What a world! You hear all these tales of danger and how buses are soooo slow that you'll come up with quantum physics equations before it hits your destination. Too bad were so intuitively good at choosing buslines that we were in Malindi by 9.10am. What a shock, right on time! And no, it's not dangerous. More dangerous than riding a Finnish bus, sure, but as long as the driver is sober (which was our case) they are able to get you from one point to the other without ending the tale in a heartbreaking tragedy (yes, what would the world do without us?).Granted, when the bus was nearly driving in a 45-degree angle I was a little doubtful of any existence of divine deity, but the old man upstairs got us to safety so no problem ( not for Anu at least, she was sleeping the whole time). So…Malindi. Not Mombasa, that's for sure. It is an Italian beach resort, but we have to remember that in Africa a tourist locale means that there are a whopping 10000 Africans for every milk-skinned man and maiden. In other words, too many tourists for hardcore travellers like us! Just kidding, it's great! The atmosphere is that of a small African town, and that's what Malindi basically is. Sure, it's a bit big to be called a small town, but people are friendly, there are a lot of excursions and activities to be booked from here and prices are fair (about 2 euros for a meal, and 1 for a bottle of beer, with a night in a guest house weighing at 7,5 euros). Some of the bigger luxury hotels have spoiled the seaside a bit, but those are far away from the main area where we're staying at. Our first day passed by with exchanging money, buying groceries, getting used to getting lost in a town where it shouldn't be possible, and checking our e-mail in a local cybercafé. .. and sleep.

After a day like that who doesn't want to go on a snorkeling trip in the beautiful Indian Ocean? Well, that's what we did, booking the trip through our guest house the previous day. What happened was that when we got breakfast this morning Lawrence (one of the employees)informed us that the trip could not happen because he couldn't find a group for us. We said hakuna matata and let him know that it's okay, we'll do it another time. Now, as a proud Kenyan Lawrence was NOT ready to give up that easily, and seeing our puppy eyes he leaped into action like ACTION MAN! He phoned millions of places and after just 5 minutes of toast eating he said he had arranged a tuk-tuk to take us to a group that was going snorkeling.Only thing was, we had to leave NOW! Well, he said that, but let us eat our breakfast hastily, after which we ran with our stuff (after quickly paying for the trip) to the tuk-tuk, whose driver decided to stop speeding like a madman halfway and get some melons from a nearby fruit vendor. Oh those Africans, buying groceries in the middle of an important transportation operation. Well, obviously we had a lot of fun and soon enough we got to the beach where the boat was waiting, with a boatful of dissatisfied-looking Italians inside. Now I know why we had to hurry! The boat took off and the main attractions were the beautiful sea and the fact that we got to sit on the roof of the boat, where the view was great and where we didn't get wet from the occasional wave that broke against the boat. Seeing that we are quite the smart pair, we thought of this first and soon enough the Italians followed like a good flock follows its shepherd. Too bad the result is the same, 12 brainless idiots stuck on a roof that is too small to house such a number, which is why we got back down as Italian courtesy set in (meaning deciding to sunbathe on a boat roof that is already too small for a certain number of people, but having the manners to say "scusi" before doing so) . The boat was small, about 6 meters long and 2,5 wide, but it was nice and "authentic". We went around and round, stopping by an island to fuel ourselves with freshly caught barracudas, crabs and shrimps, all grilled and served with a great tomato-coconut sauce and rice. We also got to try some real coconut (the kind that is NOT sweet), bananas, pineapple and African melons.In short, best damn meal we've had in a while. Too bad the snorkeling part of our snorkeling trip was not a success, the tides were too strong and made it nigh impossible to snorkel properly. Luckily the boat had a seaview window on the bottom which enabled us to see the fish regardless. Oh well, a small disappointment to an otherwise perfect trip. We took a tuk-tuk back and went to sleep. After a nap we got some Indian food 2 euros a head and now, as I'm writing this, I'm pretty sure this is how our African trip is supposed to happen :) Good night folks!

ANU:

Nyt ollaan Malindilla. Huh. Alkupaniikki on ohi, ja ylitseampuva vainoharhaisuus on jätetty taakse. Ei tosin mikään ihmekkään että rupeaa ahdistamaan jos lukee bussiturmista, ryöstöistä, raiskauksista tms. Bussimatka oli mitä mukavin, en ymmärrä miksi monet karttaa täällä bussien käyttöä kokonaan. Totta on, että bussi oli rähjäinen, pieni ja ilman turvavöitä, kuski ajoi melko lujaa ja välillä oltiin väärässä kulmassa mutta ei se turvattomalta tuntunut. Eikä koko bussi pomppinut ylös alas teiden takia. Tietysti oltiin otettu pahoinvointilääkkeet ennen matkaa, kun meidän massut ei kestä suomessakaan, mutta kaiken kaikkiaan hyvä matka. Bussi myös lähti ja oli perillä ajallaan, mitä monet on varoitellut nettien keskustelupalstoilla (taas huomataan se että vain negatiivisistä asioista kirjoitetaan). Oltiin varauduttu monien tuntien viivästykseen. No, Malindi on turistirysä, mikä tarkoittaa Kenian mittapuulla yhtä valkonaamaa per 10 000 paikallista. Italialaiset on piilossa isoissa turistikyliä muistuttavissa hotelleissaan, meidän b&b on itse Malindin keskustassa.

Heti kun tänne pääsi niin tuli hyvä olo. Rennompi, afrikkalaisempi ja ystävällisempi ilmapiiri. Intian valtameri on vieressä valkoisineen rantoineen. Tämä on sitä afrikkaa mitä tultiin hakemaan! Sielu lepää. Ja tuk-tuk taksit rulettaa.Taidetaankin jäädä tänne vähän useammaksi päiväksi, sillä innostuttiin tekemään retkiä. Tulopäivänä otettiin rennosti ja syötiin hyvin turistiravintolassa (paras ateria mitä olen koskaan syönyt, salaatti ja napsijakalaa NAMMM! 4€ hintaan). Tänään käytiin snorkalusretkellä, jonka meidän todella avulias b&b pitäjä järkkäsi puoleen hintaan. Istuttiin paatin katolla, katseltiin turkoosia merta ja uitiin. Syötiin veneessä täplärapuja, barrakudaa, jättikatkaravun pyrstöjä ja riisiä. En yleensä tykkää syödä mitään millä on silmät mutta maistoin. Barrakuda oli tosi hyvää, rapu ei oikein sovi omaan ruokaympyrääni. Rentouttavaa oli, vaikka itse snorklaus ei onnistunut ihan niin hyvin kuin olisin toivonut, allot oli kovat joten hyvänä uimarina itsellänikin oli vaikeuksia. Kuitenkin hieno kokemus. Huomenna ehkä Geden raunioille, sitten ehkä kahden päivän safari Tsavon luonnonpuistoon. Vielä on suunnitelmat auki. Nyt tuli nälkä joten ruokaa etsimään!