This past weekend I traveled to a small town outside of Lake Victoria...I would tell you the name but I know I would butcher the spelling but it is about 8 hours from Nairobi by bus. Yes, it was a full day of traveling but I found it quite fun. For example, about an hour into the trip we stopped on the side of the road and all the men got out to pee in the middle of nowhere, lucky them. I should back up a hit and first tell you about just simply getting to the bus station. Another volunteer, Jen, and I got up at 545 to meet Dan who works at NVS ( the partner company with IVHQ here in Kenya) and we started our half hour journey to City Center. We all know Kenyans are born runners and I'm not generalizing...I even asked Dan about it and he said "we run". So naturally his normal pace is the equivalent of my jog...I tried to will my little American legs to go that fast but it just was not happening for me. We finally got to the main road where we took a bus to the station downtown. I started to notice somethingbout Kenyam traffic: it is organized chaos. The whole time you are in any vehicle you wonder how in the world you are going to exit it without injury. I like to think of it as hundreds of little streams flowing into one river because for how crazy it is, it flows very well. Sure you could hold hands with passengers in the car next to you because yo're so close and sure blinkers are not used and there are no speed limits and rules about passing lanes dont exist BUT the cars dont crash and Ive obviously survived so it's entertaining more than anything.
As far as the actual bus...when I got on, they gave me water and crackers...it was like I was going on a plane ride! It definitely was not the smoothest of rides but I decided it was like a roller coaster and I trusted we wouldn't crash. My faith faltered slightly when we saw an overturned semi and almost tipped over ourselves but then we were good to go! All I could think was, "My mother would absolutely havr a heart attack". Although I was told it would be a six hour bus ride...7.5 hours later we were finally sitting by Lake Victoria watching as cars drove onto shore to be washed...interesting. I also thought that Dan's home was on the lake and we were done traveling....WRONG. So began our rides in matatus and because I experienced them so much this weekend I can confidently say it is one thing I dont feel the need to try again.
Matatus are thr cheapest form of transporation and they are basically ten person minivans that they shove twenty people into. Yes...20. There is a driver and a man who takes money and gets customers. Where there aren't seats...they make one with a piece of plywood which I know because I was pushed onto these in between seats many times. The worst was when I sat in the seat above the engine because it was pretty darn hot on the feet. It is also always a bummer when a person in the back has to get out so everyone has to file out or have people and their dead chickens climbing literally on top of you. I really didnt mind it so much, it was kind of fun at times but also very stressful. My favorite part about the matatus though were their names..especially Joymack...that was my favorite.
Eventually we arrived in Dan's town and walked about a mile in to his family's property. It was starting to get dark and rainy by the time we arrived but I could already tell how beautiful the land was. Surrounded by farms of corn, beans, peanuts, avocados, mangos, and bananas, it looked like the paradise of Kenya. We immediately met his mother Mary, their helper and Dan's 12 year old nephew Ochibo. The property is divided into land for each son so there is his mom's home, his brother's home, the kitchen, and Dan's home. We sat down for a dinner of fresh chicken, rice and kale along with orange fanta. Ok so Kenyans are ridiculously skinny but they eat SO MUCH. His mom complained multiple times that I didnt have thirds...seconds was hard enough considering how full I was but whoa...the food doesnt stop. But food is an essential part of their culture considering all the women do all day is cook. Dont get me wrong, it was delicious! Just alot at one time. Then after every meal we had chai which made me very happy considering it is the best chai I have ever had...note to self: learn how to make this chai! The other meals we had over the weekend
