Thurs 9th. After a terrible breakfast at Kindoroko ( but I still like the hotel !), I went to the stage and sat at the back of a dala to Holili. It took ages…an hour I think. I walked down to the border; the Kenyan side are asking questions about my regular border crossings…and hopped on a boda to the Tvt stage. I had a tea then went to see Mercy. I didn’t do anything in particular, apart from a pojo and rice dinner, and then went to Rockland. It wasn’t planned, but Joseph was there so we had a good catch up. He said he had no money so I bought him a couple of small Countys. I reminded him that he owed me from a month ago.
I had a tea and a kaimati at Texas then went to my room and to bed.
Fri 10th & Sat 11th. I didn’t do very much; it was more a question of recovering from a couple of sleepless nights….Mafia ferry and Moshi bus.
I remembering washing my jeans so they would be clean for my trip to UK. Otherwise the usual rounds of seeing friends and trying vary my diet. Actually, on Friday I met Sara at the Stand, she was about to leave for Moshi. She had asked me on Thurs about the options of getting to Moshi. I explained the difference between the Coaster starting in Taveta and the alternative option of dala from Holili. It seems she went for the Coaster option which is easier for someone not used travelling in public transport in Africa…!!
Saturday was a Mwanaidi day. I waited over 2 hours at Green Park for her but luckily I had Vorild to talk to for most if the time. I left Mwanaidi to go watch football with Joseph at Utamaduni. I was visited by the young lady later…in the early evening…in an attempt to extract more money out of me.
Sun 12th. This day’s challenge was to get to Dad’s grave. I was tempted to get a boda, but as it hadn’t rained for a number of days I figured that a cycle ride was perfectly feasible. The back tyre needed a bit of air, but that was all.
Well, it took me nearly 2 hours, whereas normally it takes about an hour and a half. But I did stop a few times to take pics of Kili which was visible the whole way to Chala. At least the weather was nice…some cloud and quite fresh. But I
did stop a few times there and back out of sheer fatigue. A little bit worrying…but the wind was against me going back…good excuse. !! No Martina at her curio shop so no cup of coffee. But I did stop in Chala for a tea and 2 kaimati, and was only charged 30 bob.
After that, it was a matter of drawing money from KCB and putting 15,000 on Mpesa to cover my rent payment to George for another 3 months to September. Then to the bar in California where I surprised the barmaid, who didn’t know me, to the extent that she didn’t serve me a Serengeti beer. She was suspicious of me and said there weren’t any Tz beers. I had a County instead and when the owner arrived she apologised to me. I just said I thought it was quite funny.
Otherwise, it was meals at Texas as usual and the later football matches at Utamaduni. I was just about recovered from my cycle ride.
Mon 13th. I had no more washing to do, and much of the day was spent cleaning and tidying my room and putting together the things to take back to England. So, everything else was in bags and hanging on the nails around the room.
I had the usual tea with Mercy in the morning. I relaxed in the sun for half an hour. I went to Challa Htl to use their WiFi to start the process of freeing up phone space to increase its memory. Have I explained that properly??!!
From there I went to Mwangaza and had a superb kiti moto. Grace pulled out all the stops…no fat and no bones. After that it was over to Rockland to see Joseph and John; I hadn’t seen John for a while. Mercy appeared as well and made sure she got her 3 beers in !! Slightly irritating because I’d budgeted on being left with a couple of 1,000 bob notes in my wallet, but instead I ended up with 1,300 bob after paying for my boda to Holili on Tuesday.
From there, it was to Texas for my evening tea and to reflect on my time in Kenya coming to an end. I had said my goodbyes to friends, but no doubt I missed lots of people out.
The next 10 days would be in Tz, culminating in flying to England from Dar.