The Arrival

The next morning, now Wednesday morning, we got up early and came down for breakfast. It reminded me of breakfasts in Europe - I had an egg, sausage, and a "pancake", which was a slightly sweetened, slightly thickened tortilla. We hopped in the matatu (van) with Daniel again, and set off for Eldoret. Little did we know, it was a 7 hour trip! In the beginning, the ride was fine and the roads were smooth. However, after we got out of the city, we hit the "rough" roads. According to Daniel, when the main roads need repair, they build these rough roads and divert the traffic so the construction can occur. Unfortunately, these rough roads are barely roads at all - they're more like blobs of asphalt between jagged rocks and treacherously deep potholes. Daniel was unfazed, and ploughed through. Another thing about driving in Kenya - there's no right of way. Or, more accurately, the right of way is given to the most aggressive driver! Traffic here is oriented in the opposite way from the US - you drive in the left lane and the driver is on the left side of the car, just like in Ireland. However, since the roads are such a mess, traveling is a free-for-all. That means that if the road has fewer potholes or looks more manageable on the other side of the road, then that's where you drive! Until, of course, the honking oncoming traffic forces the driver to swerve into his own lane at the last minute. It was amazing! We were being rattled around like popcorn, weaving back and forth across the road, and dodging cars and cargo trucks left and right! Add to this that Kenyan people and bicyclists travel along the roadside, and you'll have an idea of what our 7 hour matatu ride was like. There is no shoulder, so the matatus whiz by people's heads! More often than not, the pedestrians and bnicyclists would be carrying large loads of vegetables or firewood, or other goods for the market. I was amazed that we never clipped anyone, and to date I have only seen one truck stuck in the mud and one banged-up matatu. It seems like despite the apparent chaos, it works just fine in Kenya!

We finally arrived at the IU House, and were shown to our rooms. There are several townhouses in the complex, and my room is in the house with the computer lab and the kitchen! Needless to say, I see people quite a bit, because they are usually somewhere in my house! After we got our stuff into our rooms, we went out to dinner (the Wednesday night tradition here) to a wonderful Indian restaurant. They just kept bringing more food! I guess the costs of food and living are much different here, so you can get an incredible spread of food for just a few dollars. We dug in, and really enjoyed the meal. After dinner we went back to our rooms and got settled in before heading to bed!