so i'm currently in kenya.. sitting on a little bed in some hotel just outside of the airport. we've already had 4 powercuts.. kind of a strange turn of events.. we were expecting to arrive at camp and all of a sudden our driver pulls in here and tells us we're actually spending the night and getting picked up tomorrow.. it was a little nerve-wracking given we were warned not to do anything out of the program but here we are!! the other kids i'm with were a bit nervous so i tried to suss things out and seems like it's all legit.. been an interesting evening though climbing up 5 or 6 staircases with our backpacks and trying to settle into rooms. it's so hot i don't know how we're going to get to sleep.. the mosquito net i'm under makes me feel like i'm some sort of intrepid sleeping princess in a fairy-tale bed, i've always liked them (:
the transfer between nairobi and mombasa was interesting.. i narrowly escaped leaving my bag behind. i'd gotten told in sydney that my bag was checked in til my final destination and i didn't have to worry about it.. and thankfully at the last minute the girl checking our boarding passes mentioned that regardless of what i was told in sydney EVERY bag passing through nairobi needs to be picked up at the carousel and physically transported to be checked in again.. cue me running back to the arrivals terminal, scooping up my bag and running back to the departures with 26 or 27 odd kilos on my back/front.. i got so sweaty and gross haha. it's the first airport i've ever had to put my luggage through the carry-on scanner, such a strange mission.
flight was really nice (: just a short hour with my face glued to the plane window - a window seat, finally!! i watched miles of barren, red earth flying below and followed the course of a winding river as we passed over it.. then slowly the scenery changed from dirt to green.. the transformation was amazing. desolate no-man's land flowing into lush green trees and bushes painting the landscape.. big vertical plumes of clouds rising up all around that reminded me of the floating mountains in avatar. and as the ocean became visible [merely a blue haze in the distance], rolling hills, valleys and rivers... my first lungful of mombasa air was heavenly. it tastes so different to the air in sydney.. sort of fruity and fresh. we were all so excited to finally arrive.
and the drive to the hotel.. well.. let's just say we're certainly not in kansas. the roads are chaotic, hundreds of people bustling in the streets.. market stands everywhere, half broken down buildings, children playing in the dirt, men pushing around tyres, women carrying impossible loads on their heads and goats running over derelict walls. it's an impossible array of smells - over-ripe fruit, petrol, burning rubber, stagnant water.. i had my eyes permanently glued out the window.. i did not see a single white person during the whole half hour drive and the way people scrutinized our bus made it so evident that we're strangers in this land. i have to admit it's a little nerve-wracking.. it's obvious that we're not about to drive to some fancy 5-star hotel with a plunge pool and go on little tourist safaris with neatly folded toilet paper roll triangles. this is real, i'm in a foreign place and this is their world, not mine. to feel like part of the minority here is different. i'm so far from home.
guess it's time to sleep now and i hope tomorrow brings good things our way (:
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