It was a horrible night. I kept having to turn over all the time because it felt like I was sleeping on plywood and my hips would start to hurt. In the morning we got out our money and began to count out what we were spending at each store. For example: we counted out 1,600,000 schillings for the furniture store. We labeled it and put a rubber band on it so when we arrive to pay we can just grab that bundle. This way we are not pulling out wads of money and counting it in public. I went down and ordered breakfast and paid our bill and noticed that the security guard was washing our car. It is a nice thing they do here without asking and we just give them a tip. Hann came and we took off. We saw lots of interesting things today. The traffic was bad, with everyone on their way to work. There were hundreds of motorcycle taxis weaving in and out through the cars. It always amazes me to see beautifully dressed women riding side saddle on them. I would be way too chicken to even get on one let alone ride like that. We saw one van pulled over and about 5 guys out in an animated conversation. The van had “bumped” the motorcycle driver and he was pointing to his leg, not happy. The exhaust fumes are at times so bad that it makes your eyes water. You can see a lot of vehicles with black exhaust just pouring out and especially when they take off it makes a big cloud. Yuck. The pot holes are another hazard as some can be deep and everyone is trying to avoid them. One motorcycle went by with a driver, two women and a baby on it. I have seen them sometimes with a family of 4 and a driver. I’m not sure how they all squeeze on it but they do. You see people carrying things on the backs of their motorcycles that you would never dream would fit. Today the biggest thing we saw was a single wide refrigerator. I don’t know how he kept it balanced on these roads. There was a bunch of buzzards circling over a garbage pile. They are huge and ugly but fascinating to see. Women and men with homemade brooms are outside sweeping the dirt in front of their stores. On every road you see people walking around with handmade baskets balanced on their heads full of yellow bananas, bags of peanuts or bright green peas for sale. Driving around in the car with all these motorcycles and bicycles, there are also people darting out into the street to cross. Several times I will hold my breath hoping that we miss someone. It is amazing to me that there are not more accidents and that it all works. It looks like chaos. On one road there was a sign that said “Zebra Crossing” which I thought was hilarious. John said it means crosswalk and they call them zebra crossings because they paint them with black and white stripes like a zebra. Trucks are everywhere on their way to the market. They are overloaded with Matoke bananas and guys piled on top of them as well. There are lots of roads with beggars. Wherever traffic sits for a while, there they are. We saw 2 guys in wheel chairs going in between the lanes holding their hands out. Also there are the guys selling newspapers walking in between the cars until the traffic starts to move and they jump out of the way. The saddest thing I saw today was a woman whose feet and legs were shriveled. I noticed her as we drove by. She was in the median crawling with her hands mostly, dragging her legs behind her. The cement must have been super hot. I’m having a hard time getting that image out of my mind.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:36:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015