Weds 8 Feb

Woke up with Jen again. The call to prayer, roosters and children no longer wake me. We had breakfast and chatted. She left for work and I drank more coffee and watched the city. No monkeys today. Tommy finally woke up and joined me. We showered! Our first non bucket shower! It felt so good.
We grabbed a matatu(I can say this casually now as we truly have it down) to Mombasa town and with 2 full camera batteries and returned to Old Town. It was dreamy to take all the pictures I missed on Monday. It was our last full day in Mombasa so we really wanted to explore. We wandered every back alley and side street. It was generally safe. At one point someone was following us for a considerable time so we back tracked to a popular area. Another time we were in a tiny alley flanked with street shops and I realized I was the only woman not completely covered. We made it out ok and we're never bothered other then people trying to sell us stuff.
When we got to Mombasa I asked Jen what I couldn't take pictures of, she couldn't think of anything until I was taking that picture of the police. She said no pictures of the police! They will take your camera! I asked if there was anything else and she said she thought that was it. So, tommy and I stumbled upon some government compound, I thought the entrance looked neat...I took a picture and out popped a guard with an AK 47 yelling at me about taking pictures! Ok, no pictures of government buildings, check. I still managed a picture of the fire truck on the government grounds, oops!
Lots of people trying to be guides were pestering us left and right. Offering to show us this or that or guide us through this part of town or market. Some would stick with us and not go away despite our rejections others would go back to sitting with their buddies lacking the effort for the sell.
There is a style of doors in Old Town called Marrakech doors that were absolutely beautiful. We were also enamored with the dark alleys of street markets, stray cats and food and spices that were unique to us.
We wandered out of a large Somali market(where I was the only uncovered woman) and grabbed a tuktuk to the clinic to get some Indian food with Jen. We went to a big place not too far from her work. As things go in Mombasa power is unpredictable. The power was off during lunch but ironically Kenya power company was dining in the restaurant also and complaining about the lack of fans...hmmmm. The food was the best Indian food I've ever had. It took forever to get the bill since the register was down and the manual skills weren't the sharpest.
After lunch we had to mail some postcards! This is always an adventure we enjoy at home so finding the Kenyan post office is up our alley! In Kenya the postal service is called Posta. They often say things twice here so it's Posta Posta. Once we found the building it was a pretty smooth affair. The clerk gave us some stamps and water to wet them and told us where to put them and they were off!
I managed to buy some fruit which I haggled for(so proud of myself! I saved 20 cents!) and a dress. We decided to go to a park that overlooks the ferry on he south side of the island. We hopped a matatu and though I thought they were saying docks tommy heard ferry(?) so we got to the docks and wandered around until we asked someone who told us to take a matatu to the ferry...right.
We made it to the ferry and along the park that overlooks and has huge Bilbao trees. There wasn't much there, just a lot of people hassling us to try and sell us things but it was a good perspective of the southern end of Mombasa island. The ferry area was packed with little street shops and a long line of cars waiting. There is a dirt road with massive potholes and hundreds of people and goods waiting to get on. Our trip out there took a while so it was time to meet Jen at the clinic and we headed back via tuktuk.
On our way back to Jens house we got to show off our matatu skills(thanks to her!). Got home, changed and headed to the beach hotels. Every Wednesday she meets a bunch of expats to play volleyball at the hotels beach court and drink beer until dark. It was strange to suddenly be surrounded by white people. It's an interesting dynamic in Mombasa for sure. We all went out to dinner. Delicious BBQ! It was fun to talk to all the expats from various places, some really great people!
We got a ride home and fell asleep quickly.