Last Day in Lamu

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April 30th

I woke up pretty early, despite not having an alarm, must have been my biological clock that woke me up thinking I had slept in too long. The plan was to get up at a decent time to get some photos of the town before I left, and also get some souvenir shopping done. Before that was possible I had to return a couple beer bottles to get my deposit back, that’s how it works out here, like in Latin America, when you buy a bottle of beer you have to pay a small deposit and when you return the bottle you get your money back. It’s not a bad scheme and it really helps out with trash and cost of recycling if you think about it.

After that mini mission was accomplished I got us checked out of the hotel and snapped some decent photos of the town before buying some recuerdos. On our way to the docks we saw our friend Lule and we walked and talked with him to kill the time before we boarded the boat to the other island where the airport is. I was able to record a video by hanging the camera from my neck real tourist style and allowing it to record as I walked down the main street. It really gives you a taste of th town, with the women in burkas, the donkeys, the vendors and the narrow streets. It’s a shame you can’t smell the aromas in the air, everything from fantastic to down right repugnant as it gets. No matter, it’s a fantastic place and one I would return to without a second though.

Lule parted ways with us shortly afterwards, just before we jumped on the boat to head to Manda island, where the airport is. I had made he decision to take the cheap flight over the cheaper and much longer bus ride. We flew to Malindi and it only took about 25 minutes, as oppose to 7 hours by bus. You can check out a video of the island of Lamu from a birds eye perspective here.

We had about four and a half hours to kill in Malindi, a coastal town we had passed through before by bus when heading north. First things were first and we headed to a restaurant to eat after sorting out the bus tickets. We were recommended a place right around the corner, named “Bahrani Dishes”, the names are always simple and to the point here. We ate the daily special of Chicken Biriani that cost $3.50 each and it was one of the tastiest meals I’ve had down here so far, apart from the somosas of course!

After lunch we headed to the shoreline, there was a nice pier there and the beach was pretty great as well. I took a few pics before we talked some local kids into allowing us to kick the football around with them, (actually it didn’t take too much persuasion). We had a good time and during the process a crowd of little kids grouped up on the pier.

I took of a few photos of them and Victor but the kids wanted to be rewarded for their exposure. I didn’t want to leave the kids and come back, so I asked a guy my age that I had talked football with to see if he could go get them some candy. So I gave him $5.00 and shortly after he left the kids surrounded me and my backpack and told me that the guy I had given money was a thief and a bad person and wouldn’t be coming back. I asked Victor to go get the guy and made sure he would make good on his promise, but he had already disappeared. At some point during a chaotic few minutes of about 30 kids around me asking for money, a kid had reached into the small outer pocket of my bag and ran off with 100 shillings, or about $1.25. The kids around me pointed this out to me and I told them to go after him and some of them heeded but he was already gone essentially. I did see him running off it was pretty funny to be honest, him and his red Manchester United top, no joke!! I can’t make this up!

The petty theft wasn’t a big deal, it could have been much worse as I had many many valuables in the bag with me. The problem was that I had left my guard down as the whole time I’ve been in this country I have felt very safe and well looked after as a foreigner. Especially after the great people in Lamu and the amazing Opati family in Nairobi, I allowed myself to get vulnerable and paid the consequences. Actually the biggest consequence was that my sandals were taken during all the chaos, I had bought them just 2 days before in Lamu and really liked them! Oh well.

I left the beach barefoot in the company of Victor and a nice guy that took us to a nearby shop to buy another pair of sandals. I essentially found the same pair that I had been robbed of, at half the price I paid in Lamu (this just goes to show how expensive the island is actually!). We headed to the bus station after my feet were sorted out and waited for the transport to arrive. While sitting there still mildly upset about the whole “incident” in the afternoon I tried a local snack called “pizza”. Only it’s nothing like the Italian-based food, it was still really really tasty. I took pics of the process that it was made and then ate the final result, yum yum!

We jumped on the bus shortly after and headed for Nairobi. This time around I wasn’t as miserable with jet lag as before, but rather sun burned. It was an 11 h our trip to Nairobi and I slept 90% of it, which made the time pass very quickly.

We got into Nairobi early on Saturday the 1st and jumped in one of the mini bus transports to Umoja, where Victor, Violet, Paul and Maria live. The traveling had come to an end…for about 50 hours. On my mind was the upcoming departure with African Trails on May 3rd…

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