safari ya kenya :: Day 12 :: in Mombasa and Kambi ya Waya

Monday, June 23

First thing this morning, Rod asked me, "How about going to the country this morning and coming back to Mombasa tonight?" So that's what we did. He says that my love for spontaneity and flexibility is the reason he loves me, but not the only reason. He said it would be an adventure, but we got more of that than we expected!

The plan was to take a bus or express matatu to Malindi, then another matatu or small bus from there to Kambi ya Waya (means Wire Camp). The bus stops to pick up and drop off, but the express matatu goes straight to Malindi. Then from there, the small bus stops closer to Rod's mom's place but only goes twice a day - around 10 am and 3 pm. The matatus run constantly, but there is a longer walk to the house.

We opted for the express to Malindi, and hoped we'd be in time for the small bus to Kambi ya Waya.

We were barely out of Mombasa when we stopped for gas, but the driver decided he didn't like the prices or something and drove off without filling up. We kept going...for about 50 feet. Then we ran out of gas. All of us boarded other matatus that stopped, but they were not express. They just go from Mombasa to Kilifi, with many stops along the way. In Kilifi, we got aboard a third matatu to take us to Malindi. Suddenly, it started overheating. Apparently, when they had filled the radiator reservoir, they didn't put the cap back on. So the fluid had been coming out the whole time we were driving. We waited on the side of the road for it to cool off and be filled with water, cap replaced this time. And then finally went all the way to Malindi. We were too late for the small bus so we took a matatu and then walked for about an hour. Part of the way was just dry red sand. But part of the way was standing water in muddy, slippery, sticky clay. Had we gone last week, the whole way would have been mud, and the water would have been much higher than ankle deep, as it was today. It might have been waist deep even.

The road to Mama's house

We finally got to the house and surprised Mama Esther and Janet (Wilson's wife). We gave Mama her dress from my mom and took pictures of her in it. Then they asked Rod to kill a chicken and made us lunch.

Mama Esther's house


Mama Esther in her new dress and me


Hoeing weeds in the corn field


Me and Rod


Chicken and ugali


In the mud

We had to go back soon, so after eating we walked through the mud for another hour, and took matatus back to Mombasa with no more incidents.

safari ya kenya :: Day 13 :: in Mombasa and transit

Tuesday, June 24

Today we had breakfast at the same place we had breakfast on my first day in Mombasa.

Rod had some pictures printed from yesterday and Sunday - to give to Florence and show Angeline and Beaty that we took Mama Esther's dress to her. We picked them up after breakfast and headed out to Bamburi one last time.

There was enough fabric left over from our moms' dresses that Beaty was making dresses for Khadija and Chorus - the only siblings of Rod's still living at home. One was already together when we got there, and Beaty put the other one together before we left. Rod abandoned me there so Beaty and Angeline would talk to me, but we still didn't talk much.

We had lunch with Benson. I finally got to eat biriani. Rice, meat, and sauce. It was quite good. Not really worth all the trouble it took to get me my first plate of it, but I'd eat it again.

Benson had to leave us around 2 because he had to work and then take a test in his computer class. We passed the next hour window shopping.

Beaty, Pauline, and Janet (not Rod's sister-in-law, but Beaty's sister and William's girlfriend) met us at my hotel at about 3, which is also when our taxi arrived. Then we went to the airport. I didn't have to check in until 5:30, but the traffic would have been worse then, so we went really early. I spent my last shillings buying everyone sodas and we sat and talked until time for me to check in. William joined us eventually, too.

It was strange to me that they all wanted to see me off at the airport. I kind of wished it could be just Rod and me so we could cuddle the whole time until I had to leave. But I probably would have cried more then.

31 hours till I'll be in Austin...

pictures

The pictures are now online. You can find them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/justrachet/SafariYaKenya. I did journal every day while I was there. Someday I might post my day-by-day journals on here, too. But that could take a while. It will be a lot of typing. I tried to give detailed captions on the pictures, so maybe that will be enough for now.

safari ya kenya

Soon I will be posting my pictures from Kenya to my Picasa, along with a full narrative of every detail I can remember to include.

I saw this when I was flying from Houston to Austin, but I have no idea what it is. It's the letters "LUECKE," and it's written in trees. Why? Anybody know?


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engrish.com

This is my new favorite website. When I was overseas, Dad sent me a book of mixed up signs. They are written in English (sometimes even by English speakers) but they are full of mistakes that make them HILARIOUS. This website is all about that. And I love it. My favorite so far is a little article about the curry and President. It's kind of hard to read, because of the picture behind the text, so I'm going to try and type it out exactly as it is:

The Dish of a Prejudice! (this is written along the side of the article)

Since 1979

Why is the curry very black?
The curry by France Tei is a very black, painful taste.
Another cannot eat this taste.
The dish is being liked by a lot of people.
President's most favorite food is a curry.
The president developed this curry sticking to.
The president was cooking the curry the day before
when the Shimo-Kitazawa shop was opened.
The flower of a friend and congratulation came to
the shop. However the president did not consent to
the taste of the curry.
And, the opening has been postponed.
The president is sticking to the curry by there is such
an episode. Curry with black legend.
It softly cooks the onion and the bouillon of the pain
and beef is cooked for six hours.
It is a blend doing 18 kinds of spices there, and it
cooks for four days.
The Curry

There's a lot more where that came from! I kind of miss Asia now. The mixed up signs in English were the best.