Still Mombasa, Still Expensive

So I'm going to try to write quickly. You'll have to forgive the typos (as always.)

So after leaving the Tanzanian consulate we headed town towards Old Town and Fort Jesus. The fort is a giant structure built by the Portugese in the 1500s as they attempted to establish a foothold in East Africa to facilitate their go-around-Africa-to-get-to-India spice trade endeavours. They ended up losing it shortly thereafter to the Omanis, and it went back and forth between these two parties and the native Africans for many years as part of the East African Slave Trade and the various wars of conquest and such. We got as far as the inner gate before someone tried to get us to pay $15 USD each to pass any farther (Mombasa has lots of tourists, so a lot of things get over-priced) and we turned back. But it looked pretty cool.

Thankfully, the fort is built right up against an inlet on the coast, and treking down and around it yielded spectacular views up at the towering ramparts. Add to this the characteristic tropical blue and green ocean, unique rock formations, and lots of sand crabs, and this little beach was a fantatsic retreat from the oppressively hot Mombasa streets.

Speaking of which, adjacent to the fort is the "Old Town" of Mombasa - narrow winding streets between towering old buildings with ornate Arab-influenced architecture. I took lots of pictures. Balconies hung out over the winding streets with intricate hand-carved wooden blinds and screens emerging from the surrounding buildings at fantastic angles. It was also fabulously colored, had many vaulted arches, and innuemerable steep narrow staircases leading up to second and third story rooms. Very fun to wander around. There was also a suprisingly strong Iranian influence, as many shops and restaurants had images of the Ayatollah up along side the (legally mandated or at least universally adopted) image of President Kibaki. That was fairly unexpected.

After a brief rest period back in the room which included listening to the mid-afternoon prayer calls radiating from every mosque in the city. My understanding from high school global studies is that Muslims worship five times a day, and every mosque issues a lovely and mystical Arabic chant/song before each session. Halfway through, this prayer call was interrupted by a van blaring hip-hop from giant speakers mounted on the roof - a campaign vehicle employed by the re-elect Kibaki team. The van had the president's face on every surface. Apparently the Muslim vote isn't sufficiently important that the campaign team would bother to plan around their worship. Hummm.

Lastly, just before dark we wandered over to the Shiva Hindu Temple, which was a splendid refuge from the heat and dust of the city. It has a meandering sculpture garden set in and around an artificial pond, and several large worship structures complete with intricate wood and stone carvings of the various Hindu gods and lesser dieties. Inscence wafted in and out of these various enclosures, adding to the sense of mysticism.

If it weren't for the African groundskeepers actively diriding their Indian employers in Swahili that they didn't think I could understand, I would have thought the place to be perfectly blissful. I would say Kenyan groundskeepers, but the Indians are equally entitled to their citizenship and I want to be precise - race, tribe, and nationality are all very touchy subjects in this town. Apparently the African employees are underpaid and maltreated, and only stay on because their is no other work available. When questioned (again in Swahili), they told me that the Indians also refuse to eat at the same table as them or even eat food that they prepare. I was more than a little put off by such blatant acts of racism. It was especially shocking in that moment because it was in such stark contrast to the atmosphere of peace and tranquility in the temple. Life is confusing.

Anyway, this has started to become pretty expensive, so I'm going to go back to my room and probably go to bed. No nightlife for me, especially when the sun goes down at 6 PM. (Being right on the equator, Kenya has a 12 hour day, every day, all year long.)

Talk to you all soon,
Chris