Mombasa

Last weekend was our Midterm break - already halfway through our first term, which ends on Thanksgiving Day. Wow! I decided to live our 4 days off to the fullest, and head for Mombasa with some other RVA staff and short-termers. So Friday we headed to the bus station, got on an overnight bus at 10pm, and woke up in Mombasa. Or rather, I REALLY woke up around lunch time on Saturday . . . thanks to Dramamine, the wonder drug.

The beach was gorgeous . . . white sands, Indian Ocean, framed by a reef.



We had a lot of interesting encounters with the locals. This is Dennis, who owned a shop on the beach and was eager for conversation. He appreciated my halting efforts in Swahili and the fact that my missionary occupation afforded a meager budget.



My absolute favorite part was snorkeling. We tried to swim out to the reef and were astounded by the multitude of sea urchins - it was like a minefield! Made me nervous to play in the waves later, but during high tide we were far away from them. The next day we opted for the glass-bottom boat, captained by Ali and Adam. We puttered out to a sand bar and dropped anchor amongst a fleet of sunburned tourists. I was dubious about the quality of snorkeling, given the laarge amount of neon snorkels bobbing around the area - but I was pleasantly surprised!



Ali started the entertainment by feeding the fish underneath the glass of the boat. When it was time to jump in I donned my rented snorkel gear but was surprised by a small crustacean in the tube . . . "Ali, there's an animal in my snorkel!" Ali also thought it was fun to throw pieces of bread at my face so that the fish would swarm me and dart at my eyeballs . . . but the snorkeling was good! Besides a host of regular tropical fish and starfish and urchins, we saw two lion fish, a family of clown fish, an eel or snake, and a giant dying fish that I was quite impressed by. And I got a picture under the boat:


The hotel provided some night entertainment, including traditional dancing that of course included audience participation. Contrary to what the picture might convey, I was not the only white person up there . . .


And they had a giant chess set. Here I am with Amber, modeling the African carvings . . .



And of course, camels on the beach.



Here we all are, the beach gang, happy and tan!