Mombasa Raha na Lamu Tamu

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Happy New Year! I hope everyone managed some rest and enjoyment over the holiday period and is going in to 2009 with optimism and excitement? Personally I am looking forward to 2009. The last few months of 2008 have been a time to assess what needs doing, both personally and professionally to achieve the goals that I’ve set. Now I think it’s time to get on with some action. To walk the talk so to speak...it’s just a shame I didn’t have a more restful holiday!

Heading back to where my last blog left off, the weekend after the Trade Fair I had a visitor from the UK who was visiting Kenya on business and dropped down to the Coast for a few nights extra to visit. We did a little Old Town sightseeing (read Fort Jesus then off to Island Dishes for dinner) on the first night then turned in for an early night. The next morning we woke up early and headed to town and Biashara St to pick up some kangas (traditional Swahili wraps for ladies) for the beach. As usual the traders started at 2,000 shillings for 2 kangas before accepting 200 for each (which is still a bit overpriced really). Biashara St is a bit of an assault on the senses but the cheapest places for picking up some of the fabrics. Sometimes you find yourself surrounded by up to 10 men, all shouting and trying to pull you towards their stall for the so called “best price”, even though they all charge the same. As usual I left feeling a bit stressed and irked at the attempts to screw the wazungu. On the way over to the Malindi-bound matatus I explained to Jill how some days I get so wound up that I feel like screaming when yet another matatu tout tries to overcharge me 5 shillings (less than 5p). I’m not particularly proud of these feelings, but between taxi drivers and safari tour guides looking for business (hapana, asante, mimi si mtaali! No thanks, I’m not a tourist), street kids and old ladies begging (pole sana, mama/mtoto, sina pesa! I’m very sorry, mama/ child, I have no money), market traders and touts overcharging (Ngapi?! Hapana! Ishirini tano! Ninakaa Mombasa. How much?! No! 25! I live in Mombasa!) Sometimes my temper gets frayed. Although I know it’s not great for the local economy I enjoy shopping in Nakumatt just because the prices are set and there is no discussion over prices - it’s like bliss! Anyway, we jumped on a matatu and whilst we waited to leave, were inundated with the hawkers selling their usual good - cold water, biscuits, bananas, dodgy looking leather goods, more cold water, suspicious looking orange juice, DVDs, you name it, they have it. One water seller in particular was really persistent despite me showing him that we already had a bottle, so the guy in the seat in front of us turned around and told him to piss off. It felt really nice to have a local guy stand up for us, especially in that crazy part of town. I’d say that it made my day, but the same guy went on to pay our bus fares to Watamu, without even so much as wanting a phone number or extended conversation in return. I don’t know his name but this guy restored my faith in people around here - not everyone has the mission to accumulate as much of my money as possible. I’m very grateful to him for that (and the 200 bob ride to Watamu too, of course!)

Watamu is a resort about 20 miles before Malindi north of Mombasa. It takes about 1hr 45 minutes in a matatu to Gede, the village on the main road then you can switch to another bus to drop you down to Watamu village which takes 10 minutes or so. We stayed with a German-Swiss couple who have been living in the area for over 30 years now. They used to run the scuba diving outfit but have now scaled back to some self-catering cottages and apartments scattered about the village. We stayed at the cottages outside of the village, a 5 minute walk from Turtle Bay which was a desert island paradise. Absolutely fantastic. I hope I can go back for longer than 1 night soon in the future. The cottage was huge and very well equipped, the gardens were beautiful and complete with pool and an outside cooking area. The whole place was well designed and peaceful and perfect for a bit of relaxation! I was sorry when we had to head back to Mombasa after lunch the next day. Jill stayed for another day and we did a touch more sightseeing including going to visit Mike at the Bombolulu workshop and purchase some lovely handicrafts form the shop there. It was so nice to have a visitor but also really sad to say goodbye at the end. I’m beginning to wonder how I’m going to manage 2 years without seeing my friends, or if I even want to.

The next few weeks in to December were not too busy at work, but pretty busy at the weekends. We had a Coast Volunteers meeting (VSOC), a weekend trip to Voi, a good few nights out at various parties and clubs and I can honestly say that I didn’t have to miss pre-Christmas parties at home as there was so much going on here.

Finally the office shut for Christmas and the holiday started. 10 of us had made plans to spend 6 nights including Christmas in Lamu, a small island up the coast from Mombasa. Some people flew to the island and some people (against VSO’s recommendations as there used to be a security issue with bandits on the road, although this is no longer the case) took the coach. A volunteer from another area travelled to Mombasa to stay at mine the night before we were due to leave so we could get an early start in the morning. Unfortunately a planned early night turned in to a 4am gin session and so when we all met in town the next morning after 2 hours sleep I was still pretty drunk and not really looking forward to the journey. Luckily, it passed pretty uneventfully - the road was a bit bumpy and we had to stop to take armed guards at one point, but the main excitement was another passenger trying to feel some girl’s leg up and she kicked off about it. Bandits beware!

As Lamu is an island the buses stop at Mokowe on the mainland and you have to jump in a ferry or a speedboat to get to the island itself. We were meant to be picked up by the hotel we were booked with, but I guess they forgot or something so a local guy called Lucky who had been travelling on the bus with us helped us with a speedboat and we sped over to Lamu town. The boat was pretty small and I was sat at the back next to Lucky who squeezed unnecessarily close to me and burrowed his face in my shoulder every time a wave splashed him - a bit of an over-reaction for someone who’s profession is apparently dhow captain. I kept my face turned away from him and the waves and tried really hard to ignore that he was kissing my shoulder - the boat was too small for a scene. I was so happy when we reached the island - suffice to say Lucky’s name did him no favours and we didn’t book a dhow trip with him. It did however set the tone for the behaviour of local men!

We went to the hotel which was lovely. Set a few streets back from the harbour front, it’s basically 2 old Swahili houses built together around a courtyard. There are lots of levels and different seating areas and places to relax and listen to the donkeys and sea (there are no vehicles in Lamu). We were all starting to wane at this point and after a delicious fish curry dinner and a couple of beers at the hotel we headed to our beds, which for 5 off us were in the same dorm room.

Lamu is an incredibly relaxing atmosphere and for a bunch of volunteers who have been working hard in both their placements and to get by in day to day life in a new, strange country a perfect place to relax and recharge for a few days. This is my excuse for not really remembering what else we did in any particular order. There was much meandering around town, looking at material and local arts (way more interesting than what Mombasa can offer), sitting in cafes (eating hummus no less!), flirting with dhow captains and lying on the beach. Evenings were spent looking for cheap seafood, drinking and dancing in the only bar, Petleys, flirting with dhow captains and making up extravagant lies to tell stoned Swedish tourist and the local bull-shitters who we decided could do with a dose of their own. Particular favourites included that we were all biscuit designers, in Lamu for a convention and looking for new inspiration (malted milks with donkeys instead of cows, anyone?), from a charity called Boats for Rasta’s (although the best thing about that lie was the name), and Uzbek/ Icelandic dolphin trainers that operated out of an oil rig in Hawaii.

No trip to Lamu is complete without a dhow trip and we took our main one on Christmas day. We headed to a small island called Manda Toto for snorkelling whilst one of our guides speared some amazing fish. We lazed around whilst they bbq-ed the fish and whipped up an amazing veggie curry and coconut rice to go with it - so delicious! And such a lovely day despite another 2 hours of sleep the night before!

Needless to say we were pretty sad to leave the paradise isle the next morning and decided to head back to Shelley Beach to Hannah and Abi’s pad. Hannah and Abi are VSOs who arrived in October for ICT and both live south of the Likoni Ferry in Mombasa. They just got a great pad together with lots of room and an amazing view of the sea so Chris who lives in Voi and I jumped (or tiredly shrugged) at the chance to spend a couple of days there before heading back to the reality of our own homes. We had some nice dinners and some early nights before facing the reality that there were no more clean clothes and we really should leave! After that I spent a couple days at home getting to grips with the chores (dust and sand everywhere!) before meeting some others to head to Voi for Chris’ New Year’s party. It was, as all good NYE parties should be, a bit messy, and there are some dodgy photos of all involved. It seems there was some sort of dance-off competition but luckily I avoided that and instead chose to enter (drunkenly) with 2 of Chris’ neighbours 2 of the most dangerous debates you can enter with African men - polygamy and homosexuality. I’m not sure of the outcome of either or even if there was one but I do like arguing so it was a nice way to start 2009!

I have many, many resolutions to improve 2009, some of which I’m more serious about than others, and one of them is to update the blog more often - let’s see how serious I am!

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Comments

[Rupert]

2009 will be better
Emma , great to hear of your exploits, at least some of them. I think this year will give you a chance to move forwards despite those very irritaing and annoying touts. beggars traders etc

[dzoro]

superb
everything about watamu realy makes me taste that place.it is totally superb