Lamu's List

Disclaimer: Sorry that my blog doesn't look as great as Blair and Sam's and Andrew's. I don't really love fiddling with it so you kind of get it as it comes. Which includes all the random fonts, sizes, and picture placement. And grammatical errors. Thanks.

1. The Bus Ride: On the way there, a little muslim girl read The Elusive Quest for Growth over my shoulder and on the way back, a Somalian fella (at least Andrew thought he was) read Mark Twain’s Roughin’ It with me. A lot of the bus ride involved my stomach jumping into my head so it was kind of hard to read. Andrew and I purchased some mystery “candy” from the ladies outside the bus. First reaction, “mmm wow, love that mixture of beef jerky and sugar.” It is interesting that an express bus also = a matatu. I’m surprised their airplanes weren’t the same way. I guess they realize that you already paid your money and no matter how long it takes to get there they should max out the number of people inside.
2. Milkshakes: I wish I could describe to you how amazing they were. It was sugar, ice, milk, and whatever fruit you wanted. Chocolate Banana was out of this world. I seriously could’ve lived on those and nothing else. Pineapple and Passion were pretty great too.
3. The Bahari Hotel: More ghetto than our apartment by a long shot. Our apartment is a luxury compared to it. But, for ksh450 a night, what do you expect. (about 6 bucks) The place was run by a guy named Michelle (pronounced like the Gilmore Girls character- Me-shell) and a bunch of random guys that seemed to be there only to cook breakfast. The rooftop view was easily the best part. At night and in the morning, the mosquitoes ate you alive, but we hosed ourselves down with bug spray after the first night of a million bug bites and we were just fine after that. My favorite was the shower. The shower was right next to the toilet and when I turned it on, I basically soaked the entire bathroom. No hot water, and it smelled like ocean. Hmm. Oh, and BTW Michelle told me at least 10 times (once every night, once every morning) to tell all of my friends to come stay here. So if you go to Lamu and you want a good breakfast and not much of anything else, stay here and tell Michelle I sent you.
4. Dhow Ride: I think I love sailing. This was so entertaining. Ali (the captain) and Ali (someone on the island’s son) basically sat on the back of the boat while this other guy ran back and forth to fix the sail to adjust to wind changes. It was so relaxing to sit on the boat while we were going through all the mangrove trees. Fishing was a treat too. I tried so hard to catch something but those devilish little fish kept eating my worm. No I didn’t put the worm on the hook, that was Ali #2’s job.
5. Jambo Bwana in a 14^th (maybe 15^th?) century house: Our dinner at Ali’s (yes, Ali #3) house was an interesting experience. For about 7 bucks, we were fed some fish, rice, crab sandwiches (called Ali’s yummy something something..i don’t know. I wish I remembered the ingredients) that were to die for (I wish I had 5 of these), tamarind juice, and a swahili cake (donut. the size of my pinkie.) We also experienced his skills on an electronic keyboard while his family and neighbors banged on drums and sang. This was probably the highlight of the Lamu adventure. Here we are sitting in this super old house listening to them sing Reggae, Jambo Bwana (the ultimate tourist song-they play it on speakers at Fort Jesus too), and some other goodies. I took lots of video, don’t worry.

The Lamu feeling: After we had been on the island for about an hour, I saw a bunch of old men next to the mosque playing dominoes. (Yes actually playing dominoes, not just setting them up to knock them all down) They tried to teach me, but they didn’t really speak any English at all. So through non-verbal communication, I kind of learned and played a couple rounds. I loved the way they would smack down the tiles; it seemed like style was more important than actually winning. The old men at Lamu were great. Basically everyone just hung out on the benches in front of the water. It is mainly a tourism based economy here so they are happy to let you experience their culture. Loved it. Shella was pretty too- although a little more high maintenance