i had a funtastic weekend in mombasa! i caught the night bus (eight hours) down on thursday night with a guy named kevan that i met last weekend and kent, his kiwi roommate from the orphanage they volunteer at. wandered around the river road area of nairobi a bit before we left – i can see why some people are scared to go out at night in nairobi! we missed (through no fault of our own) the bus we were supposed to take at 9:30pm, so we had to buy new tickets for a bus at 12:30am. but we got there, and after a great ferry and a little more matatu riding than it turns out was necessary, found the idyllic diani beach and the girls, sonja and ali. found a hotel room a matatu ride from the beach for $12 a night, and us three guys shared a room by putting the mattresses together on the floor. basically spent three days on the beach which was glorious. three study abroad students from the midwest usa came for a couple days too, as did a couple peace corp volunteers and some christian law student volunteers from the uk. good times. also lots of male bonding in our room because it was very necessary to have someone else thoroughly rub aloe into our sunburned backs. one day we went snorkeling out on the reef. eventually found out that kent was a christian too so that was cool!
we spent some time in mombasa town and got a bit of a tour from the friendly peace core workers who live in the area, and just wandering around. mombasa is a very interesting city – predominantly muslim, always very hot and humid, rich history, etc. where else would you find a fort jesus, pentacostal churches, mosques, animists, and jain and hindu temples within extremely close proximity? i liked it. we went to a coffee shop in the old city where they serve coffee with all kinds of delectable spices in it. a few different times.
barely caught another night bus back on monday night, and then went to the boy’s orphanage tuesday morning in a suburb of nairobi called waithaka, just to see where they spend their time. they hang out with preschoolers all day – who are really cute. all in all, i don’t see how the weekend could have been any better! back to the hospital tomorrow!
