Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Night The Heaven’s Smiled

So… I completely missed it because I was in Mombasa and apparently the sky here is completely different. But last night, residents of Nairobi were treated to a rare sight; Jupiter and Venus aligned themselves above the moon’s crescent to form a heavenly smiley face. I saw the pictures - amazing! Though I don’t subscribe to horoscopes, I have several guesses as to what the omens signified. It probably had something to do with our government intervening (finally) to keeping maize meal prices affordable. Or maybe it was about fuel pump prices finally beginning to inch lower! Wow… talk about good news to all mankind (at least of the Kenyan variety!) Now imagine what would happen if our MP’s finally did the right thing and paid their taxes. And not in 2012!


Okay… time to end the daydream. Apart from the heat (34C and about 1000% humidity), Mombasa is quite the place to be. It seems everybody is heading this way; traffic’s picking up, prices rising ~ it’s the annual high season. Lots of reasons to smile for local business as guests pour in from all over.


Our days here are sort of predictable. We wake up around 8am (would sleep in much longer if we didn’t have kids), have a leisurely breakfast, read newspapers and generally relax as the kids play or watch a movie. Oops… before you know it, it’s already lunchtime! After lunch, we pile into the car and go swimming at Mombasa Beach Hotel. The kids stay in water for as long as we’ll let them. Today we got to hang out at Mama Ngina Drive afterwards and drank madafu (coconut juice drank with a straw straight from the coconut) and cassava crisps (drenched in lemon juice and chili). Definitely a must-do if you’re in Mombasa. Mmmh… there’s quite a lot you can do/eat here that actually doesn’t cost that much.


All too soon, its home time. 8.30pm and the city looks like it’s just waking up. Only in Mombasa. The kids are already asking ‘Do we have to go home?’ ‘Ever?’ ‘Can’t we just live here?’


Sigh… maybe we can hold on to that daydream for a few more days…

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