Tuesday March 29th 2011
After a rather disturbed night, I was still unable to keep fluids down and was starting to get a bit worried. Pastor decided we should try to walk to the clinic so that I could see the nurse. However, I was rather pleased when I stopped vomiting around 9 am. As the early morning rain and thunderstorms seemed to ease off half an hour later, we started out very slowly. However, Pastor kept looking over to one set of hills, and was very concerned about the weather and my weak condition. Some black clouds swiftly approaching heralded another thunderstorm - so we turned back after only travelling a short distance. I was very disappointed, but Bruce and Pastor decided to set out a bit later, and didn't return until around 4.30, having passed through a fishing village where they had a soda. Bruce was quite shocked at the large number of young women and their behaviour - unfortunately prostitution is a huge problem in the fishing villages or camps, and HIV/AIDS infects the majority of Bumbire’s inhabitants - but it doesn't seem to lessen the promiscuity and immorality. In a few years’ time, the results will be quite devastating.
Mid-afternoon, feeling a little better, I asked if I could wash some underwear – and was a bit shocked to discover the basin I’d been using overnight was the one that also was used to wash clothes in – so had to give it a good clean first. As is usual in Tanzania, you have to hang up underwear indoors, as it’s very offensive to hang it outside in public – but then it takes several days to dry and doesn’t have the benefit of sunshine on it.
Once I’d finished this small chore, Mama asked me if I would like some food, and for the first time in 24 hours I felt like eating a little. After informing her that I might be able to eat a spoonful or two, I was rather flabbergasted to be presented with a huge bowl of rice and another of pork in mchuzi, and to be told that she’d be really happy if I ate it all up! I did manage to eat a couple of spoonfuls of rice and a piece of pork, which actually went down quite well, but that was all. Mama was very disappointed!
We were very glad to see the men again on their return. They had had a good talk with the nurse, who provided a course of antibiotics, some anti-vomiting pills and some 'orange'-flavoured electrolyte sachets, similar to Gastrolyte but tasting even worse! I was glad to be able to keep the tablets down, and they really helped.
For dinner, we were offered vibibi (rice buns) before the main meal of pork, rice and chai - but the kibibi I tried to eat defeated me because it tasted very smoky and was really greasy. I was able to eat a tiny bit of rice and pork, but the tea (chai) also was hard to drink, I only managed half a cup and decided it was much better to keep on drinking as much water as possible. I filled our 600ml bottle alternately with plain water, then electrolyte solution, as I found it so nauseating!
Showing posts with label chai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chai. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Part Five: Tanzania
Sunday 12th July It was too cold to sleep after half six, but as no-one else was up apart from Agnes, we went outside to look at the sheep and goats. It seemed a very slow morning, eventually we had cocoa and bread. The thermos ran out whilst Elizabeth was pouring Bruce’s second cup, and she refilled the thermos with tea then topped up his cup with it - a strange concoction! We had cup of 'real' tea with Nicholas later.
John showed us the clothes that had been made for my parents: he made me put my mum’s on! I think dad’s shirt is too big, they thought he’d be big like Bruce! Pic: my parents wearing their beautiful Maasai garments in NZ.
We took some photos just after nine, prayed for each other, then left for airport. Nicholas was rather upset to be stopped by police, who fined him 500 Ksh for ‘carrying passengers in a dangerous manner’ – John, Joseph & Moses were standing on the deck. I’d been more worried about Maurice standing in the cab!
As only passengers are allowed to enter the departures' terminal, we said our goodbyes outside. You pass through security just inside the doors.
After filling out the departure cards, we weighed our bags on some old-fashioned scales, the attendant writing the weights on a card. Check-in was very quick, so we went upstairs and dozed a bit. We were surprised to hear our flight being called for boarding an hour early, at 11. It may have been because three different flights were due out of our gate within fifteen minutes of each other!
The plane left on time, and they quickly served chicken pie, cake + juice during the hour-long flight! We were the first off the plane, but not the first to get visas!
Part V - Tanzania
After filling in the forms, we took them over to an official near the offices. He took our passports, forms and money, telling us to wait with all the rest of the people there - what a VERY long wait! Unfortunately a group of Japanese tourists from our plane hadn’t got their visas at their embassy before leaving home, this caused quite a fuss! An American couple became quite frustrated with the delay, and weren't very amused when I quipped that the staff were just giving them their money’s worth, USD 50 must be worth some time - however, they told us they'd had to pay 100 each! Everyone else waited quietly, apart from one man who went to the offices himself instead of waiting, then when he was given change, he started to argue as they'd given him some old notes - a lot of places won’t accept USD from before the year 2000 or even later. He ended up being escorted away!
A whole hour later, we exited into the roped-off meet/greet area - no sign of Michael Kikumbo, the young man we'd worked with during our year in Bukoba. He'd become rather like a son to me so two years apart seemed far too long!
Oh, there he was - over by a group of taxi drivers, arranging transport! This rather abbreviated the greetings - no hugs possible, as we had to take our bags to the car. I was so pleased to see him, I didn’t take much notice of where we were going on the drive to our hotel, I was far too busy talking in the back seat! I did notice the big, busy soko (market) in Manzese on the way. Michael directed the driver across the dual carriageway, entering an alleyway and coming round by a back entrance to park beside a small guest house. However, Michael decided to take us to a larger place across the road, so we had pick up our bags and look for a good opportunity to cross, leaving the taxi driver to find his way out of the side street.
After being shown up to our room, Michael left to get the bus tickets for the next day, without saying when he’d be back. After having a shower, we slept till 4.30, then decided to wait for Michael, watching the little TV. By seven, he still hadn't appeared and as we were getting really hungry we went downstairs to the little restaurant. He arrived just after we’d ordered our food, but as he'd already eatern, he only wanted some juice. We only had an hour together, as we needed to be up at five to go to the bus station, the bus would leave at 6.30 & arrive in Same about 3 p.m. It was lovely to hear him trying out some English!
John showed us the clothes that had been made for my parents: he made me put my mum’s on! I think dad’s shirt is too big, they thought he’d be big like Bruce! Pic: my parents wearing their beautiful Maasai garments in NZ.We took some photos just after nine, prayed for each other, then left for airport. Nicholas was rather upset to be stopped by police, who fined him 500 Ksh for ‘carrying passengers in a dangerous manner’ – John, Joseph & Moses were standing on the deck. I’d been more worried about Maurice standing in the cab!
As only passengers are allowed to enter the departures' terminal, we said our goodbyes outside. You pass through security just inside the doors.
After filling out the departure cards, we weighed our bags on some old-fashioned scales, the attendant writing the weights on a card. Check-in was very quick, so we went upstairs and dozed a bit. We were surprised to hear our flight being called for boarding an hour early, at 11. It may have been because three different flights were due out of our gate within fifteen minutes of each other!
The plane left on time, and they quickly served chicken pie, cake + juice during the hour-long flight! We were the first off the plane, but not the first to get visas!
Part V - Tanzania
After filling in the forms, we took them over to an official near the offices. He took our passports, forms and money, telling us to wait with all the rest of the people there - what a VERY long wait! Unfortunately a group of Japanese tourists from our plane hadn’t got their visas at their embassy before leaving home, this caused quite a fuss! An American couple became quite frustrated with the delay, and weren't very amused when I quipped that the staff were just giving them their money’s worth, USD 50 must be worth some time - however, they told us they'd had to pay 100 each! Everyone else waited quietly, apart from one man who went to the offices himself instead of waiting, then when he was given change, he started to argue as they'd given him some old notes - a lot of places won’t accept USD from before the year 2000 or even later. He ended up being escorted away!
A whole hour later, we exited into the roped-off meet/greet area - no sign of Michael Kikumbo, the young man we'd worked with during our year in Bukoba. He'd become rather like a son to me so two years apart seemed far too long!
Oh, there he was - over by a group of taxi drivers, arranging transport! This rather abbreviated the greetings - no hugs possible, as we had to take our bags to the car. I was so pleased to see him, I didn’t take much notice of where we were going on the drive to our hotel, I was far too busy talking in the back seat! I did notice the big, busy soko (market) in Manzese on the way. Michael directed the driver across the dual carriageway, entering an alleyway and coming round by a back entrance to park beside a small guest house. However, Michael decided to take us to a larger place across the road, so we had pick up our bags and look for a good opportunity to cross, leaving the taxi driver to find his way out of the side street.
After being shown up to our room, Michael left to get the bus tickets for the next day, without saying when he’d be back. After having a shower, we slept till 4.30, then decided to wait for Michael, watching the little TV. By seven, he still hadn't appeared and as we were getting really hungry we went downstairs to the little restaurant. He arrived just after we’d ordered our food, but as he'd already eatern, he only wanted some juice. We only had an hour together, as we needed to be up at five to go to the bus station, the bus would leave at 6.30 & arrive in Same about 3 p.m. It was lovely to hear him trying out some English!
Back to Nairobi
Saturday July 11th It was a somewhat cool night disturbed by hyenas, and was cloudy when we got up at 6.15, but cleared up later, and was very hot in Nairobi! After an early chai, there were lots more farewells. We left at quarter to 8 to walk to Ezekiel’s where we had some more chai before walking to the school. The taxi driver had refused to return to Luka’s, saying it was too far and too expensive – TOO TRUE! - but he wouldn’t drop his fee for the shorter trip – GRR! There were lots of passengers this time: us, John, Ezekiel + Joseph (one of the Enkiloriti teachers). Daniel accompanied us to the car to see us off.
It only took 40 minutes to get to Duka Moja this time. On this better road/track, it was possible to drive at 20 kph! Ezekiel farewelled us there, having business to attend to, but Joseph came all the way to Nairobi with us to get some exam papers for the school.
I had a private giggle in the taxi: the radio announcer was talking about various celebrities who were sharing a 'bath day'!!!!!
We reached Nairobi soon after 11, it was a good trip, but we were shocked at the condition of the cattle we passed, and of course the maize was in an even worse state.
At the internet, I still couldn’t access Xnet mail, but was pleased to have an email from my parents on Yahoo saying they’d successfully contacted Amex on our behalf. We changed some USD into Ksh to cover our last expenses in Kenya, also giving John his wedding present.
After a cheap lunch, and even cheaper public toilets (10 Ksh for two), we took a bus back to near Nicholas’ – but during the slow journey bin heavy traffic, it caught the edge of a matatu whilst on lane-changing manoeuvres. They just swerve from lane to lane without indicating or checking that the way is clear, it's amazing there aren't more collisions. Quite a kerfuffle ensued, each driver accusing the other of causing the damage, some of the passengers got involved too! I was praying it wouldn't become physical!
As our bus had ended up diagonally across 1 ½ lanes in a 3-lane carriageway, vehicles on our left had to veer onto the footpath to get past! Some of the passengers started to complain vociferously about the long delay, some even got off the bus and started walking to find another.
Eventually a police van passed us, without slowing down or showing any sign they’d observed the problem, but it must have stopped at the next roundabout & told one of those on point-duty to attend to it, as soon afterwards, a policeman was seen striding purposefully towards us. After a quick word to both drivers, both vehicles started up & drew into the nearby petrol station. Another brief discussion, then we were on our way again – don’t know if any money changed hands or not, couldn’t see.
When we reached our stop, Joseph accompanied our bags on a motorbike taxi back to the ‘shopping centre’ whilst we walked! Poor Bruce wrenched his back again stumbling on a stone. We were saddened to see a dead cow in a patch of grass on the way.
After backpacking our bags from the centre to Nicholas', arriving at about 2.30 to a quiet house, we were greeted by Elizabeth, Emily + the little ones. We wennt to bed to rest whilst John & Joseph returned to town to find the exam papers. We got up a couple of hours later when some children started playing noisily outside. After repacking our bags, we sat in the living room waiting for someone to turn up.
I walked round looking at all the pictures and calendars festooning the wall. One calendar (from a Pentecostal church) had ‘miraculous’ stories – one situation was frankly impossible: a woman gave birth after being pregnant for three years! Another one really made me laugh: “a woman conceived and gave birth to a boy after being in bareness for 4 years!”
After John & Joseph returned at 6.30, we were offered ‘cocoa chai’!!! John was very surprised to hear we hadn’t been offered anything earlier on - so were we! He told us Yasintha is also drinking cocoa instead of tea, they believe it’s bad for mother & baby. She’ll also have LOTS of uji, like the Wahaya in the Bukoba region – they get really fed up with it in the end!
John got Michael on the phone unexpectedly. He was so excited to hear me speak, his voice sprang up an octave, but we didn’t have much time for more than greetings, as John's phone ran out of credit. Michael didn’t ring back but we'd be meeting the next day anyway!
We talked about visiting the local pastor again, but again John was too tired. We watched the TV news & weather, surprised to see the maximum temperature was only 22 deg, it seemed much hotter! We spent the rest of the evening chatting with Nicholas, who'd come to Nairobi 17 years ago to be closer to good grazing. They are used to having the kiangazi (drought/dry season), but it’s the worst he’s known.
Our supper was very late, at ten, but was very delicious: cabbage (a vege at last!) + chapattis, followed by pieces of orange & banana – YUM! Poor Maurice had gone to sleep on a chair, but could only eat just a mouthful or two before slipping back into sleep again, nearly in his plate! It seems cruel to expect little kids (he's only 4!) to stay up so late, I don’t think they realise how much sleep they need.
We didn't get much of that, it was a VERY noisy night: barking dogs outside till early in the morning, then a rooster clapped its wings together & started to crow well before dawn!
It only took 40 minutes to get to Duka Moja this time. On this better road/track, it was possible to drive at 20 kph! Ezekiel farewelled us there, having business to attend to, but Joseph came all the way to Nairobi with us to get some exam papers for the school.
I had a private giggle in the taxi: the radio announcer was talking about various celebrities who were sharing a 'bath day'!!!!!
We reached Nairobi soon after 11, it was a good trip, but we were shocked at the condition of the cattle we passed, and of course the maize was in an even worse state.
At the internet, I still couldn’t access Xnet mail, but was pleased to have an email from my parents on Yahoo saying they’d successfully contacted Amex on our behalf. We changed some USD into Ksh to cover our last expenses in Kenya, also giving John his wedding present.
After a cheap lunch, and even cheaper public toilets (10 Ksh for two), we took a bus back to near Nicholas’ – but during the slow journey bin heavy traffic, it caught the edge of a matatu whilst on lane-changing manoeuvres. They just swerve from lane to lane without indicating or checking that the way is clear, it's amazing there aren't more collisions. Quite a kerfuffle ensued, each driver accusing the other of causing the damage, some of the passengers got involved too! I was praying it wouldn't become physical!
As our bus had ended up diagonally across 1 ½ lanes in a 3-lane carriageway, vehicles on our left had to veer onto the footpath to get past! Some of the passengers started to complain vociferously about the long delay, some even got off the bus and started walking to find another.
Eventually a police van passed us, without slowing down or showing any sign they’d observed the problem, but it must have stopped at the next roundabout & told one of those on point-duty to attend to it, as soon afterwards, a policeman was seen striding purposefully towards us. After a quick word to both drivers, both vehicles started up & drew into the nearby petrol station. Another brief discussion, then we were on our way again – don’t know if any money changed hands or not, couldn’t see.
When we reached our stop, Joseph accompanied our bags on a motorbike taxi back to the ‘shopping centre’ whilst we walked! Poor Bruce wrenched his back again stumbling on a stone. We were saddened to see a dead cow in a patch of grass on the way.
After backpacking our bags from the centre to Nicholas', arriving at about 2.30 to a quiet house, we were greeted by Elizabeth, Emily + the little ones. We wennt to bed to rest whilst John & Joseph returned to town to find the exam papers. We got up a couple of hours later when some children started playing noisily outside. After repacking our bags, we sat in the living room waiting for someone to turn up.
I walked round looking at all the pictures and calendars festooning the wall. One calendar (from a Pentecostal church) had ‘miraculous’ stories – one situation was frankly impossible: a woman gave birth after being pregnant for three years! Another one really made me laugh: “a woman conceived and gave birth to a boy after being in bareness for 4 years!”
After John & Joseph returned at 6.30, we were offered ‘cocoa chai’!!! John was very surprised to hear we hadn’t been offered anything earlier on - so were we! He told us Yasintha is also drinking cocoa instead of tea, they believe it’s bad for mother & baby. She’ll also have LOTS of uji, like the Wahaya in the Bukoba region – they get really fed up with it in the end!
John got Michael on the phone unexpectedly. He was so excited to hear me speak, his voice sprang up an octave, but we didn’t have much time for more than greetings, as John's phone ran out of credit. Michael didn’t ring back but we'd be meeting the next day anyway!
We talked about visiting the local pastor again, but again John was too tired. We watched the TV news & weather, surprised to see the maximum temperature was only 22 deg, it seemed much hotter! We spent the rest of the evening chatting with Nicholas, who'd come to Nairobi 17 years ago to be closer to good grazing. They are used to having the kiangazi (drought/dry season), but it’s the worst he’s known.
Our supper was very late, at ten, but was very delicious: cabbage (a vege at last!) + chapattis, followed by pieces of orange & banana – YUM! Poor Maurice had gone to sleep on a chair, but could only eat just a mouthful or two before slipping back into sleep again, nearly in his plate! It seems cruel to expect little kids (he's only 4!) to stay up so late, I don’t think they realise how much sleep they need.
We didn't get much of that, it was a VERY noisy night: barking dogs outside till early in the morning, then a rooster clapped its wings together & started to crow well before dawn!
Monday, October 5, 2009
A seminar and Moses Teeka
Saturday July 4th We had an early breakfast of chai/chapattis, then had time to bathe + wash my hair, waiting for Ezekiel to come. It was a bit embarrassing having a big audience of mamas and children when I went outside to comb hair in the breeze - one mama had a go too!
We left at 9.30, carrying our day packs, to attend a seminar at Nalepo Baptist Church. On the way, we visited a family badly affected by the drought, and had chai in the mama’s hut, listening to their story. One son owes 10,000 Ksh school fees, so he can’t get his Leaving Certificate - which means no work or college prospects. Bruce shared a word about having hope: the mama started crying, so I stayed in the hut to pray with her; we had a tearful hug.
They had 400 sheep/goats & 300 cattle, but now only have 200 sheep/goats and 30 cattle. 2 sons took us round the manyatta, some corrals are not even used now, although all used to be full.
We were all told to go to the toilet in the bush before reaching the church – no facilities there + the seminar would have NO breaks!! When we arrived at 11, it had already started. As it didn’t finish till 5, we were glad of the frequent opportunities to stand and sing between speakers. John & another man took turns translating into English. We enjoyed the messages apart from one. The preacher was repeating a message he’d heard in town: the drought was God’s punishment on the Maasai as they hadn't been giving to Him; they needed to give Him everything, especially their best. He also said their church was too small so they should build a big stone one! It's true there were over 400 packed into the iron building, but a lot were from other churches!
The 2nd speaker was good, sharing from 1st/2nd Timothy, firstly about the need for wives to be obedient, and not want to emulate women in other places who strive to be church leaders. Instead, they should set a good example for the other women. Men and women are equal but have different roles. He encouraged the men to ‘fight the good fight’, i.e. to be diligent in the faith and not give up.
When the meeting ended, we were told to stay inside to eat with the pastors: potato stew, chapattis & beef -it was so tough I finished ½ hour after the rest!
After 1 ½ hours' walk, we reached Moses' manyatta just before dark, to be greeted by many people. One baby had a pale swollen face – malnutrition? - but I didn't get another look at it.
We sat chatting with Moses in the hut we were to stay in. There are 20 primary school children + 15 pre-schoolers on the manyatta. Soinkan, John’s full sister, is the only one at High School, she's in Form One at Najile, and has been chased away for owing fees. John’s youngest sister, Pirisat, changed primary schools this year as the teachers were absent so often her studies were affected.
Only 3 of Moses’ 5 wives are still living here, John’s mother is at Luka’s to get feed for John’s stock and another is with her eldest son.
Moses had 300 sheep/goats and many cattle, but now has only 60 sheep/goats, and a few cattle. As a fat sheep is now only worth 1,000 Ksh instead of 5,000 (over $100!) he’d have to sell 20 to be able to send all his children to school!
It was hard to get to sleep as dogs were fighting outside our hut until very late; one of the young ones kept getting picked on, making me jump with its sharp yelping.
We left at 9.30, carrying our day packs, to attend a seminar at Nalepo Baptist Church. On the way, we visited a family badly affected by the drought, and had chai in the mama’s hut, listening to their story. One son owes 10,000 Ksh school fees, so he can’t get his Leaving Certificate - which means no work or college prospects. Bruce shared a word about having hope: the mama started crying, so I stayed in the hut to pray with her; we had a tearful hug.
They had 400 sheep/goats & 300 cattle, but now only have 200 sheep/goats and 30 cattle. 2 sons took us round the manyatta, some corrals are not even used now, although all used to be full.
We were all told to go to the toilet in the bush before reaching the church – no facilities there + the seminar would have NO breaks!! When we arrived at 11, it had already started. As it didn’t finish till 5, we were glad of the frequent opportunities to stand and sing between speakers. John & another man took turns translating into English. We enjoyed the messages apart from one. The preacher was repeating a message he’d heard in town: the drought was God’s punishment on the Maasai as they hadn't been giving to Him; they needed to give Him everything, especially their best. He also said their church was too small so they should build a big stone one! It's true there were over 400 packed into the iron building, but a lot were from other churches!
The 2nd speaker was good, sharing from 1st/2nd Timothy, firstly about the need for wives to be obedient, and not want to emulate women in other places who strive to be church leaders. Instead, they should set a good example for the other women. Men and women are equal but have different roles. He encouraged the men to ‘fight the good fight’, i.e. to be diligent in the faith and not give up.
When the meeting ended, we were told to stay inside to eat with the pastors: potato stew, chapattis & beef -it was so tough I finished ½ hour after the rest!
After 1 ½ hours' walk, we reached Moses' manyatta just before dark, to be greeted by many people. One baby had a pale swollen face – malnutrition? - but I didn't get another look at it.
We sat chatting with Moses in the hut we were to stay in. There are 20 primary school children + 15 pre-schoolers on the manyatta. Soinkan, John’s full sister, is the only one at High School, she's in Form One at Najile, and has been chased away for owing fees. John’s youngest sister, Pirisat, changed primary schools this year as the teachers were absent so often her studies were affected.
Only 3 of Moses’ 5 wives are still living here, John’s mother is at Luka’s to get feed for John’s stock and another is with her eldest son.
Moses had 300 sheep/goats and many cattle, but now has only 60 sheep/goats, and a few cattle. As a fat sheep is now only worth 1,000 Ksh instead of 5,000 (over $100!) he’d have to sell 20 to be able to send all his children to school!
It was hard to get to sleep as dogs were fighting outside our hut until very late; one of the young ones kept getting picked on, making me jump with its sharp yelping.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
A day in Nairobi
Wed July 1st It was a cold morning, grey and cloudy, but it got hot later when the sun came out. We were up at 7, I was feeling VERY tired and scratchy, which made reorganizing & repacking my bags very slow. Chatted afterwards with Agnes and her oldest child, Maurice (4), also with Emily, Agnes’ younger sister, who has very good English – although she doesn’t think so! She’s in Standard 7, so should finish Primary School next year.
After breakfast of bread & chai, we started towards the city centre by ute. Bruce drove at first, but they thought he was going too slowly on the dirt roads! The next problem was not giving him directions in time! Maa instructions were shouted by those on the deck to John who was sitting inside, so by the time he'd translated them into English it was too late to take the turning! We were very glad when one of them took over! We were dropped off at a petrol station to take a bus to Barclay Plaza to the Precision Air office.
The most wonderful lady, Sarah Wachira, helped us, she deserves a gold medal! What we’d thought would be a quick job turned out to take many hours! Each time she tried the on-line payment system: “Transaction declined”! The proble: a missing office code on our voucher which hadn't been issued by Precision Air after all but by the travel agent. She said it might be possible for us to give her the voucher + the balance of the fare to send Arusha: a ticket would be issued manually from there! Oh dear, we know the African postal system is rather dodgy! However, we agreed to go away for a few hours so she could get it all sorted.
After lunching in a cafe, we spent over an hour in a taxi trying to find the Amex office to report the loss of the travellers’ cheques. We'd been told to go to Upper Hill, and that it'd be easy to find the office there, but no-one knew where the office was when we got there!
Some fun encounters in the city: 3 guys in a truck gave Bruce a thumbs-up, totally delighted when he returned it. A motorcyclist gave him a big smile and was overjoyed to have it returned. A lady in a phone card shop was really excited when I greeted her in Kiswahili!
We were very surprised to only see a total of 6 Wazungu during our few days in Nairobi. On previous visits there have been lots! Perhaps they were all on safari or keeping away after last year’s fighting.
Public toilets are a bit different: you pay the outside attendant 10 or 20 Ksh (20 or 40 NZ cents) & get some toilet paper. After using the squat toilet, you flush it with a couple of dippers of water from a barrel outside the door. I was pleased there was also water for washing your hands too, sometimes outside.
As we arrived back at the Plaza we were thrilled to see Sarah just outside the main entrance – no need to leave Bruce’s passport at the desk this time in exchange for an ID tag! Back in the office, she gave us a huge smile, handed over our tickets and we paid the balance, which was much cheaper than the amount I’d been told on-line. So it was smiles and thank you’s all round! It was so good to get all that sorted out, we couldn’t leave it till our return to the city as it would be at a weekend, and no offices open. We cashed up the extra 100 USD, so we could buy supplies and pay for transport over the next week.
We were surprised to be taken to an up-market supermarket, but it was good to use some clean Western-style toilets. When Nicholas turned up, he treated us to huge lattés in the nearby cafe – I’ve never seen such stiff foam before! The severe headache I’d developed eased off a little.
Back in the Maasai shopping 'centre', we stopped to greet a pastor who has a church there called Harvest, he wanted us to visit him after tea.
Our tea was different: ‘Nescafe chai’! It was strange that it was still called 'chai' even though it was made from coffee, not tea!
I tried to phone Amex using John's cellphone, but got no reply. John was too tired to visit the pastor, so we stayed at home talking to a young teacher who had come to greet us. He teaches a class of 70 Standard 3-4 pupils!
We had more chai at 9, dinner at 10: cabbage, potatoes and chapattis, but couldn’t eat very much! I was a bit disturbed when John told me we would be discussing transport arrangements the next day, we'd thought it had already been sorted!
Had a few hours’ good sleep once the talking stopped, we'd been given 2 blankets this time!
After breakfast of bread & chai, we started towards the city centre by ute. Bruce drove at first, but they thought he was going too slowly on the dirt roads! The next problem was not giving him directions in time! Maa instructions were shouted by those on the deck to John who was sitting inside, so by the time he'd translated them into English it was too late to take the turning! We were very glad when one of them took over! We were dropped off at a petrol station to take a bus to Barclay Plaza to the Precision Air office.
The most wonderful lady, Sarah Wachira, helped us, she deserves a gold medal! What we’d thought would be a quick job turned out to take many hours! Each time she tried the on-line payment system: “Transaction declined”! The proble: a missing office code on our voucher which hadn't been issued by Precision Air after all but by the travel agent. She said it might be possible for us to give her the voucher + the balance of the fare to send Arusha: a ticket would be issued manually from there! Oh dear, we know the African postal system is rather dodgy! However, we agreed to go away for a few hours so she could get it all sorted.
After lunching in a cafe, we spent over an hour in a taxi trying to find the Amex office to report the loss of the travellers’ cheques. We'd been told to go to Upper Hill, and that it'd be easy to find the office there, but no-one knew where the office was when we got there!
Some fun encounters in the city: 3 guys in a truck gave Bruce a thumbs-up, totally delighted when he returned it. A motorcyclist gave him a big smile and was overjoyed to have it returned. A lady in a phone card shop was really excited when I greeted her in Kiswahili!
We were very surprised to only see a total of 6 Wazungu during our few days in Nairobi. On previous visits there have been lots! Perhaps they were all on safari or keeping away after last year’s fighting.
Public toilets are a bit different: you pay the outside attendant 10 or 20 Ksh (20 or 40 NZ cents) & get some toilet paper. After using the squat toilet, you flush it with a couple of dippers of water from a barrel outside the door. I was pleased there was also water for washing your hands too, sometimes outside.
As we arrived back at the Plaza we were thrilled to see Sarah just outside the main entrance – no need to leave Bruce’s passport at the desk this time in exchange for an ID tag! Back in the office, she gave us a huge smile, handed over our tickets and we paid the balance, which was much cheaper than the amount I’d been told on-line. So it was smiles and thank you’s all round! It was so good to get all that sorted out, we couldn’t leave it till our return to the city as it would be at a weekend, and no offices open. We cashed up the extra 100 USD, so we could buy supplies and pay for transport over the next week.
We were surprised to be taken to an up-market supermarket, but it was good to use some clean Western-style toilets. When Nicholas turned up, he treated us to huge lattés in the nearby cafe – I’ve never seen such stiff foam before! The severe headache I’d developed eased off a little.
Back in the Maasai shopping 'centre', we stopped to greet a pastor who has a church there called Harvest, he wanted us to visit him after tea.
Our tea was different: ‘Nescafe chai’! It was strange that it was still called 'chai' even though it was made from coffee, not tea!
I tried to phone Amex using John's cellphone, but got no reply. John was too tired to visit the pastor, so we stayed at home talking to a young teacher who had come to greet us. He teaches a class of 70 Standard 3-4 pupils!
We had more chai at 9, dinner at 10: cabbage, potatoes and chapattis, but couldn’t eat very much! I was a bit disturbed when John told me we would be discussing transport arrangements the next day, we'd thought it had already been sorted!
Had a few hours’ good sleep once the talking stopped, we'd been given 2 blankets this time!
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