To Market!

day two.....much more successful than day one.

Despite having some trouble adjusting to the time change (I basically read half of my book in one night) I was up and ready to go this morning.

Today I needed to get a few things sorted out for my stay in Kenya, number one priority = phone. Amanda (the director of the program) offered to help me find a good price. We decided to meet downtown, so it was time for my first adventure with buses. 1st hiccup, I needed to catch the bus on the other side of the road. Crossing the road is like playing frogger, eventually I made it, but it definitely took me a while! I think that about 5 matatus and one city bus passed before I finally was able to flag one down and get on. A matatu is like an old minivan with lots of seats and lots of people packed in. It was pretty crowded, but also super cheap. It cost me 20 shillings, which is like 25 cents.
I made it downtown and was able to find our meeting spot.

We set out to get a phone, which proved to be pretty straight forward. For all you who saw my Canadian phone before I left, new one is a big upgrade hehe!
I've moved back into the age of coloured screens. I was surprised at how cheap the phone was. For a total of 1550 ksh (About $19) I got the phone and even some time on it. Yay! I have a phone number now. I think this will make things much more convenient.

After that, Amanda had some errands to do, so I went to the Maasai market to wander around. I didn't buy anything, cause the market is quite touristy and therefore pricey, plus I don't really want to lug stuff around for 6 months. But the stuff was so beautiful! Lots of jewelery, carvings and paintings, I already have lots of ideas of things I want to bring home.

After grabbing a coffee and wandering around a little more, I met up with Amanda again to get my bus ticket. I am heading to the village tomorrow, so I probably won't be able to go into quite as much detail about each day in the future.

Amanda, who also has a business selling African handicrafts in Canada was heading to a different market with her friend to pick some things up and invited me along. I went with her.....it was quite the experience! This market (Kariakor Market) was the real deal. It was where people to go buy items to sell at other markets. It was narrow pathways with people actually making the items. There were even piles of old tires that they were making into shoes soles. It was pretty interesting, but really hot, dusty and the smell of the glue was really strong. There were no tourists here!

Now I am back at the hostel/camp where I will hang out for the evening. I'm looking forward to dinner, after walking around all day I sure am hungry.

All in all... a great day.
I'm looking forward to going to the village tomorrow, I can only guess what is in store.....