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I can't believe it's June already, and I left home in April, it's crazy!!! It's my last week in Mombasa and my last few days with the kids. They keep asking me to stay with them, it's heartbreaking leaving them, and I will miss them so much. I have a few suprises planned for them on Friday. I have bought each of them a new exercise book and pens, I have a rugby ball for them, Manchester United stickers which Mum very kindly posted on to Kenya and I'm sure they will love. I also have sweets for a little party and individual photos of me with each child with a small note on the back of each. I may also get them some bananas and I would like to get a dvd for the orphanage. So all in all, I hope they will be quite happy. So that's the plan for Friday-a party at the school then maybe a goodbye assembly then we may go for a meal out in the evening to say goodbye to me and also Sophie who is leaving on Sunday to go to South Africa.
I have had to squash quite a lot in a very short time because on Tuesday and Wednesday I wasn't well. I have been suffering with really bad headaches so I was off work on Wednesday, which I hated because I want to spend all of my time with the kids before I go.
I also got some bad news on Wednesday, my auntie Theresa who has been ill for a while passed away. Even though I knew it may happen, it's an awful feeling not being able to go to the funeral or be with family who are all so upset at losing her. She was an amazing woman and I know that she would much rather that I stayed here and carried on with my journey rather than came home. Some of the children wrote to her so she was really happy about that. I feel as if my trip is for her now, she was one of the people who encouraged me to do something meaningful in my gap year and I know she felt very strongly about what I'm doing so I hope she is proud of me.
This weekend wasn't great; we had a few problems when we went to Malindi. It could have been a lot worse though and we did get some good sun on a beautiful beach. It's about 2 hours from Mombasa to Malindi so we got the bus. It was 180shillings, which is only about £1.50! Can you imagine getting a 2hour journey for that price in England??!! We had been told about a hotel, which was really nice and cheap called 'African Pearl' so we went looking for this one. When we got there, we weren't very impressed with what we saw. It looked as if the place was being refurbished; there was wood everywhere and the pool was a dark, murky green. The hotel also didn't have a great menu. Even though it was cheap, we had gone away for a nice relaxing weekend where we could stay in a nice hotel so we went looking for another. Next we found 'Seaview Hotel' This was a bit more expensive and out of our budget so we tried another. When it became clear that we weren't going to find anywhere else we had a go at bartering the price down. Imagine doing that in England too! (It's so fun here!) Sophie managed to get the price down to something we could afford that included breakfast so it was a big success. We had lunch then headed for the market that we had heard so much about. We had been told that Malindi has a huge market full of souvenirs so we knew what we were looking for. We got a tuc tuc (a 3 wheeled vehicle with a roof which can carry 3 passengers) and asked it to take us to the new market. When we got there, it was obvious this was not what we wanted to we tried again. We went to the old market, which again was not what we wanted. It was a simple market selling only fruit and pots and pans. We were a bit confused but decided to have a walk around. We managed to acquire a guide who wanted to show us jewellery. It was laid out on a blanket on the floor and was the only stall in view. This was again not what we were looking for. It was only when we mentioned the magic word 'souvenirs' after about an hour that they knew where we wanted to go-'Malindi Tourist Market' wasn't that obvious to start with?! Anyway, this was a huge market, there are about 100shops, all selling pretty much the same items with a lot of bartering involved. I bought a couple of presents but some things I bought were purely because the people wouldn't let u leave the shop if you didn't buy something. I traded it at Mombasa Market for things I did want later. Because there haven't been many tourists lately because of the violence in Kenya, the market traders haven't made as much money as usual. This meant that some were quite desperate for you to buy something and if you didn't they got quite angry. The first shop that we went in was owned by a man who took it very personally that we didn't buy anything. He said us English were only window shoppers and that we should buy something. I don't know how they expect us to buy something from every place though, especially when everything is so overpriced! We had enough of the market quite quickly after that and felt very pressured to buy things. We left as soon as we got a chance (which really wasn't easy) We got a tuc tuc back to the hotel and had a bit of a rest. I have written my menu for the week when I get home. I have at least 3 meals everyday and on my first day back, I have about 6!! We went out for dinner to a very nice restaurant near to the beach. It was called The Fisherman and The Sea and served beautiful food. I am excited by any food with taste now because everything I have been getting seems so bland. We had a good nights sleep after a spider incident!
In the morning we had our breakfast at the hotel and it was one of the best breakfasts I have had since being here. I got fruit, followed by toast and jam, followed by scrambled egg on toast with bacon and sausages, all accompanied by amazing passion juice and tea. Definitely worth the hassle of bartering for the hotel!! We checked out straight after breakfast and caught a matatu to Watamu, which is about ½ hour outside of Malindi. We asked to be taken to the beach and they let us out on the road leading down to it. We had a quick stop at a supermarket where I found Mcvities Rich Teas (small luxury) and a lion bar (big luxury). While walking down to the beach, we managed to acquire some more guides who took us off the beaten track through a village where the lanes were so narrow. It was a bit of a hostel moment, it kind of felt like they were leading us to some house somewhere and they were going to kidnap us. But that's a bit drastic; they actually just led us to the beautiful beach, which literally was like paradise. We were sunbathing for a few hours, constantly being approached by beach boys. Most beach boys are ok and are happy just to chat but the odd one is a bit crazy. We came across one crazy one just before we left; in fact, he was the reason we left. A man approached me and asked me to get some water from the sea for him, I told him that I was scared of the sea so I couldn't then he got quite cross. He walked away and when he came back, he was dragging with him part of a ship. Sophie asked me what it was and he must have heard. He put his things down and came storming over demanding to know what she said. When she said nothing, he pushed her. She grabbed my arm, obviously very scared and he told her to 'look over there' when she said no, he raised his arm to her as if to hit her and told her never to come here again. She was so scared and we made the decision to leave but I felt really calm, not shocked or angry, just calm, as if I'm used to this savage behaviour from some people now. Like the man who tried to steal my bag. Luckily we had met an English guy on the beach and he knew the way back to the road because we would never have found our way through the village again. The crazy beach boy really did spoil an amazing afternoon. But we still had more to contend with. We didn't know where the bus stops in Watamu so we had to get a matatu all the way back to Mombasa, it was such an uncomfortable ride and we had a huge argument with the conductor about how much we should pay. Overall, our weekend was good but the little things spoiled it, it would have been amazing had it run more smoothly.
The weather at the moment in Mombasa is amazing. I was a bit sick of the rain but for the past four days it's been sunny and hot.
So, by this time next week I will be on my overlanding tour, which I am getting quite excited about now. I feel as though on Friday I finish work and go on holiday for six weeks. I'm not sure how often I'm going to be able to write my blog. I hope I will get lots of opportunities because I will have so much to tell. But if not, I'm keeping a diary so I won't forget anything and I can tell everyone when I get home. I feel as if this is goodbye for the foreseeable future. So if I can't get to the internet on my travels, I'm thinking of you all and I miss you while I'm gone.
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