From Nov 15th:
Last week was the KCPE exam (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) – the exam that all the Class Eights take to determine if they pass out of primary school and qualify for secondary school. We had just a little involvement with this class, so we wished them luck but otherwise didn’t have anything to do with the exam. Because the exam is a major event and our school was used as a testing center, Lesley didn’t teach M-Th, so we took the opportunity to go into Mombasa for some errands. On our to-do list was going to the immigration office, public library, grocery store, and maybe visit a friend.
A wise man once said you should only try to accomplish one thing a day in Mombasa, and we probably should have heeded this advice, although we did manage to have fun. After sitting through ridiculous traffic in the matatu, we arrived downtown. We were thrilled that our map of Mombasa (conventiently purchased in the US, since they NEVER use maps here) actually had the location of the immigration office shown. So, we walked about 6 blocks and arrived at … a bank. We asked the bank watchmen where the immigration office was … after asking around, they pointed down a long road and said, when you reach a big turnabout, go to the right. Ok, so we headed down the road … after more than a mile, we finally reached a turnabout – a turnabout with two roads to the right! One of them looked like government offices, so we walked through there, and asked for directions again – they said to take the other road, of course. We headed through a beautiful park and up the other road, and after a few blocks found a big building with the office. When we arrived, they told us it was lunch time and to come back in an hour!
Picture: park near government offices - these trees look like they have roots growing from the branches (don't know if they really do or not)
A wise man once said you should only try to accomplish one thing a day in Mombasa, and we probably should have heeded this advice, although we did manage to have fun. After sitting through ridiculous traffic in the matatu, we arrived downtown. We were thrilled that our map of Mombasa (conventiently purchased in the US, since they NEVER use maps here) actually had the location of the immigration office shown. So, we walked about 6 blocks and arrived at … a bank. We asked the bank watchmen where the immigration office was … after asking around, they pointed down a long road and said, when you reach a big turnabout, go to the right. Ok, so we headed down the road … after more than a mile, we finally reached a turnabout – a turnabout with two roads to the right! One of them looked like government offices, so we walked through there, and asked for directions again – they said to take the other road, of course. We headed through a beautiful park and up the other road, and after a few blocks found a big building with the office. When we arrived, they told us it was lunch time and to come back in an hour!
Picture: park near government offices - these trees look like they have roots growing from the branches (don't know if they really do or not)
As we had walked the last few blocks we noticed signs for Fort Jesus, a major historical site in Mombasa. So I asked a man standing near the office about how to get there – he said he would walk us there on his way to lunch. As we walked, we discovered he worked for the immigration department, and he was very friendly and helpful. We got to Fort Jesus and took about two hours to be tourists, which was really fun. We got a guided tour, bought some presents at local shops, and just generally relaxed (and thankfully, due to having our volunteer paperwork with us because of our immigration errand, got a drastically reduced price at the entrance!).
Picture: inside the fort
Fort Jesus was a fort founded by the Portugese in the 1500’s, and has since been controlled by them, the Arabs in Oman, the sultan of Zanzibar, the British, and Kenyans. The history was pretty interesting – whoever controlled Fort Jesus basically controlled Mombasa and the coastal region. The views were beautiful, too.
Picture: One of the famous carved doors of Mombasa
Picture: Chris, on the lookout for pirates, or maybe cute girls ;-)
After being tourists we went back to immigration and managed to take care of our visas without trouble (or bribery), thanks to our new friend. Then, realizing it was getting late, we skipped going to Nyali (north of the city), and took a matatu to a Nakumatt we hadn’t been to before but was theoretically closer. We stocked up on groceries and finally bought a FAN! Since that day I think we have slept better than ever before (it is about 85-90* F, 80% humidity). We grabbed dinner and eventually we got a ride back to the bus and headed home, long after dark. It was a pretty typical excursion to Mombasa – random, long, exhausting, and fun!
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