2013!

It is 2013 and I am spending it like a true tourist here in Mombasa, Kenya.  But first let me tell you about our trip over on New Years Eve.  So we decided to take the bus from Nairobi to Mombasa, which seemed like a good plan, 8 hour bus ride on a nice bus sounded like a wonderful thing from all of us coming from Chad.  So we woke up Monday morning and arrived at the bus station around 8:00am, one hour from the time they said the bus would leave (we wanted to be safe rather than sorry due to traffic, flooding, road construction, etc.).  More passengers started to show up and we were getting ready to depart except no bus.  We did not actually leave the bus station until 11:00 or so.  Then we had a stop to make in down town Nairobi and about 1 hour outside the city we broke down due to oil spraying everywhere.  So that was the downfall (along with only a 10 minute lunch/dinner/bathroom stop).  Here are the highlights….we got to see giraffes, gazelle/antelope type creatures, and 2 elephants!  They also had a stewardess who served drinks (like on an airplane).  We also got to watch the sun set and take in the lovely stars.  I got to say hi to Orion!  We arrived around 10:30pm (instead of the planned 6:00).  We arrived in our room and decided that some food would be good since we only ate 1 real meal earlier.  So we ushered in the New Year with greasy chicken and chips (French fries) in the cool sea breeze.

Today we had the opportunity to go visit friends at a beach side hotel and swim, swim, and swim some more.  We swam in the pool and splashed in the waves, although the coral was quite close so we didn’t get any big waves.  It was lots of fun, but my body was ready for a break from the sun.