Week 8

February 20-24th

Lamu is the most amazing place on earth...no exaggeration. We arrived at the airport in Lamu on Wednesday in the early afternoon. The airport is seriously a bunch of benches and a big cement area where you talk to the plane, which seats about 30 people. Once we landed we collected our things and boarded a dhow, which is the local sailboat of Lamu and sailed on over to Lamutown where we spent our first 2 nights at a hotel called Stonehouse.

Lamu town consists of 2 main roads, donkeys, and Islamic people and it is amazing! I had some great seafood, played with some donkeys and met amazing people.

Thursday I spent the entire afternoon sailing and swimming in the Indian Ocean, which is beautiful and so warm. Mike, both Amandas, Kim, Liz, Rachael, Ayah and I each spent about 3 dollars to just cruise around with Mohamed (our captain) and Said (our skipper). When we got back to the island we grabbed some seafood, drank the most delicious juice ever on the roof of our hotel and then went to the beach for a bonfire with a bunch of Kenyans we had met the previous day. For some reason they all give each other nicknames, so I ended up hanging out with people named Incognito, Sunflower, and Fishbrain...I can't make this stuff up.

Friday we switch islands and sailed over to Manda Beach for the last 2 nights at a place called Diamond village. We lived in beach huts made of straw and slept under mosquito nets right on the beach. It was really simply and really relaxing. After we arrived we went to the Takwa ruins which is on the other side of the island. Takwa was a village which was abandoned in the early 17th century (I think) when all the fresh water turned to salt water! Everything was made out of old coral and we could still walk through some of the buildings.

The last day and a half were spent lounging on the beach or on the hammocks. Overall and incredibly beautiful and relaxing vacation!

Sadly, it is back to reality this week with two midterms and a paper! Oh well, I am still completely loving life here in Kenya!