The laberynth like streets of Lamu
weaving and intersecting
never knowing where you will come out
donkeys around every corner
some small and meek others big and stout
the women cover their faces
the mosque makes its call 5 times a day
this is one of my new favorite places
the charm of your peoples
and the views from your steeples
Its been only a week since I last wrote and wow what an amazing week it has been. Kenya is situated around the equator line and this causes the illusion of the fastest sunrise and set I have ever seen. I think this creates the feeling of time absolutely flying by. Its been only 2.5 weeks now since I arrived and the things I have experiaced....mind melting. Let me start at where I left of in Malindi. The bus was due to leave at 12:30....so in Kenyan time this means we leave at 2:30. The bus is full and the mid-day sun was making my shirt stick to my skin. Our seat that we were sold where already occupied and this was only the begingin of the trip....it continued in this fashion the whole way to Lamu. Chickens under our seats, people craming in the aisle, the dust pouring in the cracked window as we tear down the dirt road, stoping in every small village along the way to pick up or drop off more people. The ladies run to the windows trying to sell everything from fruit, nuts, hot dogs to goats milk. The suposed 3 hour ride slowly turns into a 5 hour ride and this means arriving at night in a new city...never a good feeling. I am still with the English boy at this point so my tension is lessened as we arrive in the little town on the opposite side of the channel from Lamu. We find a ferry and are immersed in the darkness as we cram onto the motor boat to take us accross. As we make our way throught the channel I feel so alive I look around at the dark faces of the crowded boat....my pale skin glows in the moon light. This is why I am alive to enjoy the moments like this...this feels authentic and I am immersed in the essense of where I am. Its been years since I have traveled in a 3rd world country and today made me remember the majic of the experiance...I am truely happy. Lamu is amazing, one of the oldest cities in Africa, and almost completely Muslim. This is my first time in a Muslim city and its absoulutely incredible. Amazing palace like Mosques all over this tiny island, the call to pray echoing through the small winding streets. So peaceful I could easily spend a lot more time here. The English boy Beanie leaves on Saturday....I am not ready to leave Lamu then so we say our goodbyes and he's gone. I meet some other travelers at a resturant the night before and we all go out on a boat trip sailing around the channels and the small islands surrounding Lamu. I decided that if I am going to continue eating fish that I need to man up and catch a fish and really be involved in the process of fishing. So I try my first hand at fishing...no catch...I try a hand at scaling and cleaning the fish that the others caught, I couldn't bring myself to tear the guts from this being. I still ate the fish for lunch on the boat but I decided then and there that it was my last fish meal.
His name is Patrice, he is the craziest person I have ever met so of course we had a great attraction. He is a French man who works in festivals selling the clothes he buys in India and Nepal, where he spends 7 months a year. He is a paraglider, did I mention hes totally nuts. We left Lamu together on Monday and took a bus together to Mombassa (8 hours), then Tuesday to Nairobi (14 hours in transit).
The original idea was that we would travel to Nanuki together, the base of Mount Kenya. I was thinking about climbing Mt. Kenya and he was meeting a fellow paragliding friend, a white Kenyan called Jamie, who is a piolet. Turns out plans changed, as they almost always do. I found out that I need to go back to Spain in December to meet my grandparents who are coming out to see me there. So I need to sort out how the hell I am going to afford to get back to Spain, which means no fundin to climb Mt. Kenya, you have to do it with a guide and its costing maybe 400USD to climb for 5 days. So Patrice invites me to spend the time with him and go to Rift Valley on the west side of Kenya to paraglide.
This morning we took a 30 minute flight in his friend Jamies small taxi plane (!) from Nairobi to Nanuki. Which brings us to me sitting in this small internet cafe in the itty bitty town of Nanuki right on the Ecuator line at the base of the magestic Mt. Kenya. We are waiting for Jamie to get back from flying some tourists around Kenya then we pack up and head 5 hours over to the Rift Valley...we fly first thing tomorrow morning.
When I found out about the job at Diani going to shit, I shed one tear. But I knew there was something bringing me to Kenya. There was an important reason for me to come and working at Diani obviously was not it. Now I think I know why I was brought to Kenya....I came to learn how to fly.....
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