Weekend at the Coast

Thursday night - 5 of us took a night bus to Mombasa. We took Horizon bus - one of higher-end buses - which offers a beverage and has a speed governor. We arrived to Mombasa at 5am and then took a private taxi to Diani beach, about a 30 minute drive south of Mombasa. Since it was was still very early, we relaxed at my roommate's friend's house and then 3 of us girls set-out to find our beach chalet. Originally I was going to stay with my roommate but his on/off again girlfriend was with us and so I decided to avoid more relationship drama and stay on the beach with the other girls. In total there was 6 of us girls at the Diani Beach Chalet. Our chalet was 50 meters from the water and was a beautiful rustic cement block. I chose to room with the other American as she had selected the best room facing the water.

To save money and reap the delicious benefits from the sea we decided to cook all our meals and purchased fish from the fish monger. Actually, we didn't cook much of our food and hired a cook for two days. This was a new experience for me and admittadely I was awkward with this arrangement. Aside from the oily calimari, Hassan's food was amazing and we stuffed our gobs twice a day until exhaustion.My favorite dish of Hassan's was his red snapper curry, this with the mango salsa I made was terribly delicious. The shrimp though on the Indian coast has a very different texture and flavor then shrimps in the Adriatic and Atlantic - it's chewier with a stronger fish flavor. I keep trying the shrimp with the hope of a different taste but I think now I'll put shrimp on hold. The red snapper and king fish in the Indian Ocean are incredible.

Our days at the beach were spent bobbing in the low tide next to white sand beaches and camels trotting back and forth. Between 2 and 5pm we frolicked in the waves. Each morning I set out for a long walk down the beach but the brightness of the sun's reflection off the sand was blinding and I always surrendered to the turquoise clear water. The beach boys on the coast were frustrating at first but I found that by walking suddenly in the opposite direction or asking to be alone (when you were alone) was effective. Beach boys are boys and men who hangout on the beach waiting to pounce on expats - women in particular- in hope of getting something from action, money, anything. You can't blame them because it does work as we saw several pasty white middle-aged Scandinavians and Eastern European women glued to young Kenyan men. Where we saw these hot couples was at 40 Thieves bar and restaurant, the nightlife "spot" in Diani, where we also saw a lot of ex-US Military and young gap year twenty somethings. I preferred our nugget on the beach away from spring break and surrounded by real monkeys.