Brandon's Post

Jambo!

My trip to Kenya has been amazing thus far. The flights went well and I had no issues with lost baggage or delays. I brought a box from UW with supplies for the hospital marked "Dr. Brandon Sofie" so I expected a few questions, but nothing came up. Kristin met me at the airport in a taxi and we headed back to her apartment in Nairobi. Her place is nice and comfortable, with all necessary appliances, dishes, furniture and has a small deck that looks out on a courtyard filled with trees, flowers, and plants. She has two roommates, a married couple, named Anne and Damian who will be staying here through the end of her stay. We have spent a lot of time with them exploring Nairobi. We have gone out to local restaurants to try the food and went into town to check out the Sunday market where you can buy hand crafted wood carvings, bowls, baskets, etc. after bargaining quite a bit to reduce the cost. They like to say "I give you good price, Kenyan price" but you still have to undercut that amount to make it reasonable. Kristin and I checked out the national museum where they have the skulls of early humans that were discovered in northern Kenya. We also have gone to the local market and the Nakumatt( African wal-mart) to pick up our groceries, water, beer, and other supplies for the week. We have a consistent driver that we trust named Peter who picked me up from the airport and takes us to the store or to areas that are too far to walk to. The Fairview Hotel is down the street where we can get lunch and sit in the courtyard, but we have cooked most of our meals since I arrived. This has ranged from eggs and toast in the morning to chili or phad thai for dinner.

During last week I walked with Kristin to work a few times and visited the office at the hospital where she works. The streets are filled with people, cars, matatus (buses/vans) crammed full of passengers, motorcycles, men pulling carts, etc. Every road you look down has many people. It has been very dry here so the sidewalks, mostly dirt with rocks, are very dusty and your shoes are usually covered by the time you reach your destination. There is a strong smell of exhaust and diesel fumes as you walk down busy roads, as well as the smell of burning garbage, waste, and BO. They could definitely use some rain to clean the streets a bit. It’s not uncomfortable to walk, but it is a completely foreign environment. The people are generally very nice to talk to and will greet you when spoken to, but I have definitely been called a few things during my time here. Overall, I like this city and could get used to living here, but I welcomed an opportunity to get out of town and see the coast.

All four of us packed our things and boarded a plane last Thursday night for Mombasa, which is on an island on the eastern coast of Kenya. Kristin was very nervous for the flight because it was a small prop plane with about 30 seats and we flew with 540 Airlines “Kenya’s low cost airline” Overall, the flight was fine and we had no issues getting into town. We stayed at the Castle Royal Hotel on one of the main roads of Mombasa. They had a small live band and we sat outside at the restaurant in at the front of the hotel and listened to Kenyan covers of Bruce Springsteen and other American artists. The next morning we took a taxi to the Sand Island Beach Cottages on Tiwi beach. We stopped at the store on the way and stocked up on food, beer and water for our stay. The drive to Tiwi was very interesting with a ferry ride and a constant view of roadside shops filled with everything from fruits to crafts, houses, goats crossing the road in front of our speeding car, cows, children playing soccer, and matatus passing into oncoming traffic as they honked and flashed their lights. We finally reached the entrance to the cottages and took a long dirt road past many small brick houses with thatched roofs, coconut trees. We finally arrived at the cottages and were greeted by an amazing view of the Indian Ocean. The cottages sit at the top of a small slope that looks over a grassy area with palm trees with the beach just steps away. The resort got its name from the “sand island” that appears in front of the beach when the tide is out.We waded out to the island shortly after arriving and sat in the shallow water warmed by the hot sand and drank Tusker beer. We bought fish from the local fisherman and cooked it with the vegetables and rice we picked up on the way. We had adventures with catching crab on the beach and Kristin killing cockroaches in the bathroom on the first night that kept us entertained. There is a large reef that runs along the coast just east of the beach which provides an amazing place for snorkeling. On the second day one of the local fishermen took us to a small pool shaped like Africa where we saw many kinds of tropical fish, and to another location where we swam into caves where the water was cool and there were bats hanging over head. In this pool we found tons of lion fish, parrot fish, and sea urchins. We cooked fresh local prawns for our second dinner and relaxed on the front patio with cold beers.

The following day we had a tough time leaving the cottages, but looked forward to the Papilon resort in Diani. This was a bit of a change being an all inclusive hotel, but we wanted to see a few different areas during our trip.
We mostly relaxed by the pool and enjoyed the sun, with a few trips over to the poolside buffet to grab some food. The resort was inhabited by a large family of Vervet monkeys who would run past you to steal food, cups of beer, or anything small left unattended on a lawnchair. This was entertaining, but they could be annoying at times. I played a game of water polo against team Africa (the staff called the animation team) as a member of the European team, because I was the only American, which was fun and a good workout.

We spend the night watching African dancers and listening to clubbing music which coaxed no one to dance. Then came time for bed where we encountered bed bugs, and two infested rooms later finally got a place to “sleep”. Other than the bug incident we had a great time at the resort. We reluctantly caught a taxi back to the airport in Mombasa and flew back to Nairobi last night. This week we will head out to another local restaurant to celebrate my birthday, and possibly travel out of the city for a camping trip next weekend before I head back to Seattle.