Day 12 - A Good Friday

I asked Dr. Abdul (the attending I have been working with on OB/GYN) yesterday and was encouraged to not come to the hospital as it was Good Friday. He said it would be chaotic (I’m assuming he meant more chaotic than usual), the regular schedule would go out the window because of the holiday, and there would likely be nothing to do. He said that patients try to take the holiday, too and will elect to stay home with family rather than come into the hospital.   Therefore, Caroline, Charley and I decided to spend the day becoming more familiar with Mombasa.

We started the day by going to Bombolulu Cultural Center. This is somewhat of a tourist trap, but in a good way. This is an organization that employs people with physical disabilities (often polio) and teaches them a way of life such as making a handicraft. They also have a school within their premises for the families of those with disabilities. They have a tour set up that walks us through several of the native homes throughout Kenya. It is totally staged somewhat like a living museum, but it was a really nice way to learn about the different native people of Kenya and the outside influences that changed the way in which they lived. They also shared a number of native songs and dances complete with the area and people to which they belonged.

Trying my hand at grinding grain the old fashioned way... I would have starved back in the day.

Caroline trying to learn to play a native musical instrument.

Our tour also included a choice of meals, and we made a point to get Kenyan food. We each got a dish that appealed to all of us, and kept passing the plates along as we got a taste of the food.  I am including some pictures of the half eaten plates… I forgot to take pictures before we dug in. One of them was a coconut chicken dish with chips (not sure how Kenyan that part was but oh well that is what it came with) , the next was a vegetable curry with chapatti, and we also had a beef stew with ugali (a mixture of maize flour and water).

Caroline eating the coconut chicken with chips

Vegetable curry with chapatti

Beef stew with ugali

After that, we headed to the center of Mombasa to walk around Old Town. We just wandered around seeing the sights, checking out the market and trying not to get conned by the “Mzungu tax” (the extra price the locals tack onto their goods simply because we are white), and walking along the entrance to Mombasa port. We had every intention of going to Fort Jesus but learned that if we took the letter issued to us by the hospital as proof that we were working there, we could get in for local resident prices. 800 Ksh or come back with a letter and get in for only 100 Ksh… no brainer. We decided to wait on this one and just took some pictures of the outside of the fort.

Walking around Fort Jesus with a view of Mombasa Port

Map we kind of followed for our walking tour of Old Town

Stunning carved door in Old Town (The carvings tell the city's history in the intricate carvings, and no 2 doors are alike.)