Corinnes Africa

well those who know me know I'm not the best when it comes to flying. We are in the Mombasa airport and as we walk down the tarmac outside this is what I saw.  A very small prop plane AND it was windy and raining. That was the longest 40 min of my life. We landed safe and sound and couldn't be happier. Zanzibar is about 80% Islamic. The vibe is very different here. People are not quick to smile at times rude in fact these 2 boys on bicycles flipped Wilson off!!  We will be much more diligent here. The garb especially with the women is extremely conservative. I too am adjusting my dress. It's not looked upon favorably to wear shorts and short sundresses. It was a Muslim holiday yesterday and downtown Stone Town was alive. We sat at this restaurant just observing. We are not in Kansas anymore!! Very excited for this portion of the trip. This is why you travel.  It's the best way to learn other cultures and hopefully become understanding and patience with cultures differen...

 Well saying goodbye to all inclusive Neptune coconut palms. Our helper was so kind as everyone has been thus far. Truly enjoyed our stay but onto new adventures. Back through Mombasa via the ferry back  to our hotel. The closet hotel we could find close to the airport is a far cry from what we have grown accustomed to that's for sure. No beautiful pool wine is horrible and only 1 light in the entire room. At least there isn't any chance we will miss our early flight to Zanzibar spice island. Hopefully it won't be too long of a night. We do get 4 channels on the TV. One kiddie station and 3 news stations. Time to get Wilson's phone and pick out a movie while enjoying a couple of Gin and Tonics. Keep posted on tomorrow. Having high hopes for Zanzibar 

 Well per our schedule we did yoga. Then thought let's go south on the beach and see if there are any restaurants/bars. We kind of want to get out of this all inclusive. Getting a bit claustrophobic here. So we headed south. We couldn't believe just how much plastic was on the beach. Wilson said I'm going to organize another beach clean up. I said we don't have time we leave tomorrow. As we were walking back a group of guys were sitting along the beach wall. Wilson said hey guys how would you guys like to make 500 shillings to pick up plastic trash and if you do a good job will give you each another 500 shillings. They were very excited. The 7 guys organized got 7 bags and went to work.  So we went to lunch Wilson exchanged Whatsapp info. They said they would call when done. Sure enough at 2:00 we got a call. They only had one bag each and filled it and they only worked for 1 hour. As you can tell there was a lot of plastic they could have easily doubled that if we had ...

 Still a pretty mellow day. We did our yoga on the deck. Then we walked the beach north for 3.2 miles per my Fitbit thinking on the main road we would walk back hitting a restaurant or 2. Nope no luck. It was kind of scary really. Since it had been rainy the last couple of days the roads were muddy and slick. So we flagged down a tuktuk and got back just before lunch finished. Around 8 PM after dinner Wilson and I along with a few partiers we have met these last few days bellied up to the bar. Our bartenders were so incredibly witty and just darn right funny. They asked where we were from. We said US and lived in CA. Wilson said I'm a movie star don't you recognize me?  It went downhill from there. So fun many many jokes. I wanted a photo they said you can come back into the bar but for only 5 min so take the photo quickly. No one but employees can be here. So quickly it went. So much fun. They love Obama and like Biden because he was with Obama. Friends was their favorite com...

 Ok unfortunately the photos are not in order. As we were getting to do our yoga practice this aggressive monkey was on our deck not willing to leave. We set out our mars thinking she would take off. But oh no so aggressive she was. Wilson took his towel and did one of those whip it moves with it. That worked. What the security use as you can see in the photo are slingshots with tiny pebbles. They mean business. I've said it before wish I got my rabies vaccine!!  If you can read the Neptune weather forecast sign and by the looks of the palm trees it was windy and by the wet coconuts it's  rainy. So belly up to the bar after lunch-we did do our yoga practice-assumed our position on the lounge and I finished my book. Nothing more sad than coming to the end of a really good book. Thank goodness I brought another to start. Wilson killed me in darts and ping pong BTW. Why is he good at everything!!  Sorry for the boring day!!  Always tomorrow!

 These were taken this morning. The photos don't tell the whole picture. It was a deluge as if the skies opened up. Luckily we were at breakfast when the downpour started. We walked over to the bar lounge area and just hung out reading our books. Well I read my book. Wilson sprung on me that we should extend our trip. So now we are going from Cape Town to Istanbul for 5 days. Then to Dubai for 3 days then to Dehli and I think 4 cities in India for 11 days then to Tokyo for 5 then back to Portland. My head is just spinning. So we are now only about only 33% through with  our new journey!!  This will be our biggest journey and feel confident we will not do anything close to this again in this lifetime. Just go with it and enjoy the ride!

 Ok so today was quite something. We take the rig from Malindi a beautiful beach community through the city of Mombasa about 4 hours south. OMG. Never have seen traffick like this. Again Wilson was a rockstar taxi driver. So intense. These little Tuktuk drivers are like flies everywhere on the road. It was just exhausting. Then my maps says about .5 km away ferry crossing. I'm like are you kidding me??  We get there and we don't have m pesa I think I spoke about that earlier. So these ferry employees were trying to figure it out. After 30 min and 2 ferries leaving they figure it out and we cross. Whew. Then we drive another 40 min to our resort. Oh my the ocean is so beautiful and the cocktails just keep coming. Did I forget to mention it's another all inclusive 🤭🤭🤭. So needed. Handed off our rig so sad loved her and now solo travelers with trains plans and automobiles!!  Great trying day. Headed for dinner and more cocktails!!  Great day and another success

Well today was beach clean up day. A bit worried who would show. There was the original 8 as you can see on the paper. Well it grew to 15 after word got out in the village. The first photo is at 9:30 with bags empty and the guys ready!! The next photo is of the guys with full bags in fact some it's their second full bag. It was a huge success. They only problem was as I said word spreading like wildfire. People who weren't involved were coming up a bit aggressive saying their name was on the list. I show them the list and say no you are not on it. Unfortunately we were not able to go to the village to buy the maze and beans. In fact Wilson was going to purchase an entire bag of maze for each participate!!  Since it got so crazy Wilson just gave each guy 2,000 shilling which was better for them in the long run. This one guy kohuru  with the dreads insisted we walk to his village and meet his family to say thank you. He said it was a 20 min walk. 5.2 miles later according to my ...

 Today was a quiet day. It did start off with a funny site. These same guys I spoke of in an earlier blog with Captain Amsterdam do everything together. If you look at the boat there is no engine. They are all pushing in the water. Where they are pushing it to and what they plan to do with it is beyond me hahaha. We do go for a long down the entire stretch of the beach. It is beautiful. Found a restaurant/bar we will visit tomorrow. Came back and read on the veranda took a nap. Then made dinner and resident cat came to join as she always does precisely as I'm serving. That's it. Tomorrow is beach clean up. We will see if Capt Amsterdam and crew show up🤞🤞🙏

 We played tourist today. After yoga and my fresh coconut water and after lunch we got a tuktuk driver who Wilson traded our safaricom Kenyan phone in for a RT to the Gede ruins. It was quite fascinating. This city of around 4000 people started around 11 AD. The land itself was about 78 hectares but the city headquarters where the sultans and his assistance along with his wives stayed in the 32 hectares. They were quite advanced. They had toilets water purification and AC. The city came to it's demise in the 1600 AD. There were 3 reasons for this. The Portuguese brought a plague that the Africans hadn't been exposed to. The ocean retreated so far that the underground water supply became brackish and then in their weakness a war broke out.  The middle east took over from Oman. We then walked over to the snake house. There were so many snakes. Ranging from non venomous to extremely venomous along with 3 boa constrictor. That's what is around my neck lololo. We then came home ...

 Did our yoga on the sand under the pal trees. So nice with the tradewinds. After we finished these guys offered us  fresh coconuts water out of the coconut. It was sooo good. They also told us about a beach clean up. Not that beach is all that bad here. We said we would like to participate. They said no we would like you to buy our food. We said what type of food for lunch?  They said no we would like 42 kg of maze-corn and the store gives you 20 kg of beans. We all share it-8-guys and it lasts for 12 days. I said why not rice and beans. They said no the rice is too light. The corn keeps us full for 12 hours so we can work. Wilson said you clean the beach I will buy that for you. How much?  They said 3500 shillings. 140 shillings equals 1 US dollar. They said can you give it to us now?  Wilson said no that's not how I work. You clean the beach we all go to the store to buy maze and beans. They said ok. So captain Amsterdam he is the leader said go get paper and...