Beach Bum
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a “Here’s a Specific List of What I’ve Been Doing” entry. In short, I haven’t been doing much—and, after my whirlwind tour of seemingly every fort, palace, and temple in India, not doing much is a great thing. Since leaving Nairobi, I’ve been slowly exploring many beautiful beaches along Kenya’s coast, stopping in Mombasa (the country’s second largest city) and the small towns of Kilifi, Watamu, and Malindi before reaching my current destination of Lamu.
The Kenyan coast is magical. The Swahili culture, a blend of African and Arab heritage created from a long history of trade between the two societies, dominates the region. While wandering down tiny stone streets lined by houses with elaborately carved wooden doors and arched windows, I pass countless women in black robes and veils and men in white gowns and embroidered caps, some of whom look African and others who have distinctly Arab features, but all of whom are native Kenyans. Five times a day, you hear the call to prayer from the neighborhood mosque. Then, approaching the ocean, I can sink my feet into gorgeous white sand beaches, dotted with coconut-heavy palm trees, on the edge of blue, shallow waters.
Yesterday, I took a break from dozing on the beach to join a dhow trip with several Americans and a Canadian I met at my guesthouse. (A dhow is a traditional sailboat used by some societies around the Indian Ocean.) We sailed to a nearby island (and, with the strong winds, thought that we might capsize on the way, just as our captain cheerfully suggested), tried to fish (let’s just say that we all would have starved if there wasn’t a market nearby), and then had an excellent lunch of grilled fish, vegetables cooked in coconut milk, rice, passion fruit and bananas on the beach. It was a fantastic day.
Today was another day at the beach and tomorrow will probably be more of the same. And that’s not a bad thing.
Tags: Kenya, RTW 07/08
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