Welcome to Taita!

We were told to meet Tino to leave by eight this morning, African time that is. With the hold ups in a dead car battery and loading the extra automatic weather station into the vehicle, we didn’t leave until at least nine. I was exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately in the car. We picked up Kennedy, who works with the automatic weather stations and were on our way. Once again I went in and out of sleep – usually sleeping for twenty minutes until we hit a speed bump every village we passed, then falling back asleep. I learned that the speed bumps serve as a cheap way for the government to get people to slow down; stop lights are far too expensive.

Along the ride we stopped at a gas station to buy some drinks and wooden souvenirs. This was my first chance at true bargaining in Kenya, and I am not good. They approach Caucasian people like vultures, trying to get you to buy their products. One main problem was I had no idea what I was looking for. A guy shoved a wooden giraffe in my hand. It looked nice and I ended up buying it. Then I searched for masks. Good thing Sarah was with me because she was of great help keeping the people from pressuring me too much. I ended up with two tribal looking masks, altogether spending around 1,000 Kenyan shillings ($12) which wasn’t too bad. We had a nice soda and once I was finished I tried to go to the restroom, not because I had to go but just in case I would have to go in the future. The restroom consisted of a hole in the ground. I took one look at their “toilet” and turned around; I could wait. While getting into the car, a woman came up trying to sell me a final mask. She brought the price down from 500 to 400 to 300 Kenyan shillings. The mask was far too big for my taste, and I explained to her I would not have room in my suitcase to take it home. She kept insisting my mom needed a gift. Don’t worry; I will get my mom something, just not a giraffe head. Finally, Tino intervened and the lady let me close my car door.

We continued our ride and I continued to sleep. Our next stop was somewhere to get lunch. They didn’t serve any vegetarian options so I settled for chapatti and “vegetables”. My “vegetables” consisted of a plate of cabbage. The air was getting warmer as we continued to travel. The roads however were getting worse. As Tino said, “This is your free message for the week. You don’t even have to pay!” Every two feet I would bounce straight off my seat. No more sleeping for me. We drove through villages and saw people walking with their goats and cows. Something seen as strange in America was seen as perfectly acceptable here, almost expected.

After a long day’s travel we arrived at the University of Helsinki Research Station. I was expecting some large station where students go to study abroad. I was wrong. The station consists of about four small buildings, to house people, and a kitchen area for cooking. They even have a Finnish sauna here. The view out the window in our room is fantastic. We can see mountains in the distance and a valley with dense vegetation below. Once we finished our dinner, we headed to a local hotel to watch the Euro Cup. Not knowing much about “football” (American soccer), Tino explained some basics to me. The hotel was one Tino stays in when the Research Station is full. The staff there seemed disappointed that we were not staying. Tino has all these excuses he tells them for reasons we don’t stay there. It’s pretty funny. We could hear others watching the game as well. Whenever something important would happen the room would erupt in applause or booing. I find it interesting how a game can bring almost the entire world together. Tomorrow we start our interviews. The questions we spent hours on last week are finally put to the test.