Reflections

Well, as I finish things up here at work and start to pack up all of my stuff, I’ve been thinking about the things I’m going to miss about Nairobi and the things that I’m really not going to miss about Nairobi. So …

Things that I will miss about Nairobi.

1. The people. First and foremost, I will miss all the great people that I got to know/live with/travel with while I was here, especially Eleonora, Joe, Annika, Gillian, and Kristina. I’ll miss all of our jokes about cheese pies, masks, peeling hard-boiled eggs, “Kenya time,” the bible, and the mystery of the disappearing mouthwash.

2. The National Parks. What can I say? Nairobi, Amboseli, Aberdare, Mt. Longonot, Ol Donyo Sabuk, Mt. Kenya – these are some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The hiking’s been amazing, the scenery’s been amazing, the wildlife’s been amazing. The only problem is going to be deciding which of my photos I should print when I get home – I have to remember that I don’t have unlimited money or wall space!

3. The newness/adventure. As much as I’m looking forward to getting back to my “real life” in DC, there’s something so wonderful about being in a place that’s entirely new and completely different than the places that you’re used to living. I also love those moments of recognition when you realize that something that was so recently utterly foreign/unknown to you becomes familiar (i.e. seeing a Maasai walking down the street in traditional dress next to a guy in a business suit). It’s also great to experience a different culture firsthand. And there’s something pretty exciting/gratifying about successfully navigating your way through such a crazy city!

4. Little things. Indian food, pineapple, mangoes, the chocolate cake at Nairobi Java House, just about everything at Trattoria, shopping in the markets, no homework and no TV (and therefore plenty of time to go to the gym), getting tanner, Tusker.

Things that I will not miss about Nairobi.

1. The dirt. The soil in Nairobi is so fine it’s more like dust than soil, so it gets on everything. Add to that the fact that the cars pollute like there’s no tomorrow (emissions laws, not so much), and people burn anything and everything (including plastic!) out in little piles in front of their houses. After I’m done washing my clothes and I spill out the water, I swear it looks like chocolate milk – it’s disgusting! I’d really hate to see what the inside of my lungs look like right now.

2. The safety thing. Even though I’ve gotten used to the fact that my house has bars on every window, a huge wall around it, and a 24-hour security guard, even though DC isn’t really the safest of cities, even though I live in a relatively safe part of Nairobi, and even though I’ve not yet had any experiences where I’ve been really scared about my safety, it’s always kind of in the back of my mind. Shit happens here, and it’s happened to people I know while I’ve been here. I’m definitely looking forward to being home and just feeling a little more comfortable about my surroundings. Anyway, here’s hoping for an uneventful next 2.5 days!

3. The mzungu thing. Being a mzungu here, I feel so many conflicting emotions. On one hand, I feel so guilty to be so fortunate when there are so many people around me who are struggling to make ends meet. On the other hand, I hate that so many people try to take advantage of me/rip me off just because I’m mzungu. I hate that we live in a world where there’s such inequality that I can totally understand why someone who sees me wants to try and get some money from me. I hate that I’ve become a bit suspicious and quick to jump to conclusions that just because a lot of people are actually trying to take advantage of me/rip me off that that everyone must be trying to take advantage of me/rip me off. I hate that I don’t know what to do to try and make things better. For now, I’m going to be more vigilant about buying fair trade products when I get home, but that just seems like such a small drop in the bucket.

4. Little things. Mosquitoes, lack of good cheese that doesn’t cost a fortune (the imported cheese is so expensive domestic stuff is pretty tasteless), the international fee my bank charges me every time I go to the ATM, getting blonder (seriously, the sun is totally bleaching my hair – I’ll have to dye it brown when I get home), pretty much having one choice of beer (Tusker).

Things that I’m not sure whether or not I’ll miss about Nairobi.

1. Working for the UN. On one hand, I’ve been able to work on some really interesting projects this summer, and I really enjoyed working with my supervisor and the other people in my division. Plus, I have to admit, it is kind of cool to walk through the gates at the UN every morning and think to yourself, “hey, I work here.” On the other hand, this summer has made me a bit less optimistic about the capability of international law to solve environmental problems. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is that’s made me feel this way, and I’m certainly not going to stop trying, but I just feel like I’m leaving here a little more pessimistic than I was when I got here. (I do generally go through peaks and valleys of optimism and pessimism about our ability to stop environmental degradation, so it could just be that I’m in a bit of a valley right now.)

2. Nairobi (the city center). Actually, it’s not that I’m not sure, it’s just that I’ll miss it and I won’t miss it. Going downtown is a good way to get an adrenaline rush – it’s exciting and crazy and busy. It’s also exhausting – the downside of crazy and busy. And to be honest, it doesn’t smell that great (see car emissions and burning trash, above). Anyway, there’s really no part of DC that I feel like I need to psyche myself up to go to, but there’s also no part of DC that I feel like, “woohoo, I made it, go me!” after I get back home.

3. Little things. The geckos in my house (on one hand, they’re cute and they eat the mosquitoes, on the other hand, they’re geckos in my house), the ginormous hill going down to my house (on one hand, it’s really annoying to have to hike up such a huge hill every time I leave my house, on the other hand, my glutes are in much better shape than they were when I got here), the weather (on one hand, I’m glad that once again, I missed the humidity and grossness of DC in the summer, on the other hand, it’s been pretty chilly here – it is winter – so I feel like I got a bit robbed of a summer this year).

Overall, I’m just really glad that I had this experience and I can’t wait to see all of you East Coasters soon!

Last Trip

Last weekend, my roommates and I went on one last trip of the summer. We went to Tiwi Beach, just south of Mombasa and had a really great time. We rented a little cottage that was practically right on the beach, it wasn't very crowded, the weather was beautiful, and the water was perfect.

On this trip, the excitement came from getting to the beach, not by actually being at the beach. We decided to take the night train from Nairobi to Mombasa -- a lot of people have said that it's a really fun experience -- you get a sleeping compartment for 2 or 4 people, there's a dining car for breakfast and dinner, it's a lot cheaper than flying, and it's a lot more enjoyable than taking the bus. The only problem is, the train is notorious for being late -- really late -- but we decided to take our chances, and we got lucky, we were only about 2 hours late getting into Mombasa (which is practically on time for the Nairobi-Mombasa train).

The excitement part actually didn't happen to me, but to my friends Isaac and Cookie. They both did Peace Corps here in Kenya a few years ago and came back for a quick vacation before school starts in a couple of weeks. They were also headed to Tiwi Beach, and had a compartment a couple of cars away from ours. Around 4:00 in the morning, I woke up and noticed that we had stopped, and it was about 1/2 an hour before we started moving again. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but when we saw Isaac and Cookie the next morning, Isaac told us that the reason the train had stopped was that he had caught a guy hanging off of the roof of the train with his head and arms inside their compartment, reaching for Isaac's bag! Isaac yelled at the guy, the guy ran away (luckily he didn't have a chance to take anything), and they stopped the train so that they could look for the guy and anyone else stowing away on the roof!!

Now Lonely Planet Kenya warned that this could happen if your window wasn't closed tightly. And Lonely Planet (a.k.a. "the bible"), is really almost never wrong, but it was still pretty nuts to actually have something like that happen on our train and to someone I know!

After that, it was a very chill weekend -- a great last trip of the summer. I guess there was a little excitement when some monkeys broke into our cottage and ate some of the mangoes we had bought from the guy who came to our door every morning to sell fresh fruit and vegtables. Why is it that monkeys seem like such cute, sweet animals until you spend any time at all around them, and then all you think is, "damn monkeys!!!"? Also, I managed to twist my ankle on an early morning jog down the beach one day. Luckily it wasn't very bad -- no need for doctors, crutches, or x-rays, thank goodness -- but just once, I would like to get through the month of August completely unscathed!!

We decided to take the bus back to Nairobi, so that we wouldn't have to worry about getting to work late the next day if the train was really delayed. The bus trip was uneventful but with the bad roads and the hyperactive children sitting in front of us, I have to say that 14 hours on the train was much more enjoyable than 9 hours on the bus. However, there was no one hanging off the roof to try and steal anything from us.


Chilling in our train compartment before dinner.


View from the train as we approached Mombasa.


Palm trees!


Our cottage. (Photo courtesy of Eleonora.)


One of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen in a long time. (Well, since Mt. Kenya, anyway) .

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Unfortunately, I didn't have phone/e-mail access on my dad's actual birthday (the photo below should give you a clue about where I was), so let me take a moment to say (a few days late) ...


More on my trip -- my last one of the summer (!) -- soon, but for now I've got to get to work. I've just got a week and a half left to go and still have a few things I need to finish up.

Day 4 – Homeward Bound

Distance hiked – 8 km (5 miles)

The reason that we had the descending route almost entirely to ourselves is that the bottom part is really, really muddy. It’s also too far to hike in one day with nowhere to camp along the way, so you have to hike out part of the way and then get picked up by a four wheel drive vehicle to pick you up and take you out to Meru, where you then get on a minibus for the 3-hour drive back to Nairobi.

So we walked for a couple of hours through a bamboo forest, keeping an ear out for elephants as we did. We didn’t see any, but one group of hikers had run into one on the way up (luckily it didn’t charge). The weather was great and I think that wind through bamboo is one of the most beautiful and peaceful sounds there is.

Unfortunately, before we knew it, we met up with an old Land Cruiser, and it was time to start the bumpy ride out to Meru. At that point, we met up with another hiker and his guide and porter, so it was a really, really tight squeeze. There was absolutely no air moving in the back where I was sitting, and my infamous motion sickness started to kick in – it wasn’t quite as bad as the ferry from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam, but it was close. So we stopped so I could sit in the front with the driver where there was a little bit of air moving, and that made a huge difference.

The trip was long and so, so bumpy – I think that some of the ruts were over a foot deep. We only got one flat tire, though, and eventually we made it to Meru, stopped for lunch, and then got in another minibus to head back to Nairobi. Even with the bumpy ride, I’m glad we decided to take this route out – it was so beautiful.

This experience was by far the most amazing that I’ve had here in Kenya, and it definitely ranks up there in terms of life experiences in general. That said, it was nice to be home in Nairobi, take a long hot shower, drink water that didn’t taste like the iodine puritabs we’d been adding to stream and lake water for the past couple of days, and sleep in my nice warm bed!

We passed this sign as we were hiking. Could someone explain to me just exactly how you’re supposed to yield the right of way to a wild animal? (We didn't see any, by the way, but we saw a lot of elephant and buffalo droppings. And yes, I've now seen so many that I can differentiate the two.)

Stopping to change the flat tire. I'm on the left in the pink shirt, and quite frankly, just glad to be out of the vehicle for a while. (Photo courtesy of Eleonora.)

OK, well after that marathon of blogging, I don’t really have too much more to say right now, so type to you sometime next week. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Day 3 – It’s a marathon, not a sprint

Distance hiked – 26 kilometers (16.2 miles)
Starting altitude – 4,200 meters (13,780 feet)
Highest altitude – 4,895 meters (16,060 feet)
Ending altitude – 3,000 meters (9,840 feet)
Distance ascended – 695 meters (2,280 feet)
Distance descended – 1,895 meters (6,215 feet)

We packed our bags, drank some tea and hot cocoa, ate a few cookies, and by about 3:30 we were on our way to the summit. We had put on so many layers of clothing that we looked like stay-puff marshmallow people as we slowly started the hike. It was definitely cold – around 20-25 degrees F – but as we climbed higher and higher and got warmer and warmer, we had to keep stopping to shed layers. To be honest, I didn’t mind the stopping – even a couple of steps made me out of breath (and I’m in pretty decent shape right now). As we climbed, my legs felt like lead and I knew my muscles weren’t getting as much oxygen as they’re used to.

But our guide took us at a really slow pace, stopping frequently, and none of us had any really adverse reactions to the altitude. And about three hours after we left the camp, we were watching the sun rise above the clouds – it was absolutely beautiful. We made the last push to the summit, took lots of photos, rested with some chocolate and cookies, and started the trek back down.

This would be our longest hiking day – 14 hours in total – and even though hiking down a steep slope can be just as physically demanding as hiking up, it was mentally so much easier. I was no longer worried that we might not make it to the top or that one of us might get altitude sickness, and with every step I took I knew that the air was getting thicker and more full of oxygen.

We were taking a different route down the mountain than the one we took up, and the scenery was even more spectacular. The route we took down was also much less crowded, which was very nice.

We hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked, and finally we made it to the Meru Mt. Kenya Lodge where we spent our final night on the mountain. Even though we were staying in cabins and at a relatively low altitude, it was actually the coldest of the three nights – I think because we didn’t have the body heat from all of the bunkmates we had up at Old Moses Camp and at Shiptons Camp. Still, I slept like a log!

Me climbing up the last stretch to the top. That white dot in the middle is the moon. (Photo courtesy of Eleonora).

Sunrise.

Me at the top. That’s Nelion to the right – the second highest peak on the mountain -- it's about 200 meters higher than Lenana.

View from the top.

View from the Chogoria route on the way back down the mountain.

Resting at Meru Mt. Kenya Lodge – what could be better than a fireplace and a beer after 26 km of hiking!?!?

Day 2 – Anticipation

Distance hiked – 12 km (7.5 miles)
Starting altitude – 3,300 meters (10,830 feet)
Ending altitude – 4,200 meters (13,780 feet)
Distance ascended – 900 meters (2,950 feet)

We woke up early on Day 2 to a beautiful, sunny sky and started out on a very enjoyable hike. The scenery was beautiful as we hiked up Mackinders Valley towards Shiptons Camp. About halfway through the hike, we were finally able to see Point Lenana in the distance, and it was great to be able to see our ultimate goal. (That’s the first photo I posted of Mt. Kenya on the blog.)

After a few hours, fog and low clouds started to roll in, but luckily, it didn’t rain, so we stayed quite a bit drier than we did on Day 1. Except for me. I managed to find a patch of quicksand-like mud and fall into it. It looked like regular mud on the surface, but when I stepped on it, I sank knee-deep into really soft, squishy mud. I managed to pull myself out without losing either of my hiking shoes – they were getting sucked off as I tried to pull myself out – but my feet were pretty wet and muddy for the rest of the day.

As we climbed higher and higher, I definitely noticed that it was getting to harder to catch my breath as we hiked, which made me a little nervous about the next day. But we arrived at Shiptons Camp, again in one piece, dumped our stuff on our bunkbeds, and grabbed an early dinner so that we could go to bed very early – the plan was to wake up at around 3:00 the next morning so that we could reach the top of Point Lenana to see the sunrise.

I really didn’t sleep very much at all that night. I found that I was breathing very heavily just lying in my sleeping bag, and that the simple act of turning over onto my side would make me completely out of breath. This made me very anxious about the next day, when we’d be doing a very strenuous hike and gaining another 700 meters (about 2,280 feet) into thinner and thinner air. Luckily, I had my headphones with me, so I tried to drown out my anxieties about the next day with David Gray and U2.

Before I knew it, it was 2:30 and everyone who hadn’t gone up to the summit the day before was beginning to stir …

Hiking along Mackinders Valley.

Rock hyrax. Odd fact for the day – the closest living relative of the hyrax is not the marmot, possum, or rat, but the elephant!


Shipton’s Camp. (You can't really tell from this photo, but people's clothes are laid out on all the rocks to dry in the sun.)

The view of Point Lenana from Shipton’s Camp. (It’s the one in the middle with the two little jagged points on either side of it.)

Day 1 – What were we thinking?

Distance hiked – 9 km (5.6 miles)
Starting altitude – 2,600 meters (8,530 feet)
Ending altitude – 3,300 meters (10,830 feet)
Distance ascended – 700 meters (2,300 feet)

I was so excited and really nervous as I packed just about every warm piece of clothing I brought with me to Kenya in preparation for our attempt at reaching Point Lenana, the highest point on Mt. Kenya that you can reach without being an experienced technical climber. It was kind of hard to sleep the night before we left, and I was still both excited and nervous the next morning when our guide, Josiah, arrived in a minibus to take us to Nanyuki, the starting point for our journey.

We arrived in Nanyuki, passing the equator a few kilometers earlier, and there was something somewhat comforting about being back “home” in the Northern Hemisphere. We grabbed lunch as Josiah and the porters bought the food we would eat for the next four days. (Someone needs to introduce dehydration/rehydration technology to Kenyan mountain guides – I felt so bad at the amount of stuff the porters carried, and it would have been a lot less if they just had to boil water to rehydrate little packages of food, rather than cooking from regular ingredients.)

We then switched to a four-wheel drive minibus to take us up a really bumpy road to the park gate. Now when we left Nairobi, it was nice and sunny. When we arrived in Nanyuki, it was fairly sunny there, but we couldn’t see the top of Mt. Kenya because it was covered in clouds. As we got closer and closer to the park gate, it got darker and darker. As we got out of the minibus to pay the park fees, put on our packs, and start hiking, it started to pour down rain. I’m talking monsoon-strength torrential rain. So we all got out our raingear, put it on, and waited for the rain to subside a bit, all of us looking like hunchbacks and/or turtles with our packs on under big ponchos and raincoats. It was at this point that I thought to myself, “what were we thinking?”

But the rain slowed down a bit and we started our hike to the first hut at Old Moses Camp. The hike was actually the least enjoyable of all 4 days because of the rain, and the fact that there was so much water streaming down the trail it was a bit like hiking up a river. But we all made it in one piece.

In total, there were about 40 or so other hikers (and their guides/porters) staying at Old Moses Camp. The main hut was one long building divided in half length-wise. One half was further divided into little rooms w/ bunk beds, and the other half was one long room with long benches and tables. We sat a while and played cards, ate dinner, and then got to bed early so we could wake up early the next day to try and make it to the next camp before it started to rain.

Us on the Equator.

Oh the rain! (Photo courtesy of Eleonora)

Old Moses Camp.

View from Old Moses Camp.

“Dining room” of Old Moses Camp. (Photo courtesy of Eleonora)

Stay tuned for Day 2 ...

... we did it!

Wow -- what an amazing four days. We all made it to the summit with no injuries. I'm a little tired and sore, and I've got a bad sunburn on the backs of my hands (seriously, who remembers to put sunscreen on the backs of their hands?), but I'm honestly a little surprised at how good I'm feeling today.

This is us at the summit of Point Lenana -- 4895 kilometers (16,060 feet) above sea level.

Point Lenana is the one in the middle of this photo. (You can't reach the top of the larger peak on the right w/o serious climbing experience and serious climbing gear.)

More details and more photos to come in the next few days!!

Mt. Kenya ...

OK, so some of you know that starting tomorrow, I’m going to climb Mt. Kenya with two of my housemates and another friend of ours from the UN. A few of you have expressed some concern about this endeavor – “Isn’t the altitude going to be a problem?” “Isn’t it going to be cold?” “Um, Erica, don’t you tend to fall and hurt your ankle when climbing mountains?”

These are all definitely concerns, but as you guys know, I don’t really do many things w/o thinking them through, so …

1) The altitude.

Yup, the summit is pretty high – about 16,000 feet. Altitude sickness and becoming too short of breath to make it all the way to the top are definitely possibilities. However, we’re going with a guide who was recommended to us by a friend of ours at the UN. Our guide used to work for the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Mountain Rescue Squad, so he definitely knows what he's donig. He told us there are three main things to remember – you have to keep your pace really slow (slower than you feel is actually necessary) in order to let yourself get acclimatized to the change in altitude, you have to eat a lot food, and you have to drink a lot of water. Also, even though the four of us are from sea-level places, we’ve all been living and regularly exercising at about 5,500 feet for the past two months, so hopefully are lungs are in pretty good shape.

Everyone in our friend’s group made it to the summit with no problems, so hopefully we will too. And in the worst-case scenario, you just have to turn around before reaching the top.

2) The cold.

Yup, it’s going to be cold. That’s why I’m bringing many, many, many layers of fleece, a sleeping bag, thermal underwear, a hat, gloves, etc. We’ll be staying in mountain huts on the way up and down the mountain, which I think will be slightly warmer than sleeping on the ground in tents. Also, I did recently survive a night of sitting in a sleeping bag on 2nd Street, waiting for Supreme Court tickets (I am such a dork) in Washington, DC in February. When we “woke up” (we didn’t really sleep that much) there was frost on the outside of our sleeping bags, and we got through that experience with all of our toes!

3) My klutziness,

Yup, I can be a klutz sometimes. However, in my defense, the first time I fell I was rock climbing, not hiking. Climbing Mt. Kenya – at least the way we’re doing it – involves no rock climbing at all. It’s just hiking. The second time, what can I say – I just rolled my ankle the wrong way – it happens. I will be as careful as possible, and if I do end up making an ankle twisting hat trick, at least I’m going up the mountain w/ a former member of the Mountain Rescue Squad, right?

Anyway, I am so excited. This is the thing I’ve wanted to do the most ever since I decided to come to Kenya for the summer. I’m just really glad that I met nice people here who also wanted to give it a try. We’ll be back on Sunday evening, so I’ll type to you all on Monday – hopefully with great photos and two good ankles!

AAAAKKKK!

Anybody remember the construction out in front of Lafayette freshman year? The jackhammers at 7:00 in the morning? (Wow, 7:00 in the morning doesn’t seem quite as early now as it did back then.) Well, I’ve discovered something worse. The floor below mine at the UN is being changed from individual offices to an “open plan” and they are currently knocking down a cinderblock wall right beneath me. Here’s hoping they don’t accidentally knock out any of the load-bearing walls!!

Swahili

Well, I didn’t leave Nairobi this weekend, so unfortunately I don’t have any new wildlife photos to post. I actually spent a good chunk of the weekend in my office working on finalizing clerkship applications (thanks again Mom for collating them and taking them down to school!) and working on my journal bluebooking assignment. Not so much fun. But, I did get some shopping done, which was great (more on this later).

So, instead of posting photos, I’m going to write about the little bit of Swahili I’ve picked up since I’ve been here.

Mzungu = White person

Wazungu = White people

Jambo = Hello – I might be paranoid, but I kind of think that when Kenyans say “jambo” to a mzungu, they’re kind of making fun of him/her, and that when a mzungu says “jambo” it’s kind of annoying to Kenyans – just as Americans who only learn “bonjour” and “merci” are kind of annoying to the French. So instead of saying, “jambo,” I say …

Salama = Hello – I really like the fact that this greeting comes from the Arabic word for “peace.”

Lala salama = Good night (literally, “sleep peacefully”)

Habari? = How are you?

Nzuri = Good/fine

Because just about every house has a security guard that stands watch at the front gate, and because my walk to/from work passes alongside about 1 km of the wall surrounding the American Embassy that is dotted with security guards, I pass a lot of them in the morning and evening. Sometimes I say hi in English, and sometimes I use some of the Swahili above. Unfortunately, I can’t for the life of me remember how to say “good morning” in Swahili, so that one always comes out in English. I look it up all the time, but I just can’t seem to commit it to memory.

Tafadhali = Please – People in Nairobi don’t really say this very often. I heard it more in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.

Karibu = Welcome/You’re welcome

Assante (sana) = Thank you (very much)

Sawa (or sawa sawa) = Okay/sure/fine – People here say this ALL THE TIME. If there’s one thing I accidentally say when I’m back in the US, it will be “sawa.”

Hakuna matata = No worries – but if someone says “hakuna matata” to you, it’s often a signal that you should be worried (i.e. “you’ll definitely make it in time to catch that ferry, hakuna matata” means you might not catch that ferry).

Sipendi = I don’t like it

Sitaki = I don’t want it

Samahani = Sorry/excuse me

Khuli sana = It’s too expensive

These last four have come in very handy while shopping in the Maasai Market and the Triangle Curio Shops. Maasai Market is just a hillside downtown that’s stepped so that people can set out their merchandise – crafts like jewelry, bowls, carvings, bags, baskets, batiques, and masks – flat on blankets on the ground every Tuesday. It is so, so crowded, and the pathways between the merchants are so tight that “samahani” comes in very handy (both for when you need people to move out of yoru way and for when you accidentally bump into someone/step on their foot). The Triangle Curio Shops are a bunch of stalls that are permanently located on a triangle of land between three roads in Westlands (a suburb) that have the same type of crafts as Masaai Market.

In both places, people are always coming up to you and trying to get you to buy their merchandise. And they’re really pushy about it. So it can be kind of difficult once you’ve shown interest in something – or if you’re just standing waiting for a friend to buy a mask or something and haven’t shown any interest at all – and “sipendi” and “sitaki” work a little better than “I don’t like it” or “I don’t want it” in getting people to leave you alone.

Finally, “khuli sana” helps in the bargaining process. When I first started going to the markets, I really didn’t like it. A) I’m what you’d call a comparison shopper – I don’t buy the first thing I see, I like to think things over and compare different items. B) I hate bargaining/haggling. Neither of these are good things when you’re trying to buy things in the markets. You’ve got to quickly pinpoint what you want and then you have to bargain like crazy to get it.

However, after going a couple of times, I’m really starting to like it – it’s kind of an adrenaline rush, and it’s really cool to buy something and then see it for sale in a store for 2 or 5 or 10 times what you paid for it in the markets. I’m sure I’m still getting ripped off, and the merchants are like, “hahaha, stupid mzungu” as soon as I leave, but I know I’m doing the better than the tourists who stick to the “real” stores, so I’m happy. Also, just in case anyone is afraid that I’m ripping off the merchants, they’ll never sell at a loss, so I know that if they accept my offer of what I’m willing to pay, they’re making money off the deal.

Anyway, now that I’ve gotten the hang of bargaining, I have to be careful not to buy too much (I am on a student budget and I do have to get everything back home to the US in two suitcases in a month, after all), and I’ll also have to be careful not to come home and start trying to bargain with the clerk at the Gap about the price of a pair of jeans!

That’s it for now – lala salama everyone!