Weekend Update

I got a taste - actually many tastes - of Mombasa over the weekend. Rehana, one of the local Speech-Language Therapists, had offered to show me around.

(click to enlarge)

We started in Old Town –  a small section of Mombasa with narrow streets and alleys, interesting shops(most with the standard tourist goods, but some with very temping and unusual items), and beautifully carved wooden doors.

After a couple of mango smoothies in a local coffee shop, we headed to Fort Jesus, a massive compound still showing some of the original coral walls. Fort Jesus was built by the Portuguese in 1593 and was the site of many skirmishes as different nations sought to control Mombasa. The museum there had fascinating artifacts.



View from Fort Jesus



Hamisi, our personal tour guide rattled off names and dates much faster than we could process them. Rehana - born and raised in Mombasa, and therefore in possession of the elusive bargaining gene most Westerners are missing - had firmly negotiated the fee at the beginning. He kept asking if we were happy, expecting that our satisfaction would justify a higher fee. He was no match for Rehana. 

The heat finally drove us to leave. We drove to waterfront parking area with lots of food vendors. Everything Rehana mentioned was something I had never had and wanted to try. We started with juice from green coconuts, drunk out of the shell. Rehana asked for a bit of pulp; the vendor quickly added some and cut little spoons out of the tops of the shells. This was followed by some seasoned roasted cassava spears - absolutely delicious. I also bought some cassava chips to take home.
On the way to Rehana's house (to replace a broken sandal), we passed a massive pair of crossed elephant tusks that had been erected in honor of Queen Elizabeth.

Rehana's parents' house has a gorgeous view of "the creek", a section of waterway surrounding the island of Mombasa. Her mom served a delicious lunch of Masala fries and steak, accompanied by Indian tea with milk. Her older sister gave us some just-cut yellow coconuts from one of their trees - how could I refuse? The juice was much sweeter tasting than the green we had had earlier.

No visit to Mombasa is complete without some beach time, so we drove to what is known as Yul's Beach, walked, watched the camels giving rides on beach, carefully avoided the camel dung, and all the beach vendors. And apparently no walk on Yul's Beach is complete without some of Yul's famous ice cream - my scoop of lime was delicious.

Sunday I had to pay for the gastronomic excess of the day before. I spent most of the morning in bed, with no appetite at all. After a short visit to Dorothy's  - was forced to eat a piece of bread - Dorothy's friend Eunice came to pick me up, and we took a long matatu ride (accompanied by trusty Brian) to Bamburi for me to spend some time with her absolutely adorable one-year-old son Raymond. Raymond was diagnosed with cerebral palsy just a few months ago, and has made tremendous progress with daily therapy - he now extends his arms, tried to grab for things and is able to stand for short periods while holding on to a table.
We spent nearly two hours talking about adapting common materials to encourage arm and hand use (great ideas from Tots-N-Tech - http://tnt.asu.edu/ideas, and from Let's Play http://letsplay.buffalo.edu/toys/adapting-toys.pdf

Brian, who is only 13, was so good with Ray, trying foot exercises and massage techniques Dorothy had shown him, talking gently all the while. He would make such a good OT or OT Assistant.