The Mombasa not so Express!

Wow a lot has happened since my last post about 2 weeks ago! I am really beginning to get use to the fact that I live in Kenya and will be living here for a year. Nairobi is really becoming home to me and I can’t wait to see what the year brings.

Mombasa was fun and crazy at the same time. Mombasa is completely different than Nairobi. It seemed like everywhere we went there was a mazungu(white person in Kiswahili) unlike Nairobi where most of the time the mazungu only hang out at the various malls in the city. Mombasa is very much of a tourist trap and reminded me a lot of Florida. There were beach resorts and very touristy shops and the weather was just like Florida’s as well; hot and humid! We were very busy while in Mombasa with waking up early and going to bed really late! We learned a lot while in Mombasa about the culture in Kenya and we also had fun at the beach!

The trip to Mombasa was a really long trip, just about 9 hours! Now I have done a longer trip from FL to NC but that is in an air-conditioned car on relatively smooth roads. This trip was in an old safari van on a not so smooth road with towns in between that have massive speed bumps! Even though the trip was long we were however able to see antelope and zebra on the side of the road! Once we finally arrived in Mombasa around 10pm we got to our hostel; this would be my first stay at a hostel and this was a pretty cheap one! I finally got over the sketchiness and just thought that I was just camping.

During the 5 days at Mombasa we learned a lot while having tons of fun! We went to ruins of the town of Gede and learned about that culture. We walked on the beach of the Indian ocean; which that makes 3 oceans I have been to now. We also got a chance to go snorkeling in the Indian ocean right off the coast of Tanzania and Kenya! All in all we had a blast the whole time that we were there.

The ride back to Nairobi was super long just like on the way there expect I was able to sleep a lot more since I was so tired! We also saw baboons on the way back as well! We have started back in our normal routines and will be starting at our new jobs hopefully on Monday!

*Update on my housing for the year is…I don’t know yet lol I think I am looking for an apartment on Friday but I’m not sure. All I know I will be living alone in Karen in an apartment near my work.

Until next time! :)