bathrooms and the beer was cheap!! We lazed around all day, occasionally taking a dip in the ocean...are you jealous yet? One night we stayed until 5 AM! We were back on those couches by 10 AM...yes, feeling a bit rough, but hey! it wasn't like we had anything strenuous planned.

How peaceful is this...?

We spent one evening at a pub closer to our house, Njiri's, and watched Rugby and Soccer matches on TV. The pub was run by a couple from England, so you can imagine the rivalry Joy stirred up with them - the games we watched were England vs. Ireland!!

King's Pub: Cheryl, Joy, Louise, ME, Maria,

Kevin (hiding) and Fernanda                                                                                     

One morning, we went to a local place for breakfast (King's Pub)...which turned into lunch...because the service was so slow. We all had the giggles that morning, and found an abundance of things to amuse us. First of all, some of the group ordered "German bread" just to see what it was. It was like the Oktoberfest pretzels...but with a surprise. Joy found a piece of shredded plastic in hers, but Maria won the prize - she found 5 pieces!!

Second, they had "pancake soup" on the menu (??) When we asked what it was, the waitress asked: "Do you know pancakes? (yes) Do you know soup? (yes) Well..."  HA HA HA !  (Still not exactly sure what pancake soup is...)

Some "cute" friends we made...

  

Diogo pointing to the "dry" river bed  :o(                     

On our last day, Diogo (the young guy from Brazil), brought us down to the far end of the beach. The ocean met a river there and he said it was tons of fun. I can't describe the disappointment on our faces when we got there and the river bed was dry, and the ocean tide was way out. We were missing the comfy couches at Forty Thieves!! We spent a couple of hours at a local resort and then eventually headed back to the "river". UNBELIEVABLE!! the tide had come in, the river filled, and yes.....we had a blast!!

                                                                 ME with the river in the background.

Diogo laughed at us, because he knew we didn't believe him at first, but he also knew what time of day this "miracle" happened. The waves were HUGE and they pushed us towards the opening of the river. As we got got closer to the river, the water flowed quite swiftly and just carried us along like floating leaves. The ocean water on the surface was warm like bath water, but the river water that flowed below was COLD. It was an awesome time - we didn't want to get out. We just kept running back into the ocean to ride the current again into the river - too bad we found this place on our last day.  :o(