Hujambo!

We’ve reached Watamu! I’m not sure if that’s what it means, but in Swahili tamu means sweet, and the plural form of people is “wa”, like mkenya (Kenyan) becomes wakenya (Kenyans). I’ve been here before with Sara and some other volunteers. It’s a great little touristy beach getaway with lots of Italians. You can tell there’s an Italian influence because the tuk-tuks say “Piaggio”, the kids shout, “Ciao!”, and there is a gelatto shop on every corner. I’ve been longing for gelatto ever since we left Nairobi so we plan on eating it at least twice a day. We’ve also been eating a lot of mangos; there is a great apple-mango hybrid that is really delicious and cheap. Randi swore left and right that she didn’t like fresh mango but I guess they don’t make ‘em like this in the US. Karibu Kenya (welcome to Kenya)!

Here are a few pictures from Fort Jesus in Mombasa and the beach in Watamu:

We’ve decided we’ll kick it here for a few days before heading back to Nairobi. Just about thirty minutes up the coast is the town of Malindi, where there are more mangos and gelatto to be eaten.

Tumefika salama lakini tumechoka, tumekuwa chafu, na hatujala all day! Dar Es Salaam ilikuwa poa kwasababu tulitembea kila mahali mpaka tulikuwa wenyeji wa huko. Leo ni mwaka mpya so tunajienjoy kwa chumba na maembe na maji safi ya kunywa.

We have arrived safely but we are tired, dirty, and we haven’t eaten all day! Dar Es Salaam was cool because we walked everywhere until we became locals of that place! Today is New Year’s Eve so we are enjoying ourselves in our hotel room with mangos and clean drinking water.

That’s my bit of prose in Swahili. It’s all most people speak in Tanzania, so I had a lot of practice. I guess now I speak Swahili at the level of like a two-year-old kid (I think my vocabulary needs to improve a bit). I’m glad to be back in Kenya, though, because now I can use English and just the fun parts of Swahili: sheng! We spent our last day in Dar Es Salaam walking around the docks investigating smelly fish and eating fresh mangos by the bay. We happened upon a really nice hotel and decided to go in for a cup of coffee and a slice of mud pie. Marble floors, air conditioning, and everything. Very relaxing!
Read more