[Nov. 26th-Dec.
2nd]
Welcome to paradise! Here’s the week recap of my trip to
Mombasa (more specifically Mtwapa and Bamburi beach) with Kate, Harris,
Katharina, and Steffy! J
Monday
& Tuesday
Kate & I worked our butts off putting together over 250 Christmas Care packages for the elderly. Thank you so much for all those who contributed!!! It was so exciting to actually see this project to it's completion!!
WEDNESDAY
Kate and I took the matatu into Nairobi and met up with
Harris. We got a cab ride to Amani Center. Met with the German girls and then
took a cab to the bus station. Stood around for like 2hrs. It started raining.
Took the 10:30pm bus to Mombasa. The bus was actually quite nice- except for the
weird beeping noise. I managed to sleep some of the way since it was nighttime
anyways.
THURSDAY
Arrived in Mombasa around 6am. Got a cab ride to “The Beach
Africa” backpackers’ hostel. At 6:30am,
the place seemed all right. It was low
tide so the view was somewhat disappointing at first.
We signed in and put our
stuff away then went for a walk down the shore to see if we were close to any
bigger, more popular beaches. I slipped on some rocks along the
shore and got soaked and killed my elbow. I don’t care what anyyyyone says…it
looked like Mount Vesuvius! For real. It was gross.
We had lunch at the hostel then were lucky enough to get a
ride in the back of these Italian guys truck. We were introduced to “Tinta”
whose friend “Vincenzo” was the one who owned the truck. We got dropped off at
Bamburi beach and spent the day there. So awesome! At first it was really low
tide so we basically sat around in pools of water and kept moving our bags back
as the tide came in. It was really awesome though!
I got WICKED bad sunburn!
But it was totally worth it.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgABxXfQuX-1zn0bC76v-GqQf04e324YXE5QjzU_kX6no_UvffSgsrbm7MGXdBM9uZWF9_wAsnCUFGTuFShdAcqvt6U0wWJMoNYcYEP9Bh3A16uLVWSL2RZWw5yvDEWUQnG2rQDusaxQD/s200/tuk+tuk+ride.jpg) |
5people squished in a Tuk Tuk! |
I got to experience my first tuk tuk ride back to the hostel!
Harris sat up front and us 4 girls crammed in the back! I was a bit worried
that it wouldn’t make it down the back roads to the hostel but the guy somehow
by the grace of God got us there.
We had dinner at the hostel and met this guy named Ivan who
is a journalist/photographer who was hanging out with some people from the UK
and elsewhere. We pretty much just sat around and enjoyed
the sunset. The view and atmosphere was absolutely perfect at night.
FRIDAY
We had a “Girls Only” snorkeling trip! Ah! SO.MUCH.FUN! Our
guide “Safari” and his two “shipmates” took us on a boat ride to the reef and
we got to swim around and check out all the cool fish and coral. The fish
looked like something out of “Finding Nemo”! Soo many colors and patterns and
types of fish! I even saw a little eel, some water cucumbers, and lots of cool
starfish!
We rested for a bit after the snorkeling trip. We took a trip
into Mtwapa to see if there were any cool little markets or anything. Ended up
a fail but oh well!
We had dinner at the hostel and were joined by Tinta. He was
quite a character!! Probably in his late 30s or 40s? He is a native of Kenya of
Arabic decent. He spent most of the night telling us about the hotel he co-owns
called “The White Elephant” and random stories about the places he’s been and
the famous people he knows (according to him he is really good friends with
Armani and Gucci). Still not sure how much I believe…but it was entertaining!
Took a walk along the beach at night which was really nice.
I’m still in awe of the fact that we pretty much stumbled on this place by
accident. (Good work, Kate!)
On a random note, I went to the bathroom in the middle of the
night and it was raining and there were crabs crawling around the bathroom! A
bit strange. On my walk back to the hut I noticed the poor little baby kitten
lying out in the rain. Poor thing! Kate and I were obsessed with the baby
kitten! I fed it granola when Kate wasn’t looking. Heeheehee….probably why the
cats loved me so much! I have a future as a cat lady for sure. Lol ;)
SATURDAY
We spent the day at the beach! We waited a few hours at “The
New Beach Tree Restaurant” for the tide to come up. The water was so nice-
really clear and warm. Some random guy came up to us and introduced us to the
girl he was with. People are strange like that. It gets annoying being
approached by people who want to sell us stuff, but the ones who just want to
say “Hi” I get a kick out of! Celebrity status? Lol
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoH6GSjPGkVTucaP6r9yJAKi1cdVcTr_r9xt-VOsNxAs_wWgBbpuhomHpp3vP7Xs_eyomLkGjwxU3t3s4Z4oiXiBtXUT-3SM7s-LbvyCJBm9Ti3KHwn5cCxL-6angPX1QmFHKpuaJ5vV_7/s320/IMG_0722.JPG) |
Bamburi Beach |
We ended up having dinner there and were invited multiple
times to the “bikini beach party”. We didn’t attend since we’ve been told to
avoid big crowds and it was supposed to be “wild” according to our waiter
“Capoccino” (Yes that is his real name!).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4th6xIt6oeawgEly2yNFSICjZ4wq_rT8SemY6s_9a0DC748YasN8nbHJ0HVNVuKsfHSkvVRE6wa4pwb2Rr4MP_gMIQLNwvBJyLFvVTUg3ypqAH19dA6lrARgt_1og9JJaUJ0tHauzcyyC/s200/camel+ride.jpg) |
Camel ride on the beach? Why not! :) |
Took another tuk tuk back to the hostel. We hung out and were joined by 4 Germans- Tim and Benny and then Jasper and
Tina. Tim and Benny were on a 3 week holiday and were just an absolute riot to
hang out with. Jasper was accompanying Tina to Tanzania where she would be
doing some psychology work. (No…they are not a couple….although I tried to
convince them how cute they would be together.) It was just a really great
night! Our German girls –Katharina and Steffy- were really excited to meet some
other Germans. It was the first time the Germans outnumbered the Americans 6 to
3! Such a great group of people! Perfect way to end the trip.
SUNDAY
We had breakfast and sat around waiting for the cab. Jasper
came and sat with us while he was waiting for Tina to finish her hour long
shower. The people at the kept asking us to stay a few more days. I think if we didn't have work and bus tickets we would have! The whole trip was just really great!
The bus ride back was super long and it was raining. There were a few car accidents that held us up. After catching a cab in Nairobi we made it home safely around 11:30pm.
I guess it's back to reality! Oh well! :p
More pictures of the hostel in case anyone wants to go there!
::Funny Moments::
-The cab driver having a National Anthem sing-off with Harris
on the ride to the Amani Center.
-Riding in the back of the Italian guys' truck.
-Benny and Tim filming our "life stories" and using their headlamp as a spotlight.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkfi68LKi1I1Yxlr_u3n3hnc12jjsFR2HVh0Oq9lhVtmPmLEtyLJwmpYNTfWmJtTONshyphenhyphenEL1ep3xgrIy8COFO_qhYZLg2pDZMPmvBMp7XiGX66tUbnFFmcomhDaCDg4ywv3UpyclhzmyoC/s200/IMG_0715.JPG) |
Mangey Cat guarded my bikini all week. haha |