Malindi - Feb 21-24

We arrived late in the evening on Monday.  I have never been in such a small airport.   It has 2 rooms – departures & arrivals.   You pick up your luggage on the tarmac right off the truck.  Thankfully someone from the Driftwood Hotel was there to pick us up.   There was some sort of mix up and we had 2 huts at the hotel.   Micah is considered an adult because he is 13.   Because it was so late in the evening, they could not get a hut that would fit all of us.   The guys went into one and us girls went into another.   It was surreal to wake up in the morning and see the endless ocean outside of our window.   We quickly ate breakfast and took our first walk on the beach.   I had read about the boys on the beach but did not think they could be as annoying as people said.   Well I was wrong.   My only complaint about the beach is that you are continually hounded by boys asking you to purchase this or that or take an excursion with them.

We were able to check in to our time share @ Coral Key by 11:00.   This place is beautiful.   It has 4 main pools (yes, I said 4) with a bunch of small pools attached to them.   At first, I thought the small pools would be for the little children to play in but it is for the sun bathers.   There are Italians everywhere lying in the sun – partially clothed I might add.   Apparently it does not matter your size or age, if you are a man you wear a small speedo and if you are a lady you wear your bikini to your sun bed.   You only wear it to your bed because many women take their top off (yes there are signs everywhere that state you have to keep your tops on).    Needless to say, it has been an eye opening experience for all of us, especially the kids.

We have walked out to the first reef twice.   We have spotted a few tropical fish.   We have seen spider star fish, obama star fish, and our favorite, the Maasai star fish.   We have seen sea cucumber, sea snakes and even sea brain.   The kids have enjoyed looking for shells.   Micah found enough small spotted shells to have a necklace made for each of us.

The price for fresh fruit is cheap here.   We bought 4 mangos, 3 pineapples and a watermelon for about $8.   I am going to miss eating fresh fruit every morning.   We were able to find a bakery for pastries in the morning as well.   Our kitchen is very tiny.   We are only able to keep cold drinks in the fridge.  There is a lovely pizzeria on site, which we go to for supper each night.   The main waiter, Fred, is our buddy.   The kids love the wood fired, cheese pizza (yep, they are adventurous).   The pasta is amazing.   We usually have some type of leftover pizza that we can snack on for lunch the following day.

There is also a juice bar at the resort.   Buffalo (honestly, that is his real name) has quickly become our friend.   Mark, Aby & I have created our favorite drinks.   It does not matter how much fruit you put in your drink it costs about $3 each.   Yesterday, Mark had apple added to his.   Aby told Buffalo her naughty monkey story.   He went to the back and gave her an apple to eat.  Buffalo appears to enjoy our company.   We seem to be an anomaly to him.  We engage the staff in conversation and have a genuine appreciation for their service.   It would appear to us that many people here demand service.

We are excited for tomorrow to arrive.   After many days of being inundated by the beach boys & some bartering, we have decided we are going with Zirroh (yep, that is his name) for the day.   We are snorkeling and going to an island for a BBQ.