Vacation in Kenya, Day 5

I set an alarm for the first time all week and woke up at 6:45. I gathered my things and left my duffle bag at the front desk at Upper Hill, while lugging a tote bag filled with charcoal briquetters to the matatu stage just up the road. I had an argument with a conductor who insisted on charging me 30 shillings for a 20 shilling ride, which put me in a bad mood. But then I hopped out and found Ben's apartment. I admired the view and it felt nice to feel the crisp morning air on his balcony. He was nice enough to let me store my briquetters under his bed* for two weeks until I get back to Nairobi.

We set off to the office. Ben works at iHub, so I was really excited to see this place after everything that I've heard about it. My favorite description is that it is Silicon Valley in a building (there are other spaces in the building besides iHub that enable it to serve a wide range of tech companies). As we walked in, I admired the decor of the room (chalkboards with notes scribbled, a huge wall map of Nairobi, a balcony with views in all directions and so on) and Ben bought me a chai from the coffeehouse there. I met some of his employees and got to see how things work at iHub. There was just so much energy in the atmosphere.

My phone had been giving me lots of trouble in Kenya, and so after 2 years of faithful service, I decided it was time to retire my trusty mobile phone and upgrade to a smartphone. I visited a phone store at the Yaya Centre, which had a wide selection and made it hard to choose . I'm excited about Android and the best part is that the phone has a camera, so it should be much easier for me to include pictures in my posts. I tried to learn as much as I possibly could about it, but unfortunately, the battery was pretty low in the phone so that had to be put off until later.

After that, I set off for City Centre and went over to the area where buses going to western Kenya leave from. I picked a company that seemed like it would be a good choice**, and they told me that they had a 1 PM shuttle*** heading to Kisumu. By the time the bus arrived at 2:15, most of us were a bit upset that they kept insisting that the bus would arrive on time (even after it was already late). So next time you're traveling to Kisumu, avoid Blueline Shuttles.

The ride was pretty low-key and I had plenty of time to admire the scenery. It was nearly 9 when we finally pulled into Kisumu and my phone battery was nearly dead (you would think I would know better by now, but then, there was a reason that I had bought a new phone). I called Jeff and Daniel (two friends from Peace Corps who have extended and are serving for their 3rd year in Kisumu) to get directions to their apartment. I couldn't quite get the whole idea (there aren't a lot of signs in their area, so they use abstract landmarks like "a shop that is made of those bags they sell charcoal in"), so I just had to take it on faith. I made it most of the way there and then hopped out of the tuk-tuk to roam around and ask people on the street if they knew where "the two white guys" lived. Everyone was very helpful and soon I found them waving to me.

I hadn't seen either of them in over a year, so we had a lot to catch up on. I wound up eating a bar of Weetabix for dinner (my stomach always feels a bit choppy after traveling, so this was actually a really clever solution) and we hung out until 2 in the morning.

* It's actually either a couch or a bench with a lot of cushions depending on who you ask. It's pretty amusing.
** There were a row of booking offices, and I wanted one with some people so that I wouldn't have to wait an eternity for the vehicle to fill, but few enough people that I wouldn't find myself crammed in somewhere.
*** A shuttle is a matatu with one less row of seats so that everyone gets a bit more legroom. It also usually doesn't have any goats or chickens on the floor. Probably my favorite mode of public transport.