Driving to Mombasa

Another early day. Another long day. We woke up at 6:30 Kenyan time (3 hours ahead of England, 8 hours ahead of Canada). As I predicted, it was bread and honey for breakfast, which I couldn't have. We left at 9:00 for a long and busy drive to Mombasa, arriving at our hotel at 6:30 pm. There wasn't a dull moment. The roads were lined with people selling things, almost the whole drive. We spent most of the drive "overtaking" all the big slow lorries, or moving out of the way when someone the other direction decided to overtake their lorry. The road for the most part was in great condition, with a few unfinished parts stuck wherever. Also, there were HUGE speedbumps (more like speedhills) with absolutely no warning, and also, series of little speedbumps all put together. Everywhere you looked there were shepherds minding their goats and cows. Or ladies fetching large containers of water. Lots of "car wash" signs, with no water in sight. Very dry and dusty. Drove through Tsavo National Park and saw baboons scampering back and forth across the road, a flock of camels, elephants so far away only Polykens saw them, and 2 zebras graving right at the side of the road. Plus some lizards. Not bad for our first day in Kenya!

For lunch we stopped at a roadside place and had beef stew and rice. Although, the beef was too chewy to chew, and when you eat your rice you need to keep your eyes open for anything that doesn't belong.

Anton drove for a stint and didn't seem to mind the left-sided driving here, I don't think that even oncoming passers phased him. But no way was he going to drive into Mombasa. In the city, your best bet is to close your eyes and press the gas pedal. I think it was even more exciting than China. Polykens pulled over and we hopped out for a quick jaunt through the crowded markets. We managed to buy 2 mosquito nets for about $15, and Anton picked up a handfitted belt and a pair of leather sandals.

Then we found our hotel, which is actually quite a nice resort run by the Presbyterian church. We have an apartment with 2 rooms, a kitchen, and a sitting room. And there were already mosquito nets in the rooms, oh well. Dinner was a buffet with lots of choices, yippee, but Anton and I were the sloppiest looking 2 people there. Formal dress but they were kind enough to let us in anyway.

When we got here I checked my messages. We're supposed to meet with our Compassion sponsor child tomorrow. I had also inquired about meeting our first child that we sponsored many years ago. My messages today said that they had looked into that and found out that he passed away from TB 4 years ago. Sad. Apparently his siblings still have the pictures we sent to him. Sad.

Well, I hope that our meeting with Elisha happens as planned tomorrow. tired. Exhausted.
Sent from my BlackBerry device.