Malindi Dreaming

You take a Friday off, pack your bags on Thursday night, wake up really early on Friday morning, hop on a  plane and proceed to have the weekend of your life.

You arrive at the other side of the rainbow joyous and not even the rain or the realization that you forgot your sandals can faze you. You are here for a good time, who needs sandals at the beach anyway?

Malindi falls in love with your optimism and the sun comes out, cue some James Arthur x Rudimentals, will you? You change into something-sunny weather friendly, make it to the bar and acquaint yourself with the bartender. The two of you are going to be really good friends, you will laugh each time he refers to your white wine as ‘mvinyo mweupe’.

You’ve always been afraid of water but this year, one of your resolutions was to learn how to swim, so when you are not chilling with Joram, the bartender, you play in the almost deserted pool. You live in awe of yourself.

You take long walks on the beach after meals, really long walks. You play with the fish and when the tide allows t, you allow yourself to drift into the ocean. But you always find yourself drifting back to that pool and Joram’s poolside bar. He always has an update on ‘sehemu ya mvinyo wako mweupe’ and it’s always hilarious. High on Joram’s supply, you get a henna tattoo, your first one ever. What you imagined it would look like and what you end up with  are two different things.

Sunday evening finds you on another plane in Mombasa, after the most scenic drive down from Malindi. You say bye to the balmy coast life and get back to the hustle that is Nairobi. But you don’t really mind.

You’ve done nothing all weekend but sip on wine, eat, swim in an almost deserted pool and go for walks on the beach; you’re so thoroughly rested, you can feel your kidneys sigh in contentment.

But it doesn’t last.

A couple weeks later, you find yourself going through your photos at the pool. Malindi dreaming on a Wednesday morning. You are knee deep in that ‘take me back’ to Malindi Dream Garden feeling.

That feeling demands to be expressed in throwback photos, so you pen a blogpost while dreaming of your next escape.

Photos Courtesy of @Infinity_clix