SoCal Christian Cycling

Greetings from Nairobi!

In an effort to understand what our guys are going through in getting from race to race I booked a bus ride from Jinja to Nairobi. Wow was I in for an experience. First off the bus was supposted to depart from Jinja at 8:00am. Well, we sat around and waited till about 10:00 waiting for it to show. In case you’re noticing from our previous posts nothing runs on time in Africa. So this in an excercise in patience. Oh well – so my assigned seat was F3. I get on the bus only to find its taken so they tell me to ride in the jump seat next to the driver. So sitting 12 inches from the windshield with no seatbelt we set off for the 12 hour trip.

Roads are another thing that are different from the US. They are had to describe, but let’s just say they are ROUGH. I feel like I’m in a washing machine and start to doze off to sleep somewhere in the trip only to be woke up by the sight out the windshield of us flying downhill on this dirt road and catching some serious air along the way. I don’t think I’d take a Jeep down this road let alone a bus. Eventually we pulled in the station – total time door to door 14 hours.

The next day I met the Kenyan guys and they were impressed by my bravery – but said If I wanted to be a real Kenyan I needed to take a Matatu to get around Nairobi. I thought – what the heck I’m game.

A Matatu is best described as a van taxi (sort of) most carry 14 passangers, but I often see them loaded to the hilt with arms and legs sticking out the windows. Think clowns in a Volkswagon and you get the picture. They have a driver and a conductor. The driver’s job is to drive as fast through the packed traffic as he can and in most cases break every law he can in the process. The conductors job is to pack as many people as he can into the van.

So remember I’m 6’3″ tall – not a tiny guy. I don’t usually cram into small spaces well. But remember this was a dare, so I figure I had to do it. Once in the Matatu, we speed off and I had no idea where we were going. All you can do is see the person in front of you. Seeing outside is a luxury. I’m told true Kenyans have a feel for how many turns they are supposed to make and once they’ve hit their number the tell the conductor to stop. I was just glad to get out.

Ok check that box – I’m one step closer to becoming a Kenyan.

More later
Gary