20th – 31st Dec 2024
20th Dec
The Tulia chef kindly cooked breakfast for me early…just after 07:30. Christina apoligised for the lack of avocado and I was given watermelon instead. I said…absolutely no problem !! After my English breakfast I walked to the main road and caught the matatu into the city.
I gave the conductor 70 bob but he wanted 100. I refused, saying it’s always been 70. He asked me a few times but I stood my ground. I don’t always understand the exact route they will take…there can be little variations. This time I was lucky and the matatu passed right by the Naekana stage.
The journey to Taveta was smooth…oh, except we broke down at Mariakani. I think a radiator problem, and it was over 2 hours before a replacement vehicle reached us; at least we were in town with access to snacks and drinks.
Joseph helped himself to Kamene’s food at Rockland; he’s not endearing himself to everyone at the moment. And in fact he ordered himself a County on my bill without even asking me.
22nd Dec
Holili kiti moto with John, Gerrard, Juma. That was after waiting for 2 hours outside Rockland for Gerrard. At least it was a comfortable private car journey to Holili. It took a while to persuade the Tz immigration guy to not stamp my passport. But it meant I didn’t have to show my passport when we returned well after dark. We went straight to Grocery for Mamka’s kiti moto; the guys were very impressed. We stopped at another bar before crossing back into Kenya..Gerrard was very generous. Well, I had contributed 20,000Tsh to the meal. Straight across the border in the car. I decided not to join them at Rockland…I’d had enough drinks.
24th
Mercy’s birthday so I treated her to dinner at Market View. Usual chicken and chips, but we had a half kilo each this time.
25th Dec
I wanted a Garden Park kiti moto but Rose was on holiday and I ended up at Bushra where I had a nice chicken biryani as my Xmas day meal.
26th Dec
John picked me up on his motorbike outside Rockland and took me to Gerrard’s house at Kivalwa for their traditional family annual get together. They were catering for about 50 family members and I felt very honoured to be invited.
After the feast of cow meat, bananas, potatoes, rice, vegs and a chapati, the men went to chat and drink mnazi while the women chatted and did the washing up. Of course the women had done all the cooking as well !!! The day before, the men had killed the cow and eaten the entrails etc. If I had known we would be drinking mnazi I would’ve taken my Mboko along; that would’ve impressed everyone.
27th-29th Dec
Just chill days in Taveta which was in holiday mood. Time was spent wandering around greeting all my friends and generally relaxing.
On one of the days I finally accepted the invitation to go around to Lucy’s for nyama choma and ugali and vegs…of course I had paid for all the food..!! But she cooked it, so that was a fair deal.
Mon 30th.
Got the bike fixed up in case of a cycle ride. There was some football on TV; I watched it at Matumu bar; I haven’t been to Utamaduni for a while.
There was one day when I bumped into Mercy at Garden Park. She’d been given a kiti moto taster by Rose from Prison canteen who has just started utilising the Garden Park kitchen. We sat in the bar to taste it and decided it was pretty good; I said I’d be back.
Tues 31st. Phoned Gabriella from just before the border. I was on a bike ride to see Ernest. Easy immigration crossing. I had a tea just over the other side as I figured I was making good time. I bought a 1,000bob Airtel voucher to be able to send text messages if necessary.
I was heading beyond Holili to Kilacher, just before Himo. Messed up a video of an enormous pig being carried on a motorbike between the driver and passenger.
After a few hours with Ernest I cycled back slowly to Holili. I stopped at Dubai Village to rehydrate with a couple of beers, then over to Dubai Grocery for one of Mamka’s delicious kiti motos. I bought a small bottle of Zanzi on my way down to the border crossing. No problem crossing.
An interesting New Years Eve. I cycled back to my room and showered and went out to meet Mercy. I could hardly keep my eyes open and was yawning every couple of minutes. I left at 7:30pm for an early night but the church was being very loud and I didn’t fall asleep until 10:00. Then Phil phoned around midnight and I chatted with him for an hour and a half.
The end of 2024. Another interesting year of lots of travels. Mum is fine. Tor visited the family for 4 days over Xmas. My bros are fine. Gabriella got married in February. Life isn’t boring.