On the Coast - August 1st and 2nd

6:45am, Saturday, August 1st, we boarded a Flight 540 plane to Malindi. We had a brief layover in Mombasa where we exited the plane for about 10 minutes, stood on the tarmac, then reboarded. Less than 30 minutes later we touched down in Malindi, a small beach town on the eastern coast of Kenya. As we waited for the crew to unload our luggage, we only brought one carry on item that had to be checked due to the small plane, it became apparent that there was no luggage to unload. During that brief stop in Mombasa, the crew managed to unload everyone's luggage and leave it on the tarmac as we flew on to Malindi. Now we are not talking about a busy airport here, and there were more than enough hands to go around to ensure that all procedures were followed properly. It was as if someone had to purposefully leave our luggage on the tarmac.

So there we were, in Malindi, ready for our beach weekend getaway without our beach attire. We had no other choice but to head to the resort and pray that our luggage arrived later that day.

It was roughly a 30 minute drive to our resort, Che Shale. We drove through the small town and were pleasantly surprised at how inviting it was. The streets were lined with trees and there were lots of kiosks about, ready to sell you some local produce. As we moved out of the town into the countryside, we couldn't help but notice the girth of these massive trees. We learned these were the baobab trees, also know as upside down trees. The age of these trees can be difficult to determine because the wood does not produce annual growth rings. Many of these trees are reputed to be thousands of years old.

Seeing the sign for Che Shale, we turned off the main road, and headed down a sandy bumpy trail. The trail wound us through palm tree forests and small villages. The air was so much warmer than Nairobi, we could tell this was going to be a nice change of pace. That also meant mosquitos were a real concern for the first time since arriving on the continent. Hope those malaria pills work!

We pulled up to the resort and immediately were greeted by several friendly faces. Attendants had come to help with the luggage but we shared that it had been left in Mombasa, hoping it would arrive soon. We were shown to our bungalow, named Fulusi, which is a type of fish and checked out the humble abode. Not more than 5 minutes had passed and we were greeted by another friendly face, this time it wasn't human. A sweet little black lab had come barreling down our path and jumped right over the small fence into our new home. Pocket, her name we later learned, clearly ran the place and plopped right down in front of Brian for a belly rub. Of course Brian couldn't resist :)

The bungalow was made out of resources found everywhere we looked. The outer structure was made out of sticks and palm tree logs, the inner made from tree bark woven and braided for reinforcement. The shower was made of sticks placed tightly next to one another and the furniture out of the local bark as well. We were lucky to have a flushing toilet which was made out of plastic.

We tried not to worry about the luggage and headed over to the restaurant for some breakfast. It was still kind of early, about 9:30am, and they were still serving. They brought us each a plate full of local fruit: mango, passion fruit, pineapple, papaya, and banana. That was round 1. Round 2 consisted of choice of eggs on toast and a side of sausage or bacon or both. I had scrambled eggs with tomatoes on toast and Brian had the same with both sides of meat. We also had unlimited tea. It was fantastic and made the morning much better as we began to ooze into our beachy mindset.

We figured that we should probably just jump right in with a cocktail given this would help us settle into beach mode even further. I had a pina colada and Brian some fruit medley drink with rum. We took our drinks to an upstairs overlook peering out to the beautiful Indian Ocean ahead. This was the life.

Fortunately we had plenty of reading materials and a deck of cards to keep us busy given we couldn't lay out without our swimwear and sunscreen. It was easy to pass the time even though time seemed to move forward like molasses. It was amazing how easily sucked into a time warp you can get from the constant sound of the waves crashing, the soothing hot sun, and the cocktails of course. So we enjoyed a few rounds of rummy, keeping score in the sand below our table. A few rounds of Tusker, Brian beating me at cards (I'm sure he cheated when I went to use the bathroom), and a good book captured our perfect afternoon.

Not to our surprise, we received a not so promising call from the airline regarding our luggage. The woman on the phone asked Brian if we could meet a driver at 'the junction' to pick it up. He was irate and told her it was their responsibility to bring us our luggage as they were at fault for leaving it in Mombasa. She said she had to call the driver and would phone us back. Lame. No need to go through all of the irritating details; we finally received our luggage at 6pm that evening to the avail of the Che Shale staff helping us coordinate the pick up. The airline did not have a 4 wheel drive car that could make it down the sandy trail to the resort so Che Shale picked it up at 'the junction'. What a relief.

Hot showers were available everyday in your bungalow from 5-6pm. Cold showers were available all the time. We cleaned up, and had a change of clothes with the arrival of our things, and made our way to the restaurant for dinner. The restaurant turned into a swanky lounge at night. Before our meals, we chatted it up with Isabelle, the owner, Justin's girlfriend. She gave us the low down on Che Shale. It had been in existence for over 40 years owned by a 2nd generation Kenyan family. Justin's mother ran the business when he was young and he has since taken over with Isabelle by his side. Isabelle was a friendly, petite blonde from France. She had trekked around Africa for a couple of years and when she met Justin she never left Malindi. There was also a fellow named Dave. He was an Irishman staying for his second summer as a kite surfing instructor. Che Shale not only had a wonderful private beach and bungalows but it also sported a kite surfer school. There were tons of kids from all over the globe, living there for weeks at a time just to learn how to kite surf.

We enjoyed an impeccable meal and had a surprise visitor for dinner, Mr. Crab. There were lots of Mr. Crabs all over the place. This invited us to check out the beach after dinner with our flashlights. As we combed the beach for crabs, Brian soon realized the abundant number of sand dollars that had washed ashore. We walked down the beach left and right and he managed to hoard about 20 of them - my hero :)

Before bed we enjoyed a chat around the fire with a young woman who had been working as the Regional Director for Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam in horticulture for a German development bank. She and Brian had been doing some of the same work just in different locations. She was at Che Shale for about a week on holiday learning how to kite surf.

Despite our early rise on Saturday morning, we voted for another early rise Sunday morning to see the sun come up. It was well worth forgoing sleep to witness the magnificent sight. It's truly one of God's many gifts to all living creatures to experience the beautiful glow and warmth of the rising sun. Signs of another new day ahead.

Sunday was relaxing, I got a massage on the beach and Brian got a sunburn. The sun is much hotter here in Africa and SPF 15 just doesn't cut it. That's why you've got to bring the big guns = SPF 70. The proof is in the pudding.... not a spec of sun on my body and Brian has been sporting a red shirt all week. I guess the nice thing is that his burn will eventually turn into a tan, once he stops shedding.

We spent Sunday night in Malindi and had an early flight out Monday morning for which after arrival, we'd head straight to work. Brian was a bit uncomfortable and not feeling well because of the burn but managed to enjoy dinner. We called it an early night and made arrangements for a van to take us to the airport the next morning.

Isabelle greeted us around 7:15am and said the van was ready but we had plenty of time to have breakfast if we wanted. We sat for another great helping of fruit, eggs, and tea. Isabelle thanked us for staying at Che Shale and wished us well on our journey and the rest of our travels throughout Africa.

We made it to the airport around 8:30am for our 9am flight. The flight was on 'Africa time' so the plane arrived about 9:05 and we finally got going around 9:30am. Of course we were concerned about our luggage not making it with us on the plane but we were rest assured that it was a direct flight. Although, that didn't stop me from stalking our luggage until I saw that it was placed in the cargo hold of our plane.

Malindi was just the beach weekend getaway we needed. I had an amazing time with my favorite person on the planet ;)