Taveta
Sat & Sun 14th/15th Dec.
The usual Kindoroko breakfast, but I love being able to have toast in the morning; glad that they bought a new toaster ! No sign of Kili. I considered getting the Moshi Express through to Taveta, even if it cost 5 times as much as the dala dala, but I was too late for it anyway.
By 09:00 we were on our way. Apart from sitting next to a huge guy which made me sit an uncomfortable angle, it was a good hour and a half journey with just one change of vehicle at Himo.
I walked down to the Holili border. All fine except that the Kenyan guy questioned why I spent so much time in Kenya and wrote on my passport and put on the system that I should apply for residency. The trouble is I don’t want residency and the cost it entails. I did a little research and the annual cost has gone from 100K to 250K…or, £1,500…just not worth it. Then there’s the application cost on top…forget it. I just hoped that it wouldn’t cause me problems in the future.
By chance my ex next door neighbour Isaac was there on his boda again to take me to Taveta. No sign of Mercy, and when I got through on the phone I found she was in Mombasa. Peter an old friend married to Lucy had died and was buried and Mercy was supporting Lucy.
I settled into my room. I washed something. My dinner was rice and beans at Texas. I called in briefly at Rockland before going to Utamaduni for the 6pm matches. Joseph was happy that they showed the Arsenal game…but they only drew. I bought tasty snacks of samosas and meat kebabs from the passing lady doing her rounds.
That was it for my first day in Taveta. And I came back to quite a heat.
Sunday.
As Mercy wasn’t around, there was no morning tea on offer…except at Texas. As I would be travelling to Mombasa on Mon or Tues I thought it would be a good idea to wash my jeans, especially as the sun seemed to be out for most of the day.
I was hanging out in my room watching my jeans dry, when Victor phoned. We met at Texas where I had a tea, then went to Lexus with his friend Sammy for something stronger. Victor warned me against Sammy, but they both took me to one side to ask for money for something or other…tedious. Met with an old family friend Cìco and bought her a half of whatever…!!
I went on to Mwangaza for a Grace kiti moto…delicious…then to Matumu bar to watch the Brighton match. Joseph joined me there. I had seen John earlier at Rockland and promised I would return after the Brighton match. Joseph and I went back to Rockland for the Manchester derby.
John plus brother plus friends had drunk copious amounts of KC and were absolutely hammered. John took Joseph’s chair; Joseph wasn’t happy; Joseph and I went to the inside bar to watch the football.
Before going to my room, I bought my 08:00 Naekana 900bob ticket to Mombasa for Monday morning. So that was decided. The purpose of the Mombasa visit was to extend my eTA by 3 months.