A New Job Along the Coast

Well, my last week in Shimoni did not get a blog because I did not really do that much. I made some new forms for the upcoming expo, went on a few walks, and read at the Reef a lot. One of my walks was up the dirt road to a place called Magical Mwazaro. It’s a beach with a beautiful hotel on it. I took lunch with me, and ate it there. I would recommend it to anyone traveling in the area. The weather has been getting hotter every day, so it’s nice to be able to get away to a spot by the ocean with a breeze.

My last weekend in Shimoni I went up to Diani for a change of scenery. The most exciting thing that happened was a man proclaiming his love for me when I was trying to read on the beach. That type of thing happens a lot to white women in Kenya. A friend of mine from GVI got proposed to on a matatu once, and the guy stated would 16 goats and 4 cows as a present to her dad be enough? XD These guys are harmless, just a tiny annoying.

On Tuesday,

my last night, we went to Abdul’s for one last meal. I will definitely miss that when I’m away. I will be back though. Abdul’s is one of the places I’m taking Liam to when he comes down. On Wednesday I left for Vipingo. I left Shimoni at 6am, and after a minor stop to fix a deflated tire, we were off. The training officer was going up with me to see that I got settled in, and we were going to Mombasa with the staff doing the huge 10 week shop for the new expo, which started on 2 October.

It was a fun time in Mombasa. To get to the city from the south you have to cross on the Likoni ferry, and depending on the amount of vehicles this can take a long time. When we arrived at the cue, the other staff saw that it would take hours to get across. Another girl and I had to get our visas renewed at the immigration building, so we all decided it would be faster if we walked across on the ferry. Someone came with us so we did not get lost, and we were over in a

very short while. The ferry is free for foot traffic, which is nice. We got a tuktuk (a small, 3 wheeled, covered, motorized vehicle) to the immigration building. We went to the wrong one first so we had to go down the road a bit. Getting the visa was a tiny strange. There did not appear to be any line, just a bunch of people waiting. We were given a form to fill out, but no number, and told to wait until we were called. After about 25 minutes four of us got called over to a desk where we got new visas stamped. That process only took 5 minutes, and then we were out and hopping back in the car. We drove to the supermarket where the shop was taking place, I stated goodbye to people, then the science officer and I met Douglas, the KESCOM rep that I’m going to be in communication with while I’m at Vipingo, and we got a matatu to get there. After 2 different matatu’s we arrived, and we took some bodaboda’s (motorbikes) down to the house of an English lady who I’ll be working with while here. We got all the introductions done, and I met the guy who I’ll be spending the most time helping, named Charles.

After getting settled into my house, I get my own room and I have a wonderful homestay family, Charles took us on a tour of the area, and the science offer left. I’m actually living in a town called Bureni, and Vipingo is down the road a bit. This area seems like it’s wealthier then Shimoni is. There are more concrete houses then mud and stone, some people have cars, and the houses are much more spread out.

The days between then and now have consisted of lots of walking and meeting people. I’ve gotten up around 5am most mornings and gone jogging before it got hot, then showered, ate, and went to Charles house so we could begin patrols. Vipingo has 3 different beaches that are patrolled in the mornings, and there are 20 nests at the moment. In the afternoons I’ve been taken around and introduced to lots of community members.

I’ve had all my meals cooked by my homestay family, and they have been delicious. Lots of stew, fish, rice, chapatis, and ugali, which is flour and water blended to a paste. It’s a staple in Kenyan cooking.

For most afternoons while I’m here I’ll be going to the English ladies house and doing computer stuff like data entry and research. I’m still figuring out what I’ll do on weekends.

Unfortunately I was not able to run this morning (Tuesday). I think running in hiking boots over hard dirt roads aggravated my Achilles heel, because it was sore yesterday. I’m going to rest it the next few days to see how it goes. If I cannot run, at least I walk a lot here, and I may be given a bike to use, which would be a bonus.

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Submited at Saturday, October 9th, 2010 at 5:00 pm on Africa by admin
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