back from the coast

unfortunately our coastal holiday is over and we are seeing carlynne off in nairobi tonight before heading back to kapsowar. hopefully you will hear more about our time soon, but for now i will just put up a few pics and tell a few stories.

first off, let me say that lamu island is my new favourite place in the world. if you ever find yourself in kenya you need to make your way there. it is a small island and lamu town is small as well, but it was very rich from 1600-1900 as it served as a major trading island for the many goods (and slaves) that were entering and leaving africa from europe, asia and the middle east. thus the town is made up of 200-400 year old tall stone buildings and the people and the culture are an intriguing mix of african/arabic/asian called the swahili. the roads in town are 4-10 feet wide and there are no motorized vehicles on the island (actually we saw one truck - the district commisioners vehicle, but he could only drive it up and down the harbour - and a three wheeled ambulance/rickshaw). the streets are crammed with smiling friendly kids, amiable merchants, beautiful veiled women and donkeys... lots and lots of donkeys.

at one point kylie and carlynne were wandering around the maze of stone streets. they were completely lost and looking up at the nearest building. noticing their bemused exressions, a random passerby looked at them, looked at the building and said succintly, "it is your house". they were standing 15 feet from our front door.

i know i mentioned in a previous post that lamu has many budget guesthouses, but we were seduced by the offer of an entire house all to ourselves and rented the same place for our entire time there at a very reasonable rate. it was a huge old house with an open air terrace on the roof and second floor and a full kitchen and 2 bathrooms. fantastic.

unfortunately the kenyan internet is not allowing me to post any pictures, so that will have to wait until we get home. in addition to wandering the streets, kylie, carlynne and i went sailing on a dhow, played on the beach, ate tasty swahili food (spicy fresh seafood with liberal use of coconut), and lazed around on our roof. while kylie and carlynne were otherwise occupied i went windsurfing and rode a donkey around town (to the amusement of the locals). i also fully embraced the swahili traditional male dress of a loose shirt and a kikoi, basically a loose sarong. the freedom of a skirt combined with the open air movement where it counts were a perfect antidote to the wet heat of the coast. i have declared that i will continue this new practical fashion when we return to a chilliwack summer; kylie is not so sure. luckily, as a modern male, i am completely in charge of my own wardrobe, and any power that kylie appears to wield in this area is illusory at best.

well, tomorrow we head back to kapsowar so hopefully you can see some pictures soon.