Tuesday 7 Feb

We woke up with Jen at about 7. Enjoyed some coffee, mangos and bananas on the balcony. Jen really has the mornings figured out! She took off to work and Tommy and I were on our own for the day.
We ventured out on our first solo matatu ride. It went fairly well. We took a small detour due to a communication error but made it to our destination!
We stopped by city mall, the one with all the security, and stocked up on water. We grabbed another matatu to the end of a street where a place called Bombalulu Workshop lies. It is a place where disabled Kenyans are given wheelchairs and a place to work so they can have a place to live and eat.
We got turned around after getting off the matatu but the locals were friendly when we asked them where to go.
There are no street signs in Mombasa. In fact, there are no addresses. This makes things difficult to find and even give directions to. Jen has no address. She is number 9 on the road that goes to the show grounds. You have to know landmarks to understand directions. You ask someone "where is so and so
Restaurant", they say "it's down the road a bit" while indicating with their arm a distance. Little arm movement, not far. Large arm movement, far.
We walked down the dirt road(very few roads are paved, most are dirt and if they are paved they have potholes that put sinkholes to shame) through street shops till we came to the gate.
We went inside and paid for a tour. A nice man led us through workshops where people were making jewelry, leather goods, screen printing fabrics and tending a nursery. They have a display of the different dwellings of the different tribes in Kenya, including "Obamas grandaddys house". Then there was traditional dancing. It included audience participation and Tommy really showed them up. He was involved in a dance off with the main dancer by the end of the show and unfortunately had my camera in his pocket. Priceless. Who knew he had those moves?!
We bought a few goods and took off. We walked the street of shops and caught another matatu. We were getting the whole matatu thing down. We had even managed to not get overcharged.
We stopped off at the French cafe at city mall. We normally live on a diet of bread and cheese so we were going through withdrawals. We ordered way too much food of bread and cheese and were happy. Then off again!
We grabbed a matatu the other direction to a place called Haller Park. The matatu drivers were laughing and we didn't know why, then after about 500yards they pulled over and we were in front of Haller Park. They gladly took our money. We could have easily walked from city mall but we didn't know it was so close(short arm movement).
Haller park is an animal farm/zoo that's built by Haller Concrete Co. after they strip mined the area. They raise tilapia on the farm and used to raise crocodile for meat until it became unpopular. Now they run a zoo with giraffes, alligators, crocodiles, hippos, tortoises, and snakes. We paid a cost to get in and were given a guide(everything here seems to have a guide). It was fantastic! We got to feed giraffes, pet giant tortoises, see hippos eat and gaze at giant crocodiles. That, and there were monkeys everywhere! So great! Well until I noticed some water splashing on my leg...I backed up and looked up and a monkey above us in the tree was straddling a branch and peeing right above us. I'm assuming getting peed on by a monkey in a tree above is good luck.
We grabbed a matatu back to Jens which went quite smoothly. We washed up and were just in time for our reservations at The Tamarind Dhow. A restaurant on a boat that tours the harbor. It got good reviews in our tour books and Jen said friends had a good time so we set sail. It was beautiful! It's a beautiful wooden boat in which we cruised up the river past Ft Jesus and under the Nyali bridge towards the cosway. We ate a 5 course meal with a live reggae band playing. It was epically romantic! We danced a little(there were about 15 other people on the boat) and were the only ones. The full moon really made it even more amazing. Great night!
After a day of dancing, feeding giraffes, and romancing under a full moon, we hit the hay!