I was lucky enough to have more company this past weekend, and it was my birthday to boot. My friend Joe came to visit from New York City. Okay, he wasn't just visiting me, he also went to the gorillas in the Democratic People's Republic of Congo, but an email from me back in August saying I was going to be in Kenya for two months for work did prompt his last minute adventure. We spent several weeks trying to decide what to do while he was here. We were originally thinking about climbing Mt. Kenya but after several inquiries, I resigned myself to the fact that it just wasn't possible to climb it in the amount of time we had. Specifically, I am here to work not to tour Kenya, so taking the days off that would have been needed for a safe climb just wasn't doable. With Mt. Kenya out, Lamu came into the picture. Everyone I have met who lives here has raved about Lamu, so I was itching to go. Joe was cool and up for anything, so Lamu it was.
Joe arrived early Friday morning. I was working from home so I could be there to meet him. While he showered and napped, I finished up a draft of my manuscript and got it sent off to my supervisor here just in time to grab a quick bite to eat and head off to the airport. Our flight to Lamu ended up being delayed by an hour, but that gave Joe and I a chance to start catching up and for me to check out his gorilla photos.
The landing strip for Lamu is across a channel from Lamu on Manda Island. We were met by a boat to take us across the channel and down to Shela Beach where our guest house was located. We were staying at a place called Banana House.
Heading to Shela Beach
Banana House 
Banana House is comprised of four buildings, three containing guest rooms and one that the proprietors reside in. It was a beautiful place. I really enjoyed how it was set up. The floor in our building had three rooms that shared a communal lounge and dining area. One of the rooms on our floor was with the floor above us, so they spent most of their time with them, but the other room contained a Swedish couple, Katherina and Kalle, who were on their honeymoon. We ate most of our meals with them. They were fantastic company.The attention to detail at the Banana House was amazing. I felt as if the entire place was a work of art.
After we got settled, we decided to wander along the water through Shela Beach. 
Both Shela Beach and Lamu town have a large population of stray cats wandering around.
The beach was pretty spectacular - 12km of pristine, nearly deserted beach. I don't think we even saw the first 1km of it, but perhaps if I had brought my running shoes I would have seen at least a bit more.
We returned to the Banana House with time left to relax before dinner. There was music wafting up from the ground floor of one of the other buildings. It made the entire setting seem so perfect and peaceful, even with the sound of meowing cats in the background :-) We had grilled fish, vegetables, and coconut rice for dinner. It was so tasty. While we were have after dinner tea, I was surprised by a birthday cake. Joe had arranged for the chef to bake one for me. Both of us were shocked by its size. We were eating it for the rest of the weekend, in addition to trying to get others to help us finish it.
Saturday morning we headed into Lamu town. There are a couple of ways to get there. You can take a boat or you can walk the 3.5km. We opted to walk there with the planning of boating back. The walk was really nice, rather hot and humid, but really nice.
Once we reached Lamu town, there was a lot going on on the main road along the water. We were constantly being approached by people desiring to be our guide, give us a boat ride, or provide various other services. We were doing our best to politely, but firmly say no thank you. Our goal was to make our way to the north end of town and then get lost exploring the narrow streets. The town is small enough that even if you aren't quite sure where you are, you are never really lost.
During our stroll up the waterfront, we were stopped by this man, Ali Hippy. If I remember correctly, I think the encounter started something like this - "Do you have a Lonely Planet guidebook? I am in your guidebook. Let me invite you to dinner at my home tomorrow." Our response something along the lines of "oh yes! we read about you." We let him provide his dinner spiel, but had to decline since we were leaving the next day. He was quite the character.
Shortly after our encounter with Ali Hippy, we turned inward to the streets of Lamu. All of the streets in Lamu are narrow. There are only a few cars on the entire island and they stick to the main road. We saw three, two of which were three-wheeled ambulances. It is quite possible we saw them all.
Joe and I encountered the first person I've met in Africa who requested to have their photo taken. I didn't have my camera out and handy, but Joe was able to take a portrait of this cute little boy. 
We wandered through streets for a couple of hours before our desire to eat lunch led us back out to the main drag. We first headed to the Olympic Restaurant, which was recommended by Lonely Planet. The fly infestation and its proximity to the stinky part of town quickly drove us a bit further down to the Lamu House Hotel. We dined on vegetable curry with amazing coconut rice. After lunch, Joe wanted to check his email, so we pulled out my Lonely Planet to find a place. We were quickly met with the realization that we had strayed quite far and wide of the walking tour and missed the town square entirely. Luckily, there was an internet cafe there, so off we went. I wandered around the square while Joe checked his email.
The Lamu Fort is located on the square. This little boy was playing some sort of imagination game on the cannon out front.
Also on the square, is the Lamu Market. I wandered through and took several photos. I love markets, all of the colors make them such beautiful places.
Once Joe was finished with the internet and a bit of wandering around the square himself, he wanted to head back to the Catholic church that had been closed the last time we had been by it. We headed in that direction, but we had barely cleared the square when I was distracted by a guy selling sandals. I've been looking at sandals since I arrived, but let's just say my feet are on the gigantic side when it comes to Kenyan footwear, even if they are targeted at tourists. I tried on a couple of pairs, but they were either too small or too painful between my toes. Distracted and with our defenses down, we were met by a man who said he had a shop with many choices of sandals that he could take us to. Why I thought he meant his shop, I don't know. After taking us the long way around the square so that he could tell us all about his recent sting ray injury and show us his medical bill (he did have to set up his need for a tip for his services once we were all said and done after all), we ended up at a shop directly opposite the square from where we started. Mohammad, as we learned, did have a fairly nasty injury on his foot, and if his medical bills were legit, they were quite hefty for someone of his means (about US$100).I tried on several pairs of sandals at the shop, basically every pair they had in my size, ad actually found one that I liked. After negotiating the price, I asked to try on the right sandal just to make sure it fit as well as the left. Sure enough, it didn't fit the same - the strap across the top of my foot was too loose. I said I wasn't interested anymore, but Mohammad assured me that that could be fixed in ten minutes just across the way. I asked if fixing it would be included in the price and he responded that I would have to pay for it. I said no thanks. I wasn't about to pay even more than I had for those sandals. Having already proved his slyness by actually getting us to follow him, he proceeded to convince the shop owner to give him 200 shillings to pay for the repair to the shoe. We were off to the cobbler.
Waiting for my shoe to be repaired. I never did see Mohammad give this guy any money, and I imagine that if he did, it was far less than the 200 shillings he had gotten from the shop owner.
While I was waiting for my sandal, I told Joe he should go up to the church. We decided to meet at the restaurant that we had lunch at when we were both finished. With some idle time, the entrepreneurial Mohammad asked if I was interested in getting a henna tattoo from his sister. I actually was. I had been approached about one earlier but was in my "I'm not interested, thank you" mind set and had missed out on the opportunity. I asked how long it would take and he said 10 minutes. This is also the amount of time he said it would take to fix the shoe, but I'd say it took more like a half an hour. The henna tattoo was on a similar time frame. After I got my shoe back, we headed back into the labyrinth of Lamu streets. We ultimately landed at his house. I stayed outside, but was introduced to his grandmother. He sister was not home, but grandma said she was next door. Off we went to the neighbors, only to learn that she wasn't there either. They told us she was in another house. This one was a bit farther away. When we arrived there, we were told that she was at yet another house! This was a few doors down and she was actually there this time. There was all sorts of negotiating and going off to purchase the henna that occurred, but I was finally seated across from Mohammad's sister acquiring my henna tattoo. Once it really got underway, it did take less than 10 minutes. There were attempts for me to pay for more tattoos on my leg, but what I got on my hand and forearm was enough for me. Besides, by this point I was very concerned that I was keeping Joe waiting for an inordinate amount of time.
While Mohammad infromed me that his cousin had a boat and could take Joe and I back to Shela Beach, we headed back to the Lamu House Hotel. At that point, I figured I might get all the services I needed from him, so I said fine. When we reached the Hotel, I was surprised, but relieved, that Joe wasn't there waiting for me. I ordered a drink for while I was waiting, and Mohammad headed to find his cousin and the boat. I was only half way through my drink, when I saw Mohammad waving to me from a speed boat on the water, and he had Joe with him. I quickly finished my drink while Mohammad came up to meet me. Before I was willing to fully commit to the boat ride, I asked him how much. He replied that it would be 550 shillings for the two of us. I gasped at the at the incredible mark up. I knew I had been paying to much for the sandals and the henna, but I also knew I was still getting them for a fraction of the cost that I would pay for the same items in the States, so I let it go. Thanks to Lonely Planet though, I knew what the boat ride should cost, and I wasn't about to pay more. I told him 100 shillings a piece. He called to his cousin who replied that he wouldn't do it for less than 550. Despite Joe already being in the boat, I told Mohammad no thanks, we'd find another boat to take us back and started calling to Joe to get out. In two seconds, Mohammad had flagged down another boat and negotiated my required price. If I had to guess, Mohammad probably negotiated an even lower price in order to pocket a bit of extra cash himself. More power to him. I got the price I wanted. Once we were in the boat and the driver had been paid (whatever amount that might have ended up being), I gave Mohammad a 100 shilling tip for his services. All in all, a little over a dollar for him helping me check several items off of my to get and to do list was worth it.
Joe snapped a picture of my henna on the boat ride back to Shela Beach.
We took a short walk down the beach once we returned and then headed back to Banana House for dinner. we had ordered lobster and crab from the chef. It was de-li-cious! With full bellies, we relaxed for a bit and then headed to bed.
The next morning, Joe headed back into Lamu town to attend mass while I hit the beach. I got there about 9AM and found that I had a huge swath all to myself. It was wonderful. I laid out my kikoy and set to reading my book. The sunshine and sea breeze created the perfect temperature. After about an hour, others began arriving on the beach and with them came the beach boys. There were only a couple of them and they weren't nearly as aggressive as the guys Stephanie, Meredith, and I had encountered in Tiwi Beach. I did have one who overstayed his welcome trying to get me to let him massage me - yeah right, not in a million years. After telling him I didn't have any money on me, I wasn't willing to go back to my hotel to get my money, and trying to give him the "I'm done with you" signal by reading my book, I finally had to be a bit more blunt and tell him that I just wanted to be left alone to read my book. That even took three times though, this guy would just not get it.
After about an hour and half, I had a thin layer of sand coating me and all of my things. I quickly went into the water to try to rinse as much off as possible and then packed up my things and headed back to Banana House. I was enjoying my book but wanted to get out of the sun, so I decided to lounge by the pool for a bit longer before showering and packing. Besides, Joe was still in town. At 11:30, I headed up to our room to shower. I still had a ton of sand on me. The bar of soap pretty much looked like a pumas stone by the time I was finished with it. I was pretty much packed by the time Joe returned and lunch was served shortly after that. As we were finishing up, the Swedish couple joined us. We ended up chatting until 2PM, our scheduled departure time for the airport. Joe hadn't even started packing at that point, so we hurried into the room to get ready. I went downstairs to let the other guests who were waiting on us know that we were on our way. After a couple of minutes though, the guest house staff started leading them to the beach to catch the boat. I ran upstairs to tell Joe that they were leaving. He made it down a couple of minutes later and we headed to meet them.
After about an hour wait at the airport for our flight, we were called to board. I hadn't even seen our plane arrive. Once we saw it, I knew why. It was a little 11 seater plane.
Because of the size of our plane, our flying altitude was really low. It made for great aerial photo opportunities.The Lamu archipelago
Starting to get close to Nairobi
Ngong hills near Nairobi
Kibera from above (part of it anyways)
It was a great trip and a really relaxing weekend. I'm so glad Joe was able to visit. I also can't believe that I only have one more weekend left in Kenya. Time has gone by so quickly.
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