Weekend in Mombasa

I had the privilege of spending my last weekend in Kenya in Mombasa. It kinda felt like 'home' - the warm weather, the ocean..... It was a nice little "vacation" before I came back to work and real life.

The view from our room - looks like Saipan, right?

The beach out front the hotel - I loved the bright, colourful sarongs flapping in the breeze and the grumpy camel waiting to be ridden.

It was Ramadan while I was there, so there were mass meetings going on downtown in the public square.

It's a very crowded city - people everywhere! And as you can see, the majority of people in Mombasa are Muslim, and many from Arabic descent. On more than one occasion I was asked if I spoke Arabic or if I was from Mombasa.

My friend Anke just moved to Mombasa for a year to conduct a project (building a preschool and helping the community get agriculture going) for A Better World. While I was there visiting her, she toured me around a bit downtown Mombasa which is where the Old Town and Fort Jesus is located.

Here, you can see Fort Jesus in the background. It was originally started by Arabs and then taken over and continued by Portuguese. The layout is in the shape of a cross which is why it is called Fort Jesus.

Inside the fort, these gates lead down to the water. It used to extend all the way to the water, but the island of Mombasa is built on live coral and so as it grows it has grown up and away from the water.

Here you can see how high the Arabs has built the original wall and where the Portuguese continued to build it higher.

I had a Marilyn Monroe moment as the wind tried to lift my skirt!

These were original drawings that were found on the walls of the fort that have been restored.

I loved all the colourful artwork that was on display, but since I couldn't bring it all home, I decided to just take a picture of it.

This is the oldest street in the Old Town Mombasa

A typical view down by the water

The oldest mosque in town.

Early Monday morning, I was on the first plane headed back to America. I was delighted that my last glimpse of Africa was of Kilimanjaro!