Blending in.

Without a doubt the Kenyan south coast is breathtaking!

Our first visit to the beach was to Diani beach - walked through town, a ferry trip, plus a matatu and took-took ride to get there. This beach is just glorious: lined with coconut palms, miles of bright white sand and amazing aqua water. And nearly completely empty. This is the tourist beach, so other than a few mzungu in skimpy bathers in the shallows, the beach had the most persistent locals trying to sell you anything from a shell to a kitenge to a necklace. I found it odd that there were no locals in the water, and the tedious hard sell is really wearing when you just want to enjoy the amazing sites but you look like a walking dollar sign.

So, we tried something different for our next beach visit. We looked up how to get to the local, public beach. We jumped on a matatu and zoomed off to the beach. Wow. There were swim suit stalls lining the road from the beach, plus heaps of tasty looking snack food. The place was absolutely buzzing. This beach was absolutely packed with locals. It was a Sunday afternoon and there were just thousands of people both on the beach and in the water. What an incredible contrast to the 'tourist beach'.

We felt much more at home on the public beach, still mindful of safety but had a lot of fun! We found they have lockers so we can be free to swim together next time without needing to watch our stuff. I felt much more like we blended in at this beach, if that is even possible. It will be perfect when we can speak Kiswahili and connect more. It was lovely to be followed as I swam by a little girl, maybe 8 years old. We didn't speak much, other than I think her name was Grace and she asked me if I was a Christian.

There are times I am convinced I experience God moments in the least likely places.