Forest to Beach in 2.5

I became a tourist on Sunday. The majority of my time here has been spent doing very non-touristy things (spending time with the family, working and all that entails, or attending the numerous programs FSD arranges for us) but, with 2 weeks left, thought it was about time I joined in on the fun. So Ruweidah - my partner in crime at MUHURI - and two other interns with FSD went on an adventure through Forest Hills, something like a conservation area with beautiful trails. The picture to the right is my favorite of Ruweidah and I so far...completely captures our relationship: crazy mzungu doing something silly, getting funny looks from her Kenyan friend :)
This is a preview of the types of trails we walked down...can I say breathtaking?? Sarah and Aliyah, who were the other interns, are both from California and said it reminded them of the huge trees there. At one point, we found our surroundings hella creepy because it was far too similar to those scenes from "Are You Afriad of the Dark" that played on Nickolodeon when we were younger. There was a similar park down the road that wanted to charge us the tourist price (which was 6x more expensive) even though we had papers proving we were working in Mombasa. Had we gone there, we could have fed giraffes, saw alligators and hippos in a swamp, and done mountain biking, but we were stubborn. So at this park, we walked these trails by ourselves, played on a playground, and enjoyed some really sweet views.





Our favorite part was probably playing on the 'kids enjoyment' area of the park: what they didn't know is that we're all kids at heart :) I can't ever take a serious picture, as most of you know, so while on the swings, Roo acted normal while Jenn pretended to be a flying acrobat. At one point, the other two conspired to push two little children off the teeter totter so they could have a turn. Know this: you can take the child out of America, but you can't take the child out of the child while in Kenya.

Aliyah had a great time with the "wittle camels" on the beach that we visited right across from Forest Trails. As I've said, the beaches are to die for - beautiful white sand, greens and blues in the ocean, endless shore line - breathtaking. Roo and I plan to go back and ride these because it looked like way too much fun to pass up. Very tood time. The tourist industry is booming on the shores: behind Aliyah, numerous people were displaying their woodwork, art work, bead work, and random artifacts they'd made out of ocean materials (shells, drift wood, etc) so it was really cool. Very talented people.


I leave in 2ish weeks. That's surreal. Not that I'm not excited to come home to you all again, but I've adapted to this place so well, grown to love and appricate Mombasa culture and the folks here, that coming home is heartbreaking. I've got plenty of reports to complete before then, so my mind and time will be occupied, hopefully making the last days easier. Hope your summer is wrapping up well.