Mombasa trip

Mombasa

Day 1- Sunday 22nd
Sunday night at 8:45pm we got on a bus that was going to take us nine hours from everything we knew to our hotel on the beach. It was the longest night ever. They handed out water bottle and requested that all windows were to remained closed- this was difficult for me because I love the cool air and I can't stand feeling stuffy especially while trying to sleep.

Day 2-Monday 23rd
We got to the office at 7:00am and were immediately greeted by ever taxi/tuk tuk/ and matattoo driver in the area asking us where we were going and how much we would pay to get there. You really have to stand up for yourself and tell them to give you space. So we went into the bus station to immediately book our return bus back to Nairobi. We went up to the counter and asked for five tickets in the VIP section of the bus and the lady at the counter told us that they didn't start booking for the 27th until tomorrow which would be Christmas Eve. I was Ike ah what do we do then? We aren't going to be near the bus I rations until Friday?! And she generously took our names and information down and said she would book the tickets for us. So I was relieved and we went back outside to find transportation. We ended up going for a taxi that would take us directly to our hotel. When we got to the beach it was only eight in the morning and we couldn't check in until two so we had a lot of time to kill. So we sat on the beach and it was HOT! All the local people come up to you one after another trying to sell us something or offering us different services and sitting down next to us asking us all about who we are and where we come from and if we know Obama or snoop dog. When we got into our hotel we got all situated a couple of my friends rand to Nakumatt the local mzungu store to get some groceries for our meals because we were trying to save some money.

Day 3- Tuesday the 24th
Christmas Eve we spent ALL day on the beach. It was incredible. We decided that this was the day to ride a camel. EVERYTHING that is for sale on the beach can be negotiated so when we first asked the vendor about how much the camel ride would cost they said 1,000 KSH (which is about $12) I talked it down to $2.50 for a short ride down the beach. We got same which tuff for lunch bread Nutella PB and jelly we sat out and burned pretty bad as well!!! We went exploring as well because we were looking for a deep place to go swimming. As far as one mile out there was only about an knee deep. So it was not really a place to go swimming...more floating then anything we walked super far out while our feet were squishing through the slimy seaweed. For dinner we made home made tortillas and breakfast burritos. Our little studio apt turned into a small restraint in no time. We ended it with watching ELF and eating cinnamon tortillas!

Day 4- Wednesday the 25th
CHRISTMAS DAY!!!! French toast for breakfast. I woke up and stared at the ceiling for a couple minutes I couldn't believe it was actually Christmas I wasn't sure what to expect but this was my first Christmas away from home so it was a totally new experience. We watched ad couple christmas movie and then at 1:00pm walked down to the beach and met up with captain Mia who had arranged for us a snorkeling trip. We walked out to the glass bottom boat and were boated out to the reef and saw all kinds of sea life that is living out there walked around the reef and saw all kinds of animals. After that they boated us over o where all the fish hang out. The cptn jumped in with a piece of bred and went under the glass bottom boat and put the bread in his mouth and let the fish eat off of it! Then we masked up and jumped in and swam around it was more amazing then I thought. It was the first time I had ever done anything like that. Went to a pizzeria for dinner right on the beach called Yuls and got some really good ice cream there too!!

Day 5- Thursday 26th
We decided to check out another beach so we did some research and decided to venture out and find Diani beach. 15km from where we staying. we jumped on sever matatoos, tuk tuks! and even a ferry boat to get there. It took about 2 1/2 hours to get there and sat on the beach for ten minutes and decided we didn't want it to start getting dark so we went back to our hotel.

Day 6- Friday 27th
Longest day of my life. Supposed to leave to Nairobi tonight!!! David and I were up at 6am to go on an all day dolphin trip.we went with a bus packed with tons of other visitors from all over the world. I got stuck sitting in the middle of the front where there was a radio receiver where my head was supposed to to it made the drive that much more exciting. Two hours to the shamani island. Our driver shared all kinds of interesting facts and history of the island. We got to our dhow and boated around this island and to our surprise there were no dolphins on this trip but they boated us out to this small marine park where there was a big reef and I was feeling sea sick and so I didn't jump in but just enjoyed the view. They took us to the land to get some lunch of fish and crabs and rice then walked through the local village where all the kids were selling shells of all sorts we made it back to our hotel at like 7:00 pm and it was time to get ready to get on the bus. We made a stop at a store so we could change out of our beach clothes. We got to the bus station and went in to pay for our tickets that we're reserved for us and they said oh we are sorry. It the busses are no longer running overnight because on the 23rd there was a bad accident where 14+ were injured and killed. Nobody contacted us and there was no way for us to know this. So we had to make a decision. We drove around with the nicest taxi driver named Remy and he helped us go to different bus stations and different hotels looking for any vacancy. When we finally got into a room it was after eleven and we were exhausted.

Day 7- Saturday 28th
We slept all day.

Day 8- Sunday 29th
Woke up and had the hotels complimentary breakfast and then came back to the room to watch a movie and then heading to the beach.