Living the Mombasa Dream

As I briefly mentioned in the last post, my trip to the coast last week was AMAZING!  After our adventures on the drive down, we got settled into our house for the week at Marijiani Beach Cottages.  We'd rented a three-bedroom house for the 7 of us to share, and it turned out to be an incredible swahili-style "home" for four nights.  The kitchen and living room were on the third floor and had completely open walls, providing a constant breeze and an incredible view over the treetops of the forest that comes close to the beach.  The house is part of a neighborhood with about 15 homes, and they all share a gorgeous pool just next to the beach and the Indian Ocean.

For three whole days, Jane and I did our best to relax and just enjoy life.  We spent many hours by the pool reading, swimming around, and watching the dozens of monkeys that jumped around in the palm trees and even snuck up to drink out of the pool!  One afternoon our whole group walked down the beach about thirty minutes to an area that is unprotected by the Diani reef, opening a hole for big waves to come all the way up to the beach.  Another morning at low tide, we scrambled along the rocks and reef to the "Tiwi pools," holes in the reef under giant overhanging rocks that create amazing little swimming holes.  About ten feet deep and crystal clear, guarded by jagged rocks and sea urchins, the pools seemed like the perfect place to hide a pirate's treasure (not too far out of the question, considering all of the Indian Ocean pirating that takes place just off the coast - we managed to avoid the Somali buccaneers though).

Being at the coast provides the perfect opportunity for some seafood, so one morning we asked our housekeeper (who also did all our dishes each day - sweet!) to talk to a fisherman and get us some shrimp or squid.  We ended up with 3kg of fresh-caught squid, which the fisherman cleaned next to our house and threw in the fridge.  That night, Jane cut them up and magically turned them into delicious fried calamari...combine that with cornbread, roasted potatoes, veggies, and brownies and you've got a ridiculously awesome meal!  For our last night we celebrated by driving down the beach a bit to a seafood restaurant right on the coast.  We all sat at a table in the sand under the full moon and ate our fill of fish and shrimp, which made for a perfect finale to the week.

Praise God for great friends, relaxation, and a fantastic week of memories!  It's hard to believe that Tiwi Beach is in the same country as Limuru - they seem like worlds apart - but I'm so thankful for the chance to experience another part of this fascinating country.