Hakuna Matata- BVC 2012-2013 [[KENYA]]: December 2012

[Nov. 26^th-Dec. 2^nd]

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.

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

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!).

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!