Lamu Round Two

Hey guys!! Sorry I’ve been out of the loop and neglectful but I’ll try to fill you in a little. The beginning of the semester was quiet and with the whole post-election madness we weren’t allowed to do very much. We went everywhere by taxi and certain areas like Mathare and Kibera were off limits. ODM kept threatening mass action so everything was kind of touch and go. One day we would be able to go to a certain area and the next it was off limits. It was extremely frustrating.
Life slowly got back to normal and on February 20th we left to spend five days in Lamu. Lamu may or may not be one of the most amazing places ever. We went last semester and it was wonderful so this time I went prepared. There are two really great women named Elizabeth and Nelly who own a tailoring shop on the waterfront in Lamu. (I think I’ve mentioned before that Lamu is a small island off Kenya’s coast? maybe? well for the record it is.) So anyways I knew there were these two great seamstresses so for the last couple of months I’ve been stocking up on fabric.
The damage ended up being two long skirts, three short skirts, one tunic, one tube dress, and one full length dress. To say that I went prepared is an understatement. But hey, when you can get eight pieces of clothing tailor made to fit your body for under $150 you can overlook everyone giving you the crazy eye for carrying about ten pounds of fabric around. The clothes are amazing too.
Last time we were in Lamu we spent the three nights in Lamu town. This time we spent two nights in Lamu town and two nights at this little beach resort on Manda Island which is a 20 minute boat ride from Lamu. The resort was adorable and the beach was amazing. Lamu is amazing for many different reasons but one is the fact you can walk around at night. Also by some stroke of luck there was a full moon. With the light of a full moon you can see everything. Lamu is one on the most peaceful and relaxing places I’ve ever been.
The people in Lamu are hilarious too. The people that we hung out with are all young guys that either work on the dhows or, well I have no idea what they do. We had a big party on Manda one night. All the music there is reggae. They also smoke a lot of pot. It’s funny because they’d say they were going to ‘check the boat’, would be gone for like an hour, and come back red-eyed and clearly high. They also all have crazy names like Fish brains, Sunflower, Incognito etc.

All together a hilarious time. I love Lamu