11:18, Monday, 12 August, 2013
13 December – 25
December
My 23rd birthday was spent in transit to
Nairobi. First thing in the morning we
gave the car an extra thorough check-up given the adventures of the previous
night. I wrote “13” on the December
chore checklist in the lab tent, thinking a bit forlornly but mostly relieved
that no one seemed aware of my birthday. However, as we drove out of the
driveway, Charlie brought it up first thing.
In honor of my birthday, he insisted on driving all the way to Narok,
where we had to pick up the Hilux, and then sweetly bought me lunch at the new
café there. Then we had trouble finding
the workplace of Abdul, the Narok mechanic.
All eyes were on us as we drove through the crowded streets in the
cruiser, hearing the soft mutterings of “hyena research” typical of larger
towns, where people often read our decal aloud in amused tones. After a couple trips round the town, several
times past the school we had been told was nearby, several times around the
lovely mosque, and two calls to Benson and then Abdul, we finally met Abdul at
a gas station and followed him to his place.
No wonder we couldn’t find it, nestled back in an alley on a narrow dusty
dirt street as it was, specifically the most ridiculously bumpy village street
I had ever seen (which is saying a lot after two trips plus 7 months in
Kenya). Abdul and his wife were very
pleasant, and we quickly obtained our vehicle. I’m still not quite sure how we managed to
squeeze out through the madness, but eventually we made it back to the gas
station pump with both vehicles. All
tires were filled up to a psi of 38; it was time to drive on tarmac into the
city.
So we’re taking off down the road, I’m driving the cruiser,
Charlie’s in the Hilux. We had already
determined it would be a longer trip than normal since the Hilux was not yet
completely fixed; it had run out of power, and wasn’t shifting well. Abdul had fixed it as well as he could, and
now we were taking it to Ian and some car electricians in Nairobi. But we were just happy to finally be out of
Narok and embarking on the latter half of the journey. I followed Charlie so that I wouldn’t go too
fast for the Hilux. Turns out the Hilux
did well and got up to about 80 kph when not climbing. The assumedly well-working cruiser was
another story. I tried to follow suit when the Hilux began going a nice speed,
but when I got up to 60 kph going down a hill, all of a sudden the steering wheel
started shaking. I was very afraid, not
sure what was going on, worried that I would fly uncontrollably to the side of
the road at any second. I signaled
Charlie over as soon as we reached the bottom.
We thoroughly checked the cruiser over and could find nothing
wrong. Alright, well, it’s fine under 60
kph. Looks like this is going to be an
even longer Nairobi trip than anticipated.
We putzed along. Now I was in
front setting the pace. We came upon the familiar series of large hills. At least the cruiser could climb hills
okay. Looking in my rearview mirror,
contrarily I swore Charlie was going to roll backwards in that powerless Hilux.
Thank God the scenery and people flanking the roads, the villages were
entertaining to watch. I still about went
crazy singing the same song over and over again; we weren’t allowed to listen
to music on such trips since we had to listen for car troubles (wise indeed).
At long last we made it up the escarpment overlooking the
beautiful Rift Valley and onto the freeway.
Almost there...or not. I looked and looked for the elephant sign that
would signal it was time to turn left, sure this time that they’d taken it
down. Alright, I’ll look for the Kinyozi
(barber shop) sign Dave told me about.
Well, he meant the street following the Kinyozi sign, not the Kinyozi
sign street itself. I turned where the
Kinyozi sign was and ended up in unfamiliar territory. We stopped to get directions, and were
directed back to the freeway. I couldn’t
find the turn the direction lady had mentioned, and probably broke a law or two
pulling over to the side of the freeway to avoid ending up downtown, which is
where I knew the freeway to end. We
squeezed along a path through a random village and asked directions again. This time we were directed back near where we
had made a wrong turn. Directions
again. A couple of strange and busy
villages; I still wasn’t sure if this was the way. It looked like more typical
Nairobi suburbia and nothing like Karen, so I asked again and was told to just
continue on. I kept an eye out for the
Shell gas station where we normally turn, and almost turned at the wrong Shell
station while trying not to hit the large number of donkey carts, dogs,
chickens and masses of people everywhere.
Thankfully they and the occasional matatu effectively blocked the wrong
way. I finally realized where we were in
relation to everything as we were suddenly spit out by the Junction, of all
places. We would have to drive back along Ngong Road. Then I lost Charlie. I looked back, and he wasn’t there. So I pulled to the side and waited, and
waited, and waited. I tried to call him,
but he didn’t answer his phone. So I’m
getting worried waiting there like a dummy on the side, traffic rolling
by. Then FINALLY he answered his phone. He had gotten pulled over by a cop for
answering the call of someone back at camp wondering if we had made it yet;
unbeknownst to us, it’s apparently illegal to talk on your cell phone while
driving. He said the cop had sat in his
car and said she’d let him off without pay if he just called her Mom, and would
say something like “I’m sorry Mom.” So
he had just laughed bewilderedly and nervously along with her and been allowed to
continue on. Very bizarre, but by this
time I was too tired to contemplate.
Down Ngong and I lead Charlie through the route that I knew very well by
now. Karen – Dagoretti – Ndege – Maasai
West – Bongani – Twiga – Koitobos. I was so happy to see that cottage. We unloaded as darkness fell and called Ian
to apologize for our late arrival and assure him we’d get the cars in first
thing in the morning. Jack and his
girlfriend Hanna were at the cottage. He
had flown from the Mara to pick her up at the airport at around 0300 hours that
day. It was lovely to meet Hanna. We relayed our crazy trip to the two of them,
and then with rumbling stomachs, Charlie and I squeezed into the Suzuki and
went to get KFC. After a sandwich and malt
the whole world seemed better. Of
course, though, we got a flat tire on the way back to the cottage. I tried to keep from laughing as we bumbled around changing
it by the dim light of my phone flashlight, politely refusing the help of
several concerned people walking past. We
made it back on the spare. What a daaaaay that was.
I talked with my parents and brother, who I had promised to
call before bed. Their birthday wishes
made the whole whirlwind seem insignificant.
I could hardly believe I would get to see them in a couple short weeks. I fell asleep smiling at the hyraxes’ cries
of creaking down the hall and being brutally murdered.
Oh, Nairobi. If at
the time I thought that was the most hectic day we would have that trip, I had
another thing coming. Those “couple
short weeks” turned out to be anything but short.