Entries this day: In_Mombassa

In Mombassa

6:33am EAT Wednesday 18 January 2006

The ship has arrived in Mombassa. 3/4ths moon visible in the partly cumulonimbus sky, and local youth playing drums down on the dock, singing Jambo Buwana, a song that we'll hear and sing a lot: basically "Welcome to Kenya"

The dock reminds me of Seychelles: no terminal, but plenty of buildings. These seem to be of corrugated metal (from my faulty memory's brief glance) more than cement in Seychelles.

A big difference here, though: there's an indentation in the dock like a parking space for a bus in the curb, and opposite the dock is a large island perhaps 500 meters to 700 meters away.

I'm not going to take my comp....... actually, yes I am; we're just going to be on a safari the whole time in these vans, and I'm sure there will be a bit to write about.

- - - -

Shit. I was late to the meeting this morning for getting all our ducks in rows. Matt said I was 5 minutes late. My watch said 2 minutes, but there is no doubt I was late. I feel really embarassed about it.

9:32am EAT Wednesday 18 January 2006

On our way to the lodge; we've been bumping along for an hour now... James from Nairobi in the back with Pepe, me next to Matt in the middle, George of Peter's band, and Karen (worth 6 goats and 2 cows) plus Kellie in the front middle, then Lisa and Harun in the front front.

Harun is our driver; he passed traffic on the left, on the right, and off both sides of the road. At one point we were actually between two rows of oncoming traffic: one on the road where traffic belongs, and one off the road, with us off the road in between them both.

Crazy.

10:12am EAT Wednesday 18 January 2006

Now we are on the smooth part of the highway; it's apparently nice all the way to the lodge. We had a bit of a delay while the Baboon Van had to replace a flat tire.

11:27am EAT Wednesday 18 January 2006

I just set 8 bricks on a new store being built next to the tourist trap where we just stopped. The mortar they were using looked heavy on the sand and low on the cement, but I guess they've built a few walls before.

I chatted with them for a while, though I didn't actually take a picture of the wall I built. The picture here is from our stop at the same place on the way back. They had added about 6 levels of bricks in a day, and said they were at a stopping point: no more bricks.

One funny thing: after I set the 8 bricks and then excused myself back to the van as I could see people beginning to congregate there, Paul (featured in the picture) asked me to buy him a drink. I was like, "no way, man; you should buy me a drink for helping..." but then I wondered just how much money they were making per hour. Probably not much.

Fred and I do this thing where we take pictures of gifts we "would" buy for each other. This is what I would have bought for him:

2:03pm EAT Wednesday 18 January 2006

Wow. What an incredible blessing - this safari adventure will happily augment my long term memories. People paid 31,000 yen each for this trip. It's well worth it.

The timezone is appropriate: we just chowed a buffet of delicious salads and shark and pork and greens and pumpkin soup worth licking the bowl. We haven't seen many animals yet, but there've been plenty of birds and in the distance, some impalas and a dikdik (sp) on the way into this reserve.

The temperature in the shade is a comfortable warm. The sun blazes a bit too much to hang out in it for long. I couldn't bear to be barefoot on the concrete. Well, I did for a bit, but just barely.

This lodge consists of five connected buildings. The building in the middle is mostly a huge roof over a polished marble floor and solid wooden dining tables and chairs in between. The roof is thatched reeds, with huge urns to catch water in the corners, though the rest of the lodge is so modern I *doubt* that is a primary source of water here.

The two buildings on each side of the big roof are like motels, with stairs on one side connecting everything and private balconies on the other side, connecting us to the Kenyan Savannah

We saw these and a few other animals at the water hole right behind the lodge:

7:03pm EAT Wednesday 18 January 2006

Just got back from safari. Wow.

Elephants, giraffes, zebras, impalas, cheetahs, lions....

8:46pm EAT Wednesday 18 January 2006

Incredible food again. Actually the same types of food (which explains how they keep from throwing stuff away) and all fresh and delicious.

This is me with Peter, who is apparently pretty famous in Kenya. He's really an amazing man.

Peter's Band is about to start.

10:16pm EAT Wednesday 18 January 2006

Wow. Awesome show with lots of audience participation on stage. I thanked the performers afterward and one of them asked, "how do you like Kenyan music?"

I love it.... it makes me fly.

Bedtime now; we're supposed to be up at 5:30am.