On Monday we had Bible Study at our house as a team…with Mesh…who is, as far as we are concerned, a part of the team. After Bible study, Mesh took us to Toi (Toy) Market. This market is mainly for Kenyans where poeple can by discount clothing from the US and other countries. In order to get there we had to hop on one of the crazy Matatus (van system…without a system…more like chaos!). On our ride to the market a man got on with a large brown envelope which usually signals a thief. They try and use the big envelopes to cover up the area while they pick pocket you under the envelope. Needless to say we were on high alert and very aware of our purses and bags. One of the girls, Heather, who truly is fearless, kept turning around to look him in the eye like we know the system and I’m watching you…priceless. In the matatu there is the driver and a conductor. A conductor sits at the seat nearest the door to let people on and off the matatu. When someone wants to get off, he hits the window, door, or roof to signal to the driver. I honestly don’t know how the drivers hear the tap because the music is so loud. I can really feel the vibration of the music in my chest every time I get on a matatu. Once a matatu pulls off to the side of the road, you check to see if it is the one you want and then hop on to the nearest most empty seat you can find…you better do it quickly because they will start going while you are trying to get on. I managed to get a seat right next to the conductor and one other Kenyan. The conductor has a seat to himself by the door, then there is a small gap and then two more seats to the row. The Kenyan next to me, and closest to the window needed to get off the matatu. Therefore I filed out to let him off and then had to quickly hop back on. Now there was an empty seat so I slid all the way over to get away from the weird conductor with pink toenail polish…strange I know. Then he started to lean into the empty seat with his body. The next thing I know his head was just about in my lap! Talk about inappropriate! Ha…Mesh and the rest of my team died laughing as soon as we get off the matatu. Once at the market, we began to wander through shack after shack looking for discount clothing. It really was a fun experience and I did find a really cute shirt. While walking through the maze of shacks we stopped to get oriented and this child around 1 or 2 ran up to me, threw his little arms around both my legs, and looked up to my face and just smiled a precious smile. It really was one of the most precious things I have ever seen…I looked at the rest of my team and said, “Can I get that? I would like to take that cutie back with me.” Onward we went though, and after a fun afternoon of shopping we hopped back on a matatu. This time a different conductor told my teammate, Stephanie, she was beautiful…matatu rides are never dull.
Today, we went with Mesh to visit her sister in Westlands. On our way there, I had the most fun I have ever had on a matatu! This time I chose the front bench of the van and sat on the seat closest to the door. Now on matutus just because every seat is taken does not mean the matatu is full. Often times the conductor will pack 5 people each on the front and 2nd bench with him standing with his butt out the window…wouldn’t that make a fun picture. There are also a 3rd and 4th row of benches plus the 2 people that sit up front with the driver. So I climbed on and off as we made stops to let people off the matatu, and even had to jump on quickly at one stop because the matatu was starting to leave without me. It actually made me happy because conductors only seem to do that when they have faith the person can jump on…1 point for me. At the next stop, a man with a cooler and ice cream cones squeezed in next to me. He immediately started talking to me in English…asking me what kind of ice cream was my favorite favor, telling me he really was an intelligent man but that there just isn’t a lot of work to be found so he sells ice cream. He told me his name and more about his life…he even asked me a few questions which I think I managed to answer correctly…you never really know 100% what someone says on a matatu because of their broken English and the deafening blare of the music. The entire time we were talking, mostly him I might add, the conductor, driver and every Kenyan other than Mesh was laughing. My “friend” said they were laughing at him…I corrected him and said they were laughing at me…this brought even more laughter…from them and me. Next, he asked me to hold his ice cream cones because the conductor wanted one. Because this guy, the conductor, and the driver were all such good sports and seemed to know each other well, I ended up being “in conversation” with all of them most of the trip. Every time I looked back at the laughing conductor he would point to my “friend” raise his eye brows…like what do you think of him…then give a hearty laugh, which in turn made me bust out laughing. After the conductor got his ice cream, my “friend” asked me if I wanted one. My immediate response was no…his response was raise eyebrows…the conductor wants to buy one for you…my response… crack up laughing, say no again, continue to laugh with my “friend” and all the other Kenyans on the matatu! Once we got off the matatu I was told some of my team was taking bets on whether or not I would take the free ice cream…I didn’t…It would be just my luck (excuse the phrase) to take the ice cream and be sick for a week.
My favorite part of the day was when a Kenyan man walked up to Mesh as we were changing matatus and offered her a deal. He said he gave safari tours and that if she would help him rip us off with the prices he would split the earnings with her. Of course our sweet Mesh did not take him up on it! As you can see, traveling in Kenya is always interesting. I really will miss these rides when the summer is over!
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