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Published: April 20th 2007
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the weena
wearing the weena shirt in jo'burg hostel...thanks renee dearest. Sup dogs?
well i have finally got access to a decent computer - katherine's computer situation has been worked out at the lab, so i am free to update you as to what has been happening. I will write under subheadings for your convenience (how very kind of me!!) PLEASE DON'T FEEL OBLIGED TO READ ALL THIS... I WILL NOT BE TESTING YOU... I KNOW IT IS VERY LONG!!
FLIGHT:
We were very rudely informed on tuesday morning at about 5:30 am that our 8 o'clock am flight had been delayed and we would have to get an earlier flight (7 o'clock am) in order to make our connecting flight in perth. so we had a fairly mad dash to the airport, but ended up making it with plenty of time to spare.
Thank you to those who came to see us off, was lovely that you did so (especially those who surprised me): Stevie wonder, Jo-machine, liamy, cons, justin, beck, claire, danni and kate.
Renee: was a tragedy of epic proportions that i missed you at the airport...was devasated 😞 hope adelaide was good. word to your bono.
then of course or flight from perth was
get out of africa madonna
i don't think they agree with celebrity adoption... late!! unfortunately no twister or jumanji on the plane 😞
next, flew to jo'burg were we stayed overnight in a hostel just near the airport. pretty decent room, with a massive bathroom, which katherine declared to be big enough to be a dancefloor.
i read a very amusing advertisement in one of the magazines on the plane (will post a picture of it). it was an ad for african cds which said: 'Take a little piece of Africa home (not you madonna!)'
it was raining pretty heavily in jo'burg with thunder and lightening, so our flight to nairobi was very late. Once we got to nairobi we were told we had missed our 7 o'clock flight to mombasa and they would put us on a 10 o'clock one. but then a few minutes later another woman came running up to us to tell us the 7 o'clock flight had also been delayed and hadn't left yet, so we were rushed across to the plane, and jumped on just before it took off...very bizarre experience! also fairly interesting was the drive from mombasa to kilifi, which took about an hour and a half - in the dark on the
my bed
my bed..with mosquito net most potholed road i have ever been on. it was about 10:30 or so at night and there were still thousands of locals lining the sides of the roads sellings stuff at their stores as though it was the middle of the day: they are so poor that they have to work such long hours to make ends meet.
KILIFI:
well we're been here for two sleeps and are starting to settle in. it is mcsteamy here, but not in a good way!! very very humid!
Kilifi is a fairly small town, the locals are very laidback and friendly (everyone we walk past says 'jambo' to us), but very poor. there is a main street with plenty of very run-down shops, as well as a fruit market and lots of little stalls set up by the locals. apart from that there's the hospital, the research lab and not much more. we are staying at a lodge which is right next to the beach, were the ocean becomes Kilifi creek. our backyard is literally the ocean (see attached pictures) and has absolutely spectacular views. unfortunately it's too rocky to swim just were we are, but we don't have
our backyard
here is our backyard...not bad at all! to walk far too find a spot to swim.
our accommodation is very basic, but not bad. we have a room with a double and single bed (for some reason katherine felt she deserved the double bed?? i think i probably deserve it more, but no...something about being short), and a decent bathroom with a cold shower. apparently we can ask for them to heat up some water when we want to have a shower, but it is so hot and humid that the cold water is actually appreciated!! the only bad thing about showering is getting out, because it is impossible to get dry and you immediately regain a layer of sweat.
points of interest:
- katherine has almost shaved her head, so you may now refer to her as sinead o'connor, or as i prefer to, the bald eagle. she has only been mistaken for a man once!! but, in mombasa, two women asked if she was my mother... i'm not sure which of us should be offended, but was very funny. they also didn't believe how old i was, but when they found out, they seemed quite surprised i wasn't married.
- re the
backyard again
our backyard again turkey pigeon which everyone seems to have heard about: yesterday i saw a strange looking bird which i thought looked like a cross between a turkey and a pigeon, so i asked katherine what the strange looking turkey-pigeon was...apparently it is just a chicken...bit embarrassing!
- there are animals everywhere here, thousands of chickens, herds of goats, dogs, cats. i even saw monkeys at the lab yesterday.
-everybody shakes hands here. apparently this is a very kenyan thing. sometimes, however this can be a little bit strange, like one incident yesterday while we were talking to some people at the lab. there was a group of about five of us talking in a circle, when a random woman came up to us and preceded to shake all our hands, without saying a word, and then just walked off. very weird!
- while the area may be very poor, across the creek (still in kilifi) are so absolutely enormous houses looking over the water. they belong to rich europeans (you might be able to see some in the background of the photos). not sure if they live in them all year round or if they're just holiday houses.
- today i
low tide
note some of the houses on the other side of the water. also can see people fishing. saw a black albino boy.
-we are just about to head off for dinner and to have a tusker or two.
so that's about it. apologies that this ended up being extremely long...don't think the following ones will be this length, but you never know.
peace out dogs,
love,
brigid.
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cons
non-member comment
jambo freak!
what does a black albino boy look like??? has madonna tried to adopt him?? ............your bed looks rather girly! word to your mother who is really your sister............peace