Coming a full week late, but I’m here! I’m writing from Nairobi once again. [Note: it took me so long to finish writing this, I did some writing in Nairobi, Mombasa and Diani Beach]. This city is really becoming my home base for my travels and I’m enjoying it. The last 3 days have been super chill. For my last week on the farm, we had a birthday celebration for all the November birthdays, which was really fun. We baked a cake and had a dance party in the kitchen. The cake came out pretty good, too!
Friday I left the farm and shared teary goodbyes with all the other lovely volunteers there. Spending a month together got me surprisingly used to everyone’s presence and I realized like 30 minutes before leaving how much I would miss seeing their faces every day. Its the short rains season here and the last week on the farm was consistently warm in the morning, downpouring in the afternoon, then cold in the evenings. I lost my voice last week and had a horrible cough afterword and I just knew that once I was back in reasonable weather, my body would recover. So as sad as I was to say goodbye I was equally excited to be back in the relative warmth of Nairobi and have easy access to all the conveniences of modern life again. I took my last motorbike ride from the farm into town and my last shuttle from Naivasha town to Nairobi. One of the local women helped me figure out a much better way to reach my final destination, an airbnb in Kileleshwa neighborhood. I still took the shuttle, but asked the driver to drop me off at ABC, a stop before the chaos of CBD. From there, I caught an Uber to the Airbnb and was SO HAPPY to find a clean, safe, quiet, well-appointed apartment with a washing machine and full kitchen. After arriving I sent my family a short video and immediately got started on my laundry. While my laundry was going, I went to a restaurant up the street for dinner and had a mid quality (but large serving at least, it turned out to be 2 meals) plate of beef rice pilau and sukuma. Back at the airbnb I realized there was no line on the balcony for hanging the clothes to dry and no drying rack. This is where my trouble began. My airbnb host was amazingly responsive and told me right away that clothes are hung to dry on the roof. So I took my clothes to the roof and hung them up. After giving my whole body a good scrub, I snuggled on the couch and watched a movie with a cup of hot water.
The next morning, I woke up to rain and was like nooooooo my clooooothes! So I ran upstairs and got them- it was too late. I only had 1 clean, dry outfit to wear and knew I wouldn’t be able to air dry them in time without a covered spot, so I found a local laundry service and had them come pick up the clothes. I was really agitated the price just for drying was so high-
— dang, I stopped writing in Nairobi and now I’m in Mombasa having a quaint breakfast… I gotta start finishing these entries in one sitting —
Anyway, like I was saying, it was a struggle getting my laundry dry and it cost way more than it should have – $40 just for delivery and drying. But the clothes were dried. So I had my laundry picked up then ventured out to explore the area a little bit and get some cash/ load up my mpesa since it was running low. Mpesa is actually pretty nice, you can use it at most businesses and also transfer money to individuals. When buying tickets and things online you can just put in your Safaricom (local service provider) phone number, your mpesa pin and that’s how you pay. The annoying thing about it is I don’t have a local bank account, so the only way for me to add money to my account is to withdraw cash at an ATM, carry it to an mpesa agent (Just look for the mpesa sign, they’re everywhere) and have them add the money to my account by giving them the cash, my phone #, and the ID# used to set up my Safaricom account (my passport #). They count the money, do stuff on their phone, and I wait there for the instant text notification to come through to my phone that X # of shillings has been deposited into my account. Then I’m good to use it right away. So on Saturday, thats what I did. I had spare cash that I’d gotten in Naivasha, so I just took it to an agent and added it to my account. But not until after I went to a cafe and had a muffin.
The neighborhood I was in had a lot of luxury high rise apartments behind gates and when you walked up the street there were a couple of shopping centers and a nice grocery store. So I checked that area out, got some water then headed out to a local market called Toi market. I took an Uber boda, which is quick, easy, cheap and kind of fun. As soon as I got off the motorbike, people were in my face, “come see shirts” “dresses” “pants!” I’m like no no no and I’m walking until I see some shoes. Long story short, I went to get some shoes and overpaid and later found out they were knockoffs of a really expensive shoe and I was mad I even bought them . Getting my money back was a lost cause and I knew every time I looked at them I’d feel the shame of the bad purchase. The shoe shopping experience, I’ll skip over. But afterword I shopped for dresses and actually really enjoyed that. There was a huge, like meter high pile of dresses on a table and the attendant would pull them out and hold them up for me to see. If I liked it, it went in the “try” pile, if not, back on the mountain it went. Eventually I had 5 dresses to try.
Then we went back for a different pile and I had 10 dresses to try. I ended up getting 2 dresses and even though I overpaid, they were still about the price I would’ve paid for them at a thrift store in the US, so not the end of the world. I took a boda home then walked to the grocery store and cooked myself some pineapple chicken, coconut rice and vegetables which kept me fed for the rest of my stay there.
Time is getting jumbled in my memory, I think the next day, Sunday, I just chilled at the airbnb and rested. A really lazy day, but I went out to a shop to reload my mpesa after Saturday’s shopping disaster.
The next day, Monday, I went to Kibera, the largest urban slum in all of Africa. It honestly just felt like another neighborhood with shops on both sides of the streets and people walking everywhere. I found a man who’s shoes were really beat up and his feet looked to be about my size, so I offered him one of the two pairs of shoes I had. He very happily accepted and, seeing the second pair, offered to take me to the orphanage where he was raised to donate the other pair. We walked down the street and he talked the whole way. Tbh I probably only got about 15% of what he said. I was still looking at everybody’s feet trying to see if we’d pass someone who could take the shoes. Before long, we reached the orphanage. It had a kitchen, a living room and a room with a bunch of bunk beds where the kids slept. The caretaker that was there accepted the shoes and we stood and listened to the man, Reese Moses, talk for a long long time.
Eventually I was like well, I gotta get going and he walked me out so I could catch a motorbike to the Giraffe Centre where I was headed next. The giraffe centre sounded cool, but on the way there, we passed a place called the animal orphanage and I was like what is that?? My motorbike driver told me it was a good place to check out and they have lots of animals, so I said ok, forget the Giraffe Center. Turns out, it was Nairobi National Park and they have really cool safaris you can take, but you need a car. They also have an area for “safari walks”, so I went and did that. Once I bought my ticket ($26 for non-residents… I regret not trying to pass as a resident, everyone thinks I’m Kenyan anyway, smh) and started walking around I was like lol this is just a zoo. I really enjoyed myself though, there were a lot of different animals and informational signs everywhere. Sadly it was too late in the day for me to catch a glimpse of the lion and jaguar, but I saw lots of other animals- giraffes, gazelles, crocodile, cheetah, pygmy hippo, zebras, rhino and lots more.
It wasn’t crowded at all, so at times it felt like a private zoo experience which made it so easy to relax and take my time. I walked the whole zoo then headed back to the airbnb to chill for the night. It was so nice to have a comfortable and private home base. I’m starting to age out of the desire to stay at hostels all the time. I used to be hostels all the way, but now I’m just happy to have a door of my own to close at the end of a long day. Since I went to the grocery store the day before, I also had food and wine there which was a bonus.
The next day, Tuesday, it was finally time for me to check out of the airbnb. I was able to leave my bag there, thankfully since I had a few hours to kill before catching the train to Mombasa. I took a boda to the arboretum, which turned out to be such a lovely, scenic, peaceful way to spend a couple of hours strolling through a nature park and looking at plants. The cost to enter was 716 shillings ($5.54).
I had picked out a nearby restaurant to go to for lunch, so I walked there after and enjoyed a really delicious egg and mushroom crepe, something I need to learn to cook.
After eating, I went back to the airbnb to get my bag and booked it to the train station. My train was at 3pm, so I honestly have no idea why I thought leaving for the station at 1:45 made any sense. Anyway, after a lung-burning, weighted sprint through the train station (along with several others lolol), I made it to the train. I met a really kind man during the train ride who told me all about the landscape we were passing and gave some advice on things to do and places to eat in Mombasa. He was super friendly and even put me on the phone with his sister to talk with her lol he was one of those types. It was cool though and I was just so excited to be in Mombasa and reunited with my Nairobi hostel friend. Mombasa was not the original plan- it was Uganda and Rwanda, but that didn’t work out, so we switched it up. I was glad to be spending my birthday seeing the Indian Ocean for the first time. After arriving to the train station in Mombasa, I got the advice from my train friend to take the commuter train into the city center for only “50 bob”. I was like oh man that’s way cooler to say than “50 shillings. Bob is my new word!” So I got on the commuter train and was miraculously seated next to a man who also turned out to be a complete guardian angel. He also shared a lot about Mombasa, how to get around, and talked about being Kenyan. Knowing that I was American (or maybe I told him I was Canadian, I don’t remember), he seemed to want to share as much about Kenyan culture as he could and honestly sort of took it upon himself to act as my caretaker. He even paid for my train ticket! Arriving in Mombasa city center, the train station was quiet and chill. As soon as you stepped outside, though, there were at least 10 tuk tuk drivers surrounding the exit like paparazzi doing their best to get people’s attention and get customers to take a ride. My train friend #2 had told me the cheapest way to get to the neighborhood I wanted would be to take a tuk tuk, a matatu then a tuk tuk. He was heading in that direction as well, so we rode together and I’m glad he was there because he knew what prices were fair and didn’t let the drivers pressure him into overpaying. The journey was pretty long and I was tired, but honestly just the experience of riding in a matatu, FINALLY, after 1 month in Kenya was really cool. The loud music, the guy hanging out the window next to me calling out “Mtwapa, Mtwapa!” (Mtwapa is the neighborhood we were headed toward), the van pulling over at random points alongside the highway to pick up and drop off passengers, it was just different. Transportation here in Kenya hasn’t been like anything I’ve experienced anywhere else. We finally made it to Mtwapa then got off and hopped on a motorbike. This man was so kind, he paid for all the transport, explained everything to me, gave me his phone number in case I needed any help while in Mombasa, made sure I made it into the hotel safely, then left. The hotel owner was then the third extremely friendly person I met that day. I went to check in and he gave me a discounted price, lower than was quoted online. I paid for the 3 nights I intended to stay and was shown up to my room. As soon as I stepped into my room I was like oh no, I can’t stay here lol. It was so small and even though they seemed to clean it well, it just didn’t seem clean if you know what I mean. On top of that, I was outside walking around then traveling all day, so I really wanted a shower and a clean cozy bed. I was only able to give myself 1 of those 2 things. I was talking with my friend all night who was also in Mombasa and we decided to get a nicer place together for the next couple of days. So I slept one night at that hotel and then the owner kindly refunded me for the remaining 2 in the morning. Before checking out, I walked around Mtwapa a little bit. Like most other locales I’ve visited in Kenya, it was pretty lively with shops on both sides of the road, people, bodas, tuk tuks and men pulling carts of supplies up and down the street. I saw a millipede I think for the first time in my life and was blown away by how big it was. Oh right, this was my and Jasmine’s birthday! I went to a café to have a croissant and cold water, did some writing, checked out of the hotel, and the owner helped me get an Uber and communicated with the driver to prevent him from trying to get more money from me (a common play here, Uber drivers will ask for extra money from you to get a ride).
— editor’s note: I’ve been writing this on and off for 7 days now and I’m gonna rush through this last part bc I would like to just finish and post it —
So I dropped my bags at the airbnb, went walking on the beach, checked out the local mall, had brunch at a bougie café, chilled at the airbnb, met with my friend, and went out to dinner at a restaurant recommended by train friend #1 which was really good. It was called Char Choma- I recommend it if you’re in Mombasa. You select your meat (they have a meat counter at the front with all kinds of meat- seafood, poultry, beef, pork) and a menu of sides. It was really good, the vibes were immaculate with a live band playing, delicious drinks and great company.
Well, I know this is an abrupt ending but its time to go paddleboarding and I’d like to publish this now. Write later!