Discovering Kaloleni

Like I mentioned, Kelvin had this car and this client that he had to drive around. The client's home area is just outside of Mombasa called Kaloleni. After driving there for two days, Kelvin fell in love and said he just had to take me there. Saturday morning, at 7am, we packed up and hit the road. We battled crazy traffic just to get out of the city, but once in the country side, we were in heaven. We pumped up the worship music and cruised through the village. After only a few miles, I understood why Kelvin loved it so much. 

Acres and acres of gorgeous land with humble homesteads all over the place.

 This was probably the worst patch of road we drove on. Seriously, the roads were better than in Mombasa city. 

 This area is FULL of palm trees. It's also a big producer of mnazi, a local palm wine that is cheap and addictive for the locals. 

 I started dreaming of having our own little homestead in this area one day. Of course, it won't quite look like this one but similar.

 Palm trees galore!

All that green is plantations of palm trees. I don't think I have ever seen so many palm trees in my life! 

Who knows, maybe one day we will buy ourselves a few acres, set up a children's home, and life the village life. 

A morning drive

One of our clients asked Kelvin if he could rent a car and be our client's chauffeur for two days. Kelvin quickly agreed. Kelvin loves driving. Actually, we both do but we rarely get the opportunity to. To rent a car for 24 hours costs about $30 plus gas. It's just not worth it for us especially when we can spend less than $2 a day on public transport. 

This deal is pretty sweet. We get the car for two nights. Kelvin has had to be a personal driver for two days but he is ok with that. This particular client is a drunkard so there is no way he could drive himself. Kelvin gets to bring the car home and use it for himself when our client doesn't need him. 

So this morning, we had just turned on a movie as we were eating breakfast when the power went out. I then asked if we could go for a morning drive. 

One of our favourite things to do with a car is to explore all the areas around Mombasa that you can't get to with public transport. It has led us on some pretty fun adventures. 

This morning we decided to go inland behind our apartment building and see the village life. I was surprised that, not too far from where we stay, there are villages with mud houses and all. I guess I think Mombasa is so metropolitan. 

It has also been a gloriously overcast day. That's why the pictures are grey. 

 My personal chauffeur

 We drove past one of the largest prisons on the coast (which I learned that Canada helps fund). I was shocked to see all the prisoners working outside in the fields where there is no fencing keeping them in. Those white poles  don't have any fencing in between them. Those prisoners could totally make a run for it. 

Home sweet home. Well, it's where we live. Not sure I would call it 'home'. Its our apartment building. 

Looking forward to going out to our favourite joint for breakfast tomorrow. I think we'll drive there. 

Road trip to Malindi

On friday, Kelvin was blessed with a car. No, not our own car, but someone lent us a car for the weekend. Not only that, the car was fueled and this 'someone' gave us a little money to go spend on ourselves. I know, it's crazy. But God is good and loves to treat His children. 

Kelvin and I love when we can have a car. It gives us so much freedom to explore, hang out together, relax, etc. It's expensive to hire a car so we don't do it often. 

On Sunday, we decided to take a road trip to Malindi and explore all the places that we can't if we take public transport. I was also elated to spend a whole day with my husband, just the two of us. Between work, the boys, church, and other life stuff, it's getting harder just to spend an afternoon together. So I was giddy just to be the two of us for a whole day. 

We set out in the morning and went to have my favourite breakfast, mbazi  and mahambri, and then made our way up the coast. Once you get outside of Mombasa, the coast turns lush and beautiful. We passed miles of sisal plantations. 

Our sweet little ride for the day. Cute and perky. 

We first stopped in Kilifi, a place I had driven through once on a matatu. Kelvin took me along the beach as passed gorgeous mansions and villas. We stopped to have a small look at the ocean. The water looked like glass. 

We then reached Malindi, a small Italian infested town. Many of Kelvin's relatives live here. We stopped to sit with one of his cousins who own a little souvenir shop at the beach. 

Bright colours! 

We splurged on a yummy lunch. I had steak and passion fruit juice. Kelvin ate pork chops.

Our cute little ride enjoying the view of the ocean as we ate. 

After a wonderful day of exploring, eating, visiting family, and driving, he headed back home. 

We are now totally praying for a car. I love having the freedom. I also love not being heckled everywhere I go. With a car, I don't have to encounter so many people who want to bug the white girl. It's such a relief for me. Now, we are going to start saving our pennies to get ourselves a sweet ride.