I love boats!

First off - the dinner last night. How funny! The guy selling it to us said we would be served 10 traditional meals from his home, cooked by his wife, tea, coconut wine, he said he'd be playing the drums and a local violin thingy, his wife would show us the cooking of the meals, someone somewhere was going to belly dance, and we would be accompanied by two Canadian guys, students in Nairobi. So we settled on 500 each, he had started at 1500. Keep in mind, Jack and I can have a meal at a local restaurant for 200-300 total (we had diner tonight for 78 shilings total). How much of that do you think we got?

We met him at our meeting point, he says the Canadian guys were coming from the other end of the town so we would meet up with them. We get to his house, we ask about the guys, he says someone else is bringing them over. We pass a family member sitting on the ground making chapati in the hallway and sit in their main room, on the floor, which also has a TV playing an Indian soap opera and a bed. A couple family members were watching TV, so Jack and I are sitting in front of them.

They start bringing food out, Canadian guys aren't there. He says not to worry, we can start without them, there's plenty more food. He served a plate of beans, chapati, tiny half plate of fries, these grilled breads apparently (about the size of a Joe Louis) and finally this lobster meat pie, pie being made of chapati dough. Oh and tea. Add all these items together in a restaurant and you're looking at roughly 320 shillings if I'm being generous.

No coconut wine, no music (he said a neighbour passed away today so they had to be respectful), no Canadian guys (he said they must be waiting time drinking beer on the boat that was bringing them over), no dancing (he said his sister would bring us to a wedding tomorrow when he knew we had booked a boat trip for tomorrow), and if you counted, that was 4 dishes, not 10. Having already paid 500 shillings as a "down" payment from him to buy food, we waiting to be out of his home and away from his family to argue that he wasn't getting a penny more. We had to argue quite a bit, he said it was his money and we had to give it to him, when we said it was 4 out of 10 dishes he responded "if you're still hungry, no problem, we go to shop right now and get more" referring to the restaurant we could have gone to ourselves... It wasn't until Jack started raising her voice once we were around many locals that he suddenly changed his gears, begged us to lower our voices, and said "I agree, I agree, 500 is enough".

To be honest, I enjoyed the experience. We got to see his home, meet his family, eat a meal on the ground with our hands which is always fun, and in the end pay almost the same as we would in a restaurant. Worked out OK. We ran into him the next morning and he ran in another direction to avoid confrontation. It was nice of him, lol.

That being said, today was AMAZING! Mohamed met us this morning at 9am, as promised, and brought us over to the pier where we waited for our boat. He had said he would be our captain yesterday, but by now I knew to expect otherwise. He finally admitted once asked that Masjid would be our captain, the man who is coming with the boat. Our only question - does he speak English? And he does! Turns out, I guess we were good company, because Mohamed decided to come along for the day anyway! He, Masjid, a third guy that I can't remember the name of, Jack and I had an amazing time on the boat and on the beach.

We drove and sailed to an island called Manda Island. Hung out on the beach for a little over an hour while our lunch was being grilled. The water was clear. The island deserted. There was maybe 2 resorts on this beach, and no apparent guests. One of the resorts was 150,000 shillings per night (1,500$us) and I believe it! It was absolutely gorgeous with sun beds and private beach and anything you could dream of. Except for guests. We got to see Lamu from the water. Just cloudy enough to offer shade in the morning, and bright and sunny in the afternoon. The third guy on the boat assured me there were no jellyfish here, not the season he says. So I swam!

Once lunch was ready, we hoped back in the boat and drove though a gorgeous mangrove to get to the Takwa ruins. Ate some coconut rice, fresh grilled fish and fresh fruit. Believe it or not, it was perfect. I know fish isn't my thing, but it fit too perfectly with the day. The ruins were nice. I never know how to describe these things without sounding super boring. They were made of limestone and coral rocks from the island itself. There was a mosque which showed the Muslim faith was present a long long time ago. It was deserted because the well water was contaminated with salt water, so the whole community moved across the waterway to Lamu Island. It was honestly interesting to see, maybe you should google it?

Jack hopped back into the water, this time being on the other side of Manda Island, therefore being in the big Ocean as Mohamed said, so enjoyed blue waters and big waves. It was again a deserted beach that went on for days. Kind of happy no big development company took over this land, because it's emptiness is part of it's magic.

We sailed back home in perfect winds, kicking back and talking politics with the boys. We even talked about the kidnapping that happened in Lamu in recent years. They were laughing that the women was kidnapped from Manda Island by a boat with a 50 horsepower engine... That was the same as our boat, and it's really not the fastest! They said it was 3am, and the boat had to pass by 2 naval bases and 1 police department to return to Somalia. They said no one moved, no one acted.

We also chatted about their identity as Lamuniens, not Kenyans. They're separatist. They say the port brings in most of the money for Kenya and yet the port offices are in Nairobi. So all the big money makers aren't in Lamu or on the coast at all, but in Nairobi, profiting from their labour as they saw it. They believed that Kenya wouldn't survive without the income of the coast, which is the only reason they are still associated. Makes sense, coastal countries always perform better.

All in all, a fantastic day. I feel completely relaxed, pleased with my day. Happy we made the decision to stay longer in Lamu. I got to enjoy a local tea from a street vendor along the shore, watching people walking by, some working, some just enjoying the stroll, donkeys and cats a plenty... Nice.Read more