Forts and Plates

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Something exciting: yesterday and today, Sarah brought me breakfast in bed! Actually, she left it for me on the table before she went to wherever she goes. I told her that it’s really nice, but she can’t at home because there’s a monster who eats things. AKA Rosco Wilson.

Today was a great day; really laid back. We did laundry in the morning (but my shorts got bird poop on them as they hung out to dry.) I’m fine washing my own clothes, but I’m really looking forward to having a machine to do it and knowing that my clothes are really clean. And get all the way dry.

After that, we headed to the internet café. It was about 1 a.m. at home when we were there, and some of my high school friends were awake! I tried my best to post more pics, but it wasn’t working. Sorry. But I got my whole sticky of emails done! On the way home, we walked past the place that always smells like barbeque potato chips, another thing I’ve been craving lately.

Speaking of cravings, I had a dream last night that we were home and went to Pizza Hut to satisfy our cravings after traveling, and it wasn’t really good. That’s too bad. I look forward to enjoying it. Well, enjoying any familiar foods, really.

We hung out at the house for a bit while George changed a tire. The Canadians, all except Wayne, went to a “touristy” beach to scuba dive and windsurf and things. Sarah and I opted to have a day away from the herd and see the city. We’ve heard about lots of cool things in downtown Mombasa, so we were looking forward to going.

We had planned to take public transport, but George figured (probably correctly) that we’d get lost and end up calling him a lot, so he offered to drive us. He gave us a nice tour on the way in, and told us all about the current political things going on. (There was a big election in 2007, which led to violence and ultimately the UN stepped in. Power-sharing is the way it’s set up now, but doesn’t seem to be working too well.) Our first stop was to buy bus tickets to go to Nairobi.

Before we went to buy tickets, we had to get the tire fixed again (it’s really just alignment that is bad, but he hasn’t had time to get it fixed.) Sarah and I took the opportunity to get cold beverages. Today was way hotter than it has been, and super muggy. In the service station, they also had a cooler where they stored their Cadbury chocolate! I enjoyed a bar. I feel like Coke and Sprite are my only thing that would qualify as a vice here. It’s my consistent familiarity, and it’s cold (usually), so I try to find one whenever I can. And Cadbury is just wonderful.

With our errands out of the way, we hit a tourist trap- Old Town Mombasa. On the sea, there is a large fort built in the mid 16th century by the Portuguese. It’s called Fort Jesus. We took a tour and learned a ton (my head almost exploded!) But I decided I’m not a great person to take to a museum. I kept asking questions like, “Is the air conditioner original?” It was lots of fun, and George always keeps things interesting. After the fort, we saw the old downtown and heard lots of history of explorers- Portuguese, Arabs, Turks, and Brits- and lots of things about trade. There are tunnels beneath the fort, where they hid things, which are completely carved out of coral! It’s amazing. It’s mind-boggling to think that people built things like that without the use of backhoes or cement mixers. All of it was by hand!

There were some cool plants. Two of my favorites were some I had never seen. One was a short tree, which looked like a palm, but we were informed that it’s actually a relative of the firs and pines we have at home! And there were some really cool plants that were totally purple

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Photos

Plating Party
Irene, Esther, Mapenzi, Tim and me