Malindi

What a shitty night's sleep. The mosquito net seemed to be keeping the mosquito's in, not out. We got eaten alive. Jack got up at 3am to take the flash light out and assess the damage, she swells at every bite and she was covered. I was sleeping until that point, but no way I was falling back asleep. I kept having to slap myself attempting to kill every last one of them. Plus the warmth, the sweating... Honestly shitty night. But ah well, life goes on.

Since we were up, we tried to go see the sunrise, but the doors of our guesthouse were locked and the employee was sound asleep on his mattress close to it, so we saw no point in waking him up. We still set out early for breakfast, about an hour later, starved since we've been up since 3. Beans and rice, my favourite! Walked around town, discovered that further down the main road, passed a bit that seems like you're no longer downtown, you arrive in the rich people's downtown! A bunch of fancy buildings, living compounds, nice coffee shops, covered in tourist agencies... All of who's people, local and foreign, address us in Italian. Every person we have met is Italian, except for one German. So we settle in for a nice latte in one of the fancy shops. We're white, so we blend in, but if you looked closer, everyone there was dressed so nice, white shirts and pants that we could never keep clean, big summer hats, makeup. I've got on grungy t-shirts and shorts.

Still hot as ever outside. We walked around this fancy downtown, and made our way cutting across living compounds to the beach to cool down. This is a different spot from yesterday, it's by the main pier, no beach clubs or restaurants on the water here. Just seems like deserted land. No one around. But the water was clear of algae and therefor inviting. I went in, attempting to forget about yesterday's jellyfish. Everytime something touched my feet, because the water wasn't clear at all, I flipped out. After a bit I gave up, went back to shore. Walking back to the pier, Jack tried to distract me from seeing a pile of washed up jellyfish, and obviously failed. There was at least 10, creepy transparent jellyfish. I'm done with the ocean for today.

With big walking plans again, we set out to explore old town. I uploaded a map yesterday so this time I could follow with my GPS, making sure we're going in the right direction. It was a great walk through mostly residential areas. It's mind blowing how an hour ago we were walking amongst the rich, and now we're walking passed clay and wood structures that I hesitate to call houses... People were saying hi, no calling out of muzungu, no following us around selling anything... Kenya is starting to grow on me. We finally found someone to sell us handkerchiefs, being tired of having "water" drip down our faces. In this same little shop (wooden shack along the road), we bought this lovely piece of material to add to our hookah lounge collection. I don't think she's ever had white people buy things in her shop, because right away we got the best price to date. Local price. If she only knew she just blew her first opportunity to screw over muzungus.

Making our way to the waterfront, well hotels along the waterfront, I set out on a mission to find one that will let us use their pool. Those jellyfish aren't getting me! After passing a few, we found one that was beautiful and affordable, but I reevaluated. We're at the ocean. There's a huge natural body of water right in front of me and I'm looking for a pool... Screw that. I know Jack well enough and she's dying to jump into the waves. So after all this careful walking to the beach clubs, we grabbed a mototaxi back to the pier so Jack could jump in the ocean, free of algae (the water at the beach club area wasn't as clear of algae then the water at the public area... Who would have thought!). I sat under the pier, in the shade, coke in hand, reading my book.

Jack says I should mention how much fun she had. She thinks I didn't put enough emphasis on how great the water was, how fun the waves were...she had a great time. That is all.

Another relaxing afternoon after a tiring warm day. We've drank 4.5L of water in the last 2 days... Grabbed a cheap local diner so that we could treat ourselves to that amazing gelato I had yesterday. Honestly mind blowingly good gelato. And wine. Of course.

This time, I slept fantastic! We changed rooms this morning, since we were up so early we had time to check out a few places. This one is in town, so not on the water, so cheaper, with a fan on the ceiling and good bug nets. Lesson leaned - fan on the ceiling is non negotiable! Off to Lamu we go today.Read more