motorbike adventure

had the absolute best day today (: sam and i needed to run a few errands and pick up a load of washing we'd taken to the diani laundromat (the humid air in muhaka had made my clothes smell like damp and after tsavo everything was somewhat stained red) so we ordered some motorbikes for the morning (our chosen form of transportation given there were only two of us). i was so excited to jump on board and my dude was pretty funny - so evidently showing off the mzungu girl riding behind him to the mates we passed.

we'd traveled along the road to diani dozens of times before but it was a totally new experience to feel actually immersed in the landscape as opposed to being safe and comfortable in our big safari bus that so evidently doesn't belong.. the acrid smell of plastic and rubbish piles being burned.. groups of young children playing barefoot in the dirt, some carefully carrying babies propped up on their hips.. random goats trotting around makeshift corrugated-iron stores or grazing by the road.. local women in brightly-coloured sarongs and scarfs haggling for fruits or tyre-rubber flip-flops carefully lined up on shop-front tarps.. all the while feeling the wind whipping through my hair and the sun kissing my shoulders (:

we made a quick stop at the bank and the supermarket where i bought a few books, then went onwards to a restaurant called leonardo's that apparently had amazing ice-cream.. it was the first time we'd gone out without being chaperoned or directed or surrounded by the group and sam and i were both quite keen to enjoy our morning together (: we spent a good two hours there just chatting and laughing.. camp life can be a bit full on because you're constantly surrounded by a big group of people and it was incredible to see how much i'd needed some time to myself - it felt like i was just hanging out with a mate back in sydney.

by the end of the morning we were both too full to grab an ice-cream so we jumped back on the motorbikes and headed to the laundromat. our drivers were a little annoyed with us for making them wait so long as we hadn't realised they only really worked as a shuttle bus would from point a to point b as opposed to like a taxi you could rent out for a set amount of time. we sorted it out though and on the way back to kaya they finally gave into out pleas to go faster and i had the time of my life!! (don't worry maman, it wasn't too stupidly fast and we slowed down once we reached the dirt track). we arrived just in time for lunch, excitedly gushing about our morning's adventure to whoever cared (and didn't care) to listen.

in the afternoon a group of us went to work coating nursery plants with insecticide but many people, not hugely motivated by this prospect, stayed around camp to sunbathe or sleep. sam and i dragged mattresses and pillows out of my tent and into the dappled sunlight and i curled up with my first book - a murder/crime thriller by one of my favourite authors. i can't remember the last time i'd spent the afternoon reading and i realised how much i've missed it.. here, under a light-filtering kenyan canopy of treetop leaves, i was plunged into the streets of new york and into the mind of a brilliant killer and even more brilliant detective.. i gorged myself on the book, consuming it like a sun-sweetened peach, and i loved every second.

after dinner jasmine (who had by now given up on her con-rows) decided she needed to escape from kaya and go somewhere because she was getting so restless. being the amazing girl that she is, she ordered up a taxi and a small group of us got a free ride to leonardo's and back where this time we did get ice-cream (: it was a totally spur-of-the-moment idea and sam and i were happy as anything to be heading back so soon after such a nice time there this morning.. all 9 of us got 3 scoops of home-made ice-cream in a cup - i had white chocolate, lemon sorbet and disarano (they just happened to have it as a flavor.. amazing..) it was so heavenly. joe bought a cigar which we passed around the table.. (i still think they smell like mouldy feet!!) to be sharing desserts, drinks and banter with the group of people i'm pretty much closest to on camp was the perfect end to a very enjoyable day (: