Vacation!

Since I last updated I went on an amazing vacation with some other Peace Corps volunteers from my training class. Jenny, Margaret, Whitney and I went to the coast of Kenya and enjoyed a week of warm weather, beautiful beaches and relaxation! It was a nice reward for having completed our first term at our schools and it was really great to get to see and explore a different part of the country (all four of us are posted in the Western portion of Kenya). I must say that the majority of the time we were on the coast I did not feel like I was in Kenya, or Africa at all for that matter. The streets of Old Town Mombasa make you think you are somewhere in the Mediterranean, Malindi is basically a little Italy plopped down on the Kenyan coast, and the influence from India as well as Muslim influence makes for a culturally diverse experience all along the coast, but is especially strong in Lamu. Right now our whole training class is back in Nairobi for our IST (in-service training). We are still 25 strong!!! We’ve been told multiple times how unusual it is that we are all still here! If you remember it was a big deal that all 25 of us were sworn in after training and no one went home during that time and now we still haven’t lost anyone from the program for any reason! (We are beating the odds left and right). IST has been a week of workshops, guest speakers, and sharing ideas/frustrations/successes with one another. Next week I will head back to site and have a few days of down time before the second term starts up. Now, mostly so I can brag, here is a general run-down of our vacation:

• April 9th: Nairobi to Mombasa
o We met up in Nairobi and took the overnight train to Mombasa. The train experience was really fun and interesting! Our second class tickets included: dinner, bedding and breakfast. The train runs through Kibera (the second largest slum in Africa) on its way out of town, and it was interesting to see the structures/people/living conditions, and it went on forever, it’s huge. We also went through beautiful landscape on our route. Starting off with the urban landscape of Nairobi then changing to drier more dessert climates and going through/around the Tsavo National Parks, and then finally the slow change to a tropical, humid, palm tree landscape.

• April 10-11th: Mombasa
o First of all I have to say that the coast is HOT and HUMID!!! And we weren’t even there during the hottest part of the year, but we were extremely happy that the hotel we were staying at had A/C. It’s amazing how the little things become such exciting luxuries when you are used to living in a house without electricity let alone A/C! We spent our time in Mombasa exploring the Old Town, hitting the beaches and checking out Fort Jesus. We ate delicious food (coast = spices) and even went bowling! The beaches are incredibly gorgeous and we enjoyed just lying around with nothing to do, then heading to a beach café to have a Tusker or two. I have pictures on my facebook and there is a link on the sidebar if you want to check it out!

• April 12th: Road to Malindi
o On our way up the coast we stopped in a small town where there is a small business PCV who is working with a community organized conservation center to develop eco-tourism. We went snorkeling with the program he is working with, and it was a really great time. We were also joined by two other PCVs from our training class and had a fun day out in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean by the way feels like a warm (very very salty) bath. I was shocked by how warm the water was, especially since we were looking forward to getting some relief from the heat in the water, but no such luck, the water is not much cooler that the air temperature. We saw lots and lots of colorful fish and other under the sea creatures. When we finished our snorkel adventure we headed about an hour up the coast to Malindi, by the time we arrived it was late so we just went for dinner and gelato (yesssss gelato! We almost passed out when we entered the shop. Like I said, it’s the little things!).

• April 13th: Malindi
o Gedi ruins! We spent the majority of the morning exploring the Gedi (or Gede) ruins which is just outside of Malindi. I took lots of pictures, so check those out on facebook! The ruins are from the 13th century and are of a Swahili town. The town has multiple mosques, a palace complete with public courts, houses, and tombs. The portion of the ruins that we were able to explore, the part that has been extensively excavated, is the town center. They have found a number of artifacts that show that this establishment was involved in extensive trade during its peak, including beads from Venice, vases from China, a lamp of India, and scissors from Spain. After our ruins exploring we met up with another PCV from our training class who works in a school outside of Malindi. We spent the rest of the day exploring Malindi with her and eating more delicious foods.

• April 14th – 17th: Lamu
o After a long bus ride we arrived in Lamu! Lamu town is located on an island in the Lamu archipelago and it is absolutely gorgeous, I described it as paradise a number of times! The town of Lamu is Kenya’s oldest town and was one of the original Swahili settlements along the coast of East Africa. The town is almost entirely Muslim and has a very rich culture and a really interesting history. One interesting fact about Lamu: there are only 2 cars on the whole island, so the main form of transportation (other than walking and carts) is by donkey. The island even has a donkey sanctuary that we visited when the donkeys can retire after a life of hard work in such a hot climate. There is a PCV from our training class who works in a deaf school on the mainland close to Lamu island who was able to meet up with us and show us around, it was great have a personal tour guide for the time we were there. We enjoyed exploring the small streets, shopping in all the little boutiques all over the place and eating all the delicious food. We had one day where it rained most of the day, so we took that day to check out the Lamu museum and Fort Lamu. The next day we had absolutely gorgeous weather and we were able to take advantage of that and take a dhow trip. A dhow is the traditional sail boats used by the Swahili people. Our dhow trip first took us through a mangrove forest and then took us out into the Indian Ocean to snorkel and fish. The snorkeling was fantastic, and it was amazing to be able to look in any direction and we were the only other people within our view. We fished from the boat with a set up like a kite string spool. The spool had the fishing wire on it, we tied weights at the end and then a hook above that and put a little bait, so in a nutshell it was fishing without a pole. We were able to catch our lunch and then our crew took us to our own private island where they cooked our fish and other delicious food for our lunch. Our meal included coconut rice (a local legend), our fresh (fresh, fresh, fresh) fish fried, a vegetable curry sauce and copious amounts of fresh fruits! The atmosphere, the view and the food made this by far the best meal that I have had since coming to Kenya. Our trip took most of the day, so when we got back to the town we rested up and then had a night out on the town!

• April 17th: Pit stop in Mombasa
o After another long bus ride leaving Lamu we arrived in Mombasa. The trip is too long to make it from Lamu to Nairobi in one day, so we had planned to stay one night in Mombasa on our way back. With all of the coast volunteers (Coast Corps) also headed to Nairobi for training there were lots of PCVs in town that night. It was also a veteran volunteer’s birthday so a lot of other volunteers not from our training class came into town for the night. We did our last minute vacation shopping in town, and then headed out to celebrate the PCVs birthday and to end our vacation with a bang. We ended up at a night club which is basically a parking lot with a few bars around the perimeter and lots of plastic tables and chairs and then people dancing to AMERICAN music wherever there is room. By this time there were about 15 PCVs out and we had a lot of fun taking over the dance floor. You can imagine dancing for a few hours in a hot climate so we were all excited when it started raining on us, so while the Kenyans were all running for cover from the rain, all the wazungu stayed and danced in the rain. Some of us hardcore fun seekers stayed out dancing until 5am, which also included a swim in a nearby pool before we headed back to our hotel. It was an excellent way to end our vacation, and a good time is always had when PCVs get together! Work really really hard, and play hard every once in a while, might be a good way to describe our philosophy.

• April 18th: Back to Nairobi, time for IST
o The downfall to staying out until 5am was having to be up early to catch our 8am bus to Nairobi. We all caught our bus though and then caught up on our sleep on the long ride to Nairobi. Our group was among the last from our training class to arrive at the conference center and it was great to get to see everyone and all be back together again. Like I mentioned before, no one from our training class has left PC/Kenya, and we really are like a second family, so it has been great to be back together after 3 months apart!

I hope I have successfully made you all jealous with the account of my vacation! And I must say that we found it quite humorous when we were snorkeling in the Indian Ocean or having a cold beer on a beautiful pristine beach or dancing all night in Mombasa that this is something we were getting to enjoy during our time in the Peace Corps. I’m sure you picture (just like we did) life more along the lines of mud huts, and modest living… but everyone deserves a vacation right??

Cheers!