Kakamega at last...and I still have all my things!
So the last few days have been an adventure. Ok, more realistically it's been an ordeal. The logistics of trying to organize getting over 100lbs. of stuff all the way across Kenya with the least amount of money possible along with eight other people is not easy.
First off, the key to my house was left with a Security company in Nairobi and I had to walk through town trying to find it. Peace Corps assured me they would pick it up but an arrangement had been made that ensured nobody but me could get it. Luckily, after a few hours I had that out of the way, but the Matatu we rented from Nairobi to Kisumu had to be the worst ride I’ve ever been on. It’s hard to describe how bad the road is between these two cities. The previous trip in a bus was bad enough but we ended up with eight people and all of their belongings in a small Toyota van. We were piled under and around luggage for over eight hours of bumping along cavernous potholes, bumps, and dips. Oh, and did I mention I’ve been diagnosed with both amoebic dysentery and a bacterial infection in my stomach? Things were better for a day but promptly returned, so I’ve got a follow up medical appointment in Kisumu next Tuesday to pick up some medication to take out all of the critters swimming around in my stomach.
When we finally got to Kisumu, the driver had no idea where the hotel was we were supposed to be dropped off at, so we ended up practically looping all the way around Lake Victoria (which is beautiful, by the way) before finally convincing the driver that yes, the Hotel is actually in Kisumu and we needed to turn around. Luckily we finally made it through the second leg of our trip (the first being Kitui to Nairobi) and stayed at a nice hotel in Kisumu called the New Victoria. Our rooms were naturally on the top floor and each of us had about 120 lbs. of gear to lug.
The next day we went to the Nakumatt City, which is bigger that a super Wal-Mart and gave us a chance to stock up on most of the things we would need at site. I splurged and bought a weight set so I have something to use for my sanity over the next two years. We took taxis back to the hotel and piled all our of things on the sidewalk next to a security guard while we waited for our ride to Kakamega, and we literally had a mountain of stuff. The final leg of the trip, Kisumu to our front doors, turned out to be the hardest. I was last to be dropped off so I got to see the ordeal everyone had to go through on the way. We left Kisumu with all of our gear piled in a matatu and all the PVC’s piled in a sport ute. The rain really started pouring down about the time the first person, Elicia, needed to be dropped off and the road was so bad that the matatu, complete with all of our luggage, stated sliding all over the road and eventually slid into a rut and got stuck. We enjoyed digging all of the luggage out of the matatu while covered in mud and soaked so we could get to Elicia’s stuff and load it into the sport ute for the rest of the way to her house. When we finally got this done and managed to push the Matatu out of the rut and get it going again, the driver was furious, claiming this wasn’t part of the deal and asking for more money. He claimed he only received 2000 shillings for the drive and was told he would be driving straight to Kakamega and not dropping everyone off, although our group gave 14000 shillings to his boss and we were assured this would not be a problem. We weren’t really sure who to trust so we ended up giving the driver 1000 more shillings to prevent him from dropping us off in the middle of nowhere with all our things. From there we continued on our journey to the next house, which would not have been as big of a problem except the bearings went out on the front wheel of the sport ute and after spending a lot of time trying to get it fixed we had to flag down another vehicle to take us to the next stop. We had to get a car from one of the volunteer's supervisor to meet us at the matatu stage and it was there that we began unloading the things for the next few volunteers while random sketchy people crowded around our group and peered into our van full of shopping bags and luggage. Some people even started trying to grab things from our matatu and I had to shove a guy backwards to keep him away from our bags. These types of experiences continued until the driver finally made it to my house. Miraculously, I got there in one piece with all my things. I celebrated by going to bed immediately and not doing anything else the rest of the night.
So thank God I’m in Kakamega. I’m meeting up with my boss on Friday so I have a few days to unpack and get things in order. Expect to hear more soon.
First off, the key to my house was left with a Security company in Nairobi and I had to walk through town trying to find it. Peace Corps assured me they would pick it up but an arrangement had been made that ensured nobody but me could get it. Luckily, after a few hours I had that out of the way, but the Matatu we rented from Nairobi to Kisumu had to be the worst ride I’ve ever been on. It’s hard to describe how bad the road is between these two cities. The previous trip in a bus was bad enough but we ended up with eight people and all of their belongings in a small Toyota van. We were piled under and around luggage for over eight hours of bumping along cavernous potholes, bumps, and dips. Oh, and did I mention I’ve been diagnosed with both amoebic dysentery and a bacterial infection in my stomach? Things were better for a day but promptly returned, so I’ve got a follow up medical appointment in Kisumu next Tuesday to pick up some medication to take out all of the critters swimming around in my stomach.
When we finally got to Kisumu, the driver had no idea where the hotel was we were supposed to be dropped off at, so we ended up practically looping all the way around Lake Victoria (which is beautiful, by the way) before finally convincing the driver that yes, the Hotel is actually in Kisumu and we needed to turn around. Luckily we finally made it through the second leg of our trip (the first being Kitui to Nairobi) and stayed at a nice hotel in Kisumu called the New Victoria. Our rooms were naturally on the top floor and each of us had about 120 lbs. of gear to lug.
The next day we went to the Nakumatt City, which is bigger that a super Wal-Mart and gave us a chance to stock up on most of the things we would need at site. I splurged and bought a weight set so I have something to use for my sanity over the next two years. We took taxis back to the hotel and piled all our of things on the sidewalk next to a security guard while we waited for our ride to Kakamega, and we literally had a mountain of stuff. The final leg of the trip, Kisumu to our front doors, turned out to be the hardest. I was last to be dropped off so I got to see the ordeal everyone had to go through on the way. We left Kisumu with all of our gear piled in a matatu and all the PVC’s piled in a sport ute. The rain really started pouring down about the time the first person, Elicia, needed to be dropped off and the road was so bad that the matatu, complete with all of our luggage, stated sliding all over the road and eventually slid into a rut and got stuck. We enjoyed digging all of the luggage out of the matatu while covered in mud and soaked so we could get to Elicia’s stuff and load it into the sport ute for the rest of the way to her house. When we finally got this done and managed to push the Matatu out of the rut and get it going again, the driver was furious, claiming this wasn’t part of the deal and asking for more money. He claimed he only received 2000 shillings for the drive and was told he would be driving straight to Kakamega and not dropping everyone off, although our group gave 14000 shillings to his boss and we were assured this would not be a problem. We weren’t really sure who to trust so we ended up giving the driver 1000 more shillings to prevent him from dropping us off in the middle of nowhere with all our things. From there we continued on our journey to the next house, which would not have been as big of a problem except the bearings went out on the front wheel of the sport ute and after spending a lot of time trying to get it fixed we had to flag down another vehicle to take us to the next stop. We had to get a car from one of the volunteer's supervisor to meet us at the matatu stage and it was there that we began unloading the things for the next few volunteers while random sketchy people crowded around our group and peered into our van full of shopping bags and luggage. Some people even started trying to grab things from our matatu and I had to shove a guy backwards to keep him away from our bags. These types of experiences continued until the driver finally made it to my house. Miraculously, I got there in one piece with all my things. I celebrated by going to bed immediately and not doing anything else the rest of the night.
So thank God I’m in Kakamega. I’m meeting up with my boss on Friday so I have a few days to unpack and get things in order. Expect to hear more soon.
posted by KenyaJoe at 3:42 AM
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