still alive...

Jambo! I realize it's been quite awhile since I wrote. Life is busy here! In a nutshell, we finished up work at the orphanage and are now traveling! We were all very very sad to leave the kids at Huruma and are going to miss them a lot. It was definitely a life-changing experience being there and getting to know them.

Since we left Nkubu, our group's been dwindling a bit. 4 of the boys were planning to go climb Mt. Kenya but Chris threw his back out working so he and Dylan postponed that. We left Alex and PJ to go climb it (which we heard they did successfully) and they are now traveling to Tanzania to take on Kilimanjaro! Those boys are crazy-2 peaks in 2 weeks! And we definitely miss them! So on our first travel day the rest of us took a bus to Nairobi then an overnight train to Mombasa. The price was well worth the sleeping compartments for 17 hours-sitting on a bus would have been torture! We also went through Tsavo National Park so saw wildlife out the windows of the train in the daytime. The train was actually really fun; my first time on a long train ride. We're also going to take it back to Nairobi in the end. The 8 of us spent two nights in a hostel in Mombasa exploring the city a bit. Got my first look at the Indian Ocean! The coast is definitely tourist land, so it's been very nice not to be stared at and hassled wherever we go. Also there's pizza and ice cream around! Although the Swahili food on the coast is great and very healthy, so I've been sticking to that. It's a lot like Indian food, with tons of curry and stuff. We left Diane in Mombasa (she had other plans), and the now 7 of us took a 6 hour bus ride up to Lamu Island a few days ago, which is where we are now. I was so excited for Lamu and my excitement was totally justified. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT HERE. I think that it's probably my favorite place I've ever been in my life-so close to paradise. What it is is this awesome island archipelago right of the coast of Kenya which is considered one of the seats of Swahili culture. It's so unique because of the incredible mix of different cultures here. There are Africans, Indians, and Arabs who have all grown up here. Obviously, it's predominantly Muslim so we hear the "call to prayer" from the mosques in the morning and see lots of women in birkahs walking around. There are also lots of Rastafarian type people here who are all very interesting of course! The architecture of the town is just beautiful! These ancient open-air stone buildings with thatch roofs and carved wooden doors. We're staying in an actual Swahili house that they rent out to guests and it's the coolest place I've ever stayed in my life! I have lots of pictures to show when I get home of course. The beaches are also great here (although my sunburn's telling me otherwise right now) and yesterday we went out in a sailing dhow (old wooden Swahili fishing boat) for the day. Sailed around and stopped at another island beach, then had a wonderful lunch on the boat and swam around. Awesome. There are also so many beautiful things to buy here-great colorful fabrics and beaded jewelery and wood carving and everything! Yesterday the other girls and I all got our hands or feet henna tattooed. Hopefully it'll last until I'm home so everyone can see. So basically, I LOVE LAMU and I'm very very sad that we're leaving tomorrow!

But, there are definitely more adventures in store. Tomorrow we all take a bus back south to Mombasa, where Dylan and Chris will split off to go back to Mt. Kenya. (Chris's back is better thankfully.) Azim doesn't like the beach so he's staying in Mombasa, so it'll be down to just the 4 of us girls (Lisa, Bari, Kristie, and I). Those three happen to be my closest friends in the group so it's going to be an awesome time for us. We're going further south to Diani Beach and Tiwi Beach. Yep, we can't get enough of the beach. We'll be relaxing there for 5 days before we take the train back to Nairobi to reunite the group! All 10 of us will hopefully be back together for a couple days in Nairobi before flying home! August 10 is getting closer all the time and as ready as I will be to come home I'm going to miss Kenya a lot!

Salama rasta!