Lamu Tamu

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8.04.09-8.07.09
I just returned from Lamu Island, the most perfect island off the coast of Kenya. We stayed in the most gorgeous hotel. I think we overpaid for the place but we got the penthouse which was two stories on the top of the house which was about the fifth story (no elevators here). I slept upstairs every night in the open air. It was really windy but so warm and I wish I could sleep outdoors every night. All the buildings are very open on the sides except for normally the bedrooms and there are no cars on the island except the district commissioners. That means all the roads look like alleyways and there’s this constant maze of alleys and donkeys running around that you have to navigate. It reminds me of what I would think Greece was like.

The first night we went to the only restaurant in Shella (there’s Lamu town and Shella town, the latter being where we stayed) that served alcohol so we went and got gin and tonics. They were really yummy and we met a man named Chai who offered to show us around the island the next day. We decided to ride donkeys into town which was quite an experience. My butt is still sore. We went to a canteen right next to the police station, saw a cemetery and viewed his place as well which was small but very nice. He rents it for 2000 KSH a month which is about $26 but still a lot of money.

I forgot to mention but the island is 95% Muslim and the 5% that aren’t are workers that have come from other places who work in the tourist season. Many women walked around in the traditional dress of Muslim women with their hair and body covered. Some even had the “ninja” look where they have only their eyes covered. The Muslim women who manned the desk at our hotel called it the ninja look, not me but it gives a pretty accurate description of their outfits. Chai had to go to work and as soon as he did we were bombarded by people who wanted us to go on their boats or get Henna etc. We just decided to go back to the beach in Shella and lounge about for the rest of the day.

That night we invited the only other occupant in the hotel, an Italian man named Claudio who was on vacation from his work in Sudan with Doctors Without Borders, to have wine on our roof and join us for dinner. We had really great conversation and he was really down to earth about life and what he did. He does really dangerous work and needed a vacation badly so he had stayed in his room and on the beach the entire trip until he had dinner with us.

That night was the full moon which was so gorgeous and lit up everywhere. There seem to be a lot less stars here than there are in Washington which is unfortunate because there were no street lights really. The moon was enough. Kathryn and I decided to go the beach and look at the moon and we ran into some beach guys who were going to have a bonfire down the beach. We felt uncomfortable at first but decided it would be fun so we went to this bonfire with a lot of other foreigners and some local Kenyans. They had speakers and an ipod running off a car battery and we danced by the bonfire for a long time and had a lot of time.

The next day I had a wrap dress made for me out of material I had bought earlier. The women workers there were actually from Kisumu right by where we first were on our trip and were Luo so we got to speak to them in Luo, the language we know best. We returned and hung out on the beach for awhile. I played football (soccer) with some of the guys on the beach which was really tiring but the sand makes for a nice cushion and so it’s easier to play. There weren’t actual goals and I didn’t really know who was on my team so I looked like a bumpkin for a bit but it was fun. As it was our last day, we decided to hang out on the beach before going on a sunset cruise on this type of sailboat called a dhow but it was cloudy so we didn’t really get to see the sunset.

Our final night was very nice as we hung out with people we had met throughout our stay and listened to local music on the beach watching the glorious moon.

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