Friday 29 March 2013

Watamu-mazing day!

3 on a bike... minutes later we both burnt ourselves on the exhaust pipe. Damn those things get hot!


Watamu, Hemingways hotel

It's happy hour somewhere!


We took a trip to the North coast of Mombasa last week. Myself and Alice, a volunteer here, took a matatu for two hours up the coast for the grand sum of £2.20 - the same price of the fare from my house back home to Leeds city centre. I love Kenya.

On the way there, we were stopped by the police at the side of the road as our matatu was overloaded by two passengers. The two naughty passengers got out and were scolded by the police and a cheeky bribe might have been attempted to be passed between the driver and the police but the police decided to throw the book at them and write down the charges.

As we pulled away, the two passengers tried to jump back on board our fast moving matatu but they were seen by the police and decided it probably wasn't the best decision they'd make that day if they got back on board. So funny.

A little further along the road and there are fewer police and even fewer matatus, so overloading is more possible. At one stage in a 12 seater minivan, we had around 21 people and I was holding a baby all of a sudden with no idea who she belonged to.

Well this baby had clearly not spent much time with pale people like me. She had her little eyes so wide for the entire time I held her but she did not cry. Usually I like to make inappropriate jokes but something kicked in and I refrained from asking how much I could buy her baby for. I must be growing up!

Watamu itself is a small fishing village/town around two hours from Mombasa and it's well worth a visit. The waters are soooooo blue and you can go snorkelling and see piano fish just a few feet offshore. I love Kenya.

We spent a great day shopping, snorkelling and drinking cocktails. I'm good at all of these things. Except maybe snorkelling as I was stung by a jellyfish.

*Sorry, did you just say stung by a jellyfish???*

Yep. Stung. Stung bad. Except it was a baby jellyfish so the hotel staff were not nearly as impressed as I would have liked them to be...

In conclusion: if you go to Watamu, swing by Hemingways hotel and tell them you know me. They won't have a clue what you're talking about by it'll make my day.

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