Eyeballing it...: A Mombasan parasite?

Ok, so I'm not as paranoid as Nathan but I do think we caught some sort of nasty bug a few weeks ago.

Thinking back, there have many opportunities to acquire some new germs.

First, several weeks ago we took the train from Nairobi to Mombasa. I can confidently state, without reservation, that Nathan and I wholeheartedly recommend AGAINST the Nairobi train.

It. Was. MISERABLE. Taking an overnight train was on my life list, but this was NOT worth it... not only was the food appallingly bad (gristly meat, greasy/soggy instant rice, tasteless/colorless soup and dry white bread), but it was 18 hours late. EIGHTEEN. It was supposed to arrive in Mombasa at about 8 am and did not arrive until the next day at 2 am. Not cool. I could continue moaning but both of us are somewhat scarred from the experience and not quite ready to relive it.

So we could have got the food poisoning/mysterious parasite while festering in the grimy heat of the train.

It could have been the smattering of questionable-to-definitively-grungy restaurants we ate at while in Mombasa (there was a particularly grimy Ethiopian cafe that, in retrospect, was actually just a really bad idea to eat at. Why did we eat there, Nathan?). There was the tamarind juice that was kindly shared with us by a neighbor of the apartment that we rented. Pretty sure the water used to make the juice wasn't bottled.

I bring all this up to explain my absence over the last two weeks. We got really sick. It was less than fun. While we did enjoy poking around Old Town Mombasa and I achieved my goal of finding a ton of vanilla beans, it was a challenging week. We decided to take the last week of our trip to recuperate on the beach, and have been thrilled with that decision.

We are staying at Tiwi Beach in some cute self-catering cottages. We bought some bread, veggies, fruit, cheese and milk in Mombasa and have holed up here. It's gorgeous. The water is beautiful, though the snorkeling leaves a bit to be desired. Local fishermen provide us with fresh fish every day, and a lady comes by selling veggie samosas and these fried dough chunks (mandazi) that Nathan loves to gorge on. We've bought local tropical fruit and have been eating simple, healthy, parasite-bashing meals.

We're feeling better, though not 100% yet. We have to face the train for the trip home in a few days and there is a ball of dread in the pit of our stomach weighing down our exhausted little bellies. (And by little, I mean that we both lost at least 5-8 lbs over the last week or two.)

Anyways. Since I'm feeling a touch better, I thought I'd post an update and share our breakfast from this morning. Pancakes with fresh pineapple chunks* caramelized in passionfruit juice, plus a coconut.