Airport thoughts

While I was sitting in the airport on Manda island, I was deep in thought on my impressions of Kenya. Not really, I was drinking coke and eating chips out of boredom, but still in thought! Coming into the country through Kitale was a rough start: I thought Kenyans were rough around the edges, not helpful, all calling out muzungu! They saw us as wallets again, or as intruders. Seems as time went on, I grew to enjoy Kenya and Kenyans. We found towns, or at least areas of towns, that I really enjoyed. Kenya is the first country that actually has public parks in most of their cities, the other countries never had green space to sit in. I got to enjoy some tea, or whatever drink, sitting in a park people watching, which I love. More and more Kenyans have started yelling out to us "welcome to Kenya" or "kariboo Kenya" for a change. There's always the ones that have no interest in helping or serving you, but others that will actually help out. Some try to help us with buses, tell us the real pricing, and of course there's the one who send you the wrong way or triple the prices. Kenya's got it all. Just a little more abrupt about it. The matatu drivers a little more aggressive to get you on their buses. The touts a little more loud about staying in their accommodations. 

So back to sitting in the airport! We just took a ferry boat (more like a canoe with a motor) from the jetty in Lamu, across the waterway, to the deck of the airport... Coolest airport ever. Security was a metal detector that went off when I went through and a bag scanner that very clearly showed my huge fruit knife, but no one said anything. I checked my bag in with the knife, but I'm sure no one would have noticed if I hadn't! Destination: Malindi, where we'll make our way to Watamu.Read more