The journey began Monday, Dec 28th at 5 pm. We got to the bus station and waited to board the 6 pm bus from Kampala to Nairobi. The previous blog entry tells you about simply obtaining the tickets, so you can imagine our excitement at actually boarding!
We had been told that crossing the border from Uganda into Kenya at night was really dangerous, people were mugged somewhat frequently and it turns into chaos whenever a bus rolls in. After a few short hours of driving and an even shorter amount of sleep, we arrived at the border. I was really confused, because there were (maybe) 10 people outside. And it was dark. And nobody really said anything; everyone just got off the bus. So, we followed.
We got off and went into the office-type building and filled out a form. We had been told that it cost $50 to go into Kenya. Surprisingly, they didn’t ask for money or anything! I was really excited, thinking my charm and beauty (yes, that’s a joke) had gotten me in for free! Little did I know that we were just in the “Exit Uganda” place, not the “Enter Kenya” one yet. We walked over where everyone else seemed to be meandering and realized that this would be where we got our Kenyan visas and pay the money.
At around 6:30 am on Tuesday, we arrived in Nairobi. Since our bus wasn’t scheduled to leave for Mombasa until 8:00, we got off and wandered around, looking at some of the little places to eat and various other shops in the downtown area. We ended up near the Sheraton, and asked one of the guards if he could direct us to a bank to get some Kenyan shillings. He told us perfect directions (this wouldn’t normally be such an amazing thing, but this is Africa!)
After debating for about 10 minutes on what the exchange rate was, how much we anticipated spending, and what that equated to in Kenyan shillings, we got some money from the ATM. Kenyan money is really pretty, actually. I’ll have to show some to you when I get home. I especially like the coins.
All throughout the trip, when buying something, I would take the Kenyan shilling price, convert it into dollars, and convert that into Ugandan shillings. Then, I’d ask myself, “Would I pay this much in Uganda for this?” You can’t really base what you buy off of prices in the U.S., since different things here cost different amounts, obviously. Maybe I’ll go to the store and make a list of the average cost of food in terms of UGSH. Back to the story.
We left Nairobi without a hitch and were about an hour outside of the city when our bus pulled over onto the side of the road, where there were a lot of police officers in uniform. The bus driver parked, and told everyone to get off for a ‘seatbelt check’… I know what you’re thinking. We’re about to get taken for all we have. Well, we didn’t get robbed, which was a good thing. But we did wait outside for a while. Which then turned into a long while. And then an even longer while. Total, we were outside from 9:00 am until 5:30 pm. It.was.ridiculous.
Basically, the police officers told us that our bus didn’t pass Kenyan regulations for safety, so they took off the license plates and said we couldn’t go anywhere. We’re in the middle of the desert, mind you. So, what else was there to do? Take pictures. After a few hours, though, that got kind of old. One officer even TOLD us, “If you give me some money, I can let you go.” Haha. That’s what it’s all about.
Thankfully, we had a friend who lives in Nairobi, who we were able to text our situation to. There was a little bit more that happened in there, but it’s not important. At 5:30, Betsy and I got on a matatu heading back into Nairobi where our friends Brent and Theresa were going to pick us. I can only imagine how we looked: two mzungu girls with huge backpacks and pillows, walking along in the middle of the city, waiting for someone whose (Kenyan) car we’ve never seen. We ended up getting to go to the Duncan’s house, where Mr. and Mrs. Duncan (the WGM head coordinators for East Africa) made us a delicious meal and let us shower. Oh, it felt good after being on a dirty bus for so long, and then out in the hot African sun for longer…
We were able to find another bus that went to Mombasa that left at 10:30 pm, so we hopped on that one and began our adventure once again. Can I just tell you – the Kenyan desertland at night with a full moon looked absolutely amazing. The trees shone so bright, and the whole place was illuminated. It was magnificent.
We arrived in Mombasa at something like 6:00 am. Not sure of where we were going, we solicited the help of our bus driver, who ended up being a huge help. That was one thing we found in Kenya; the people were really willing to help us out if we needed it. Yeah, they might have charged us a little extra, but they didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives, which was refreshing. We eventually found “The Beach” that we had seen online, and it was ghetto. Seriously. The place didn’t overlook a beach so much as a marsh…
But it was a fun day. We laid out, got drenched from the wet, wet sand, went walking in town, bought some niiiice fabric (of which I’m hoping to get a dress made! Wahoo!) and even met and played with some of the local kids. I feel like no matter where I go, I make friends with the kiddos. I am always so blessed by their smiles and their happiness, even amidst their situations and circumstances. Beautiful, beautiful kids.
Ok, so we decided after seeing the tent we’d be sleeping in that “The Beach” was a one-night stop. The next morning, we hopped on a boda, then took a matatu, then took another matatu, and wound up at the ferry that crosses to the South Coast.
This is where everyone told us to go in the first place! Again, two Kenyan gentlemen were so kind and helped us figure out where to go, which matatus to take, and made sure to mention to hold our backpacks close while we were on the ferry crossing.
On the ferry!
We then boarded another matatu with a group of girls from Sweden who were there vacationing, and headed to Diane Beach. A few matatus later, we came to this HUGE hotel, and decided to give it a try. But, they wanted $300 for one room for one night. No can do. As we were walking out of the hotel compound, we said good-bye to the guard, who called us over to talk. We explained to him why we wouldn’t be staying, and he said that there might be something he could do to help. He asked his friend to call another hotel that they knew about to see if they had any rooms. They did! And for 4,000 KSh! (75 KSh = $1, so it was about $13 for each of us) This is on New Year’s Eve, mind you.
The taxi driver then drove us to this other hotel, and we were sooo happy to be there. It was more like a group of bandas than a hotel, but anything at this point would have been an improvement. We settled in, ran to the grocery store (found Oreo’s!!!) and went out to the beach to relax.
The sand was so white, the water so blue, the weather so nice.
We laid out, read our books, went swimming, hopped in the waves, floated on top of the water, and had a wonderful afternoon. That evening, we had dinner at the place we were staying and stayed up till midnight reading our books and relaxing.
A moonlit beach...
A few mzungu guys invited us to join them as they walked down the beach, but we, um, respectfully declined. There’s just something about, ”Well you’re looking beautiful tonight” said in a slurred voice that reeks of alcohol that just doesn’t hit the right notes, you know? After lots of LOUD music, and 20 minutes after midnight, we decided to hit the hay, since we’d need to take a matatu at 6:00 am to make it to the ferry and then back to Mombasa for our 9:00 am bus to Nairobi/Kampala. Crossing our fingers for no mishaps this time.
The Lord must have known we couldn’t handle many more surprises, because the trip home was great. No broken busses. No sleeping in tents on the ground. No creepers sitting next to you staring at you the entire trip. Just a nice bus ride. What a blessing.
And that, my friends, was my adventure in Mombasa! 
No comments:
Post a Comment