Transport

So there are a number of ways to get around in Western Kenya. The most common for a Kenyan is walking. When we were concreting the floor of the primary school, a worker walked a ridiculous 3 hours to get there. He worked till 5:30pm, then walked home. This is normal. Most people walk because they cannot afford to pay for transport. Other forms of transport include the bicycle, piki piki (motorbike) and matatu (Nissan/Toyota van). Let's start off with the bicycle. Man and bike. No helmets. No brakes. Big smiles. You jump on the back of the bike on a tiny little platform which looks like it was designed for carrying a woven basket of ripe oranges. You pay the man and he uses his wiry little legs to peddle and peddle he does. Slow, steady and wobbly wins the race. Never thought I would ever pay someone to dink me around town, but I quite like the bicycle. Every time I get on the back I think of the Bike Song by Pink Floyd. OK, secondly we have the piki piki. This is extremely dangerous! Since we have been here we have heard of many accidents and deaths. Scared? I am. Again a man and his bike. Drunk? Most of the time. No helmets, no goggles, no boots, no gloves, no safety gear. If you need to go somewhere off the beaten path. this is for you. You sit behind the rider, close your eyes and go to a happy place. My happy place entails a perfect surf in crystal blue water, get out to home cooked lasagne, some ugg boots, maybe a hot chocolate with marshmallows. Oh I love marshmallows, the pink ones are my favourite. The big fat ones. Yum. Great now I am craving marshmallows. Anyway back to the piki piki. Going through mud is very interesting. Jemma and I have fallen off twice, I cut my leg. Another volunteer has had an accident and burnt her leg very badly. But regardless of the imminent dangers, the riders are actually very skilled and take careful consideration when driving a 'white' (although I think I am tanning quite nicely and maybe should be referred to as beige or a light mushroom colour). Taking a piki piki on occasions is a necessity. There is no way around it and although scary, I do feel safe (mostly) and enjoy the thrill of flying on a motorcycle through mud. It's awesome. Finally we have the matatu. They are simply a van decked out to carry 14 seated passengers with a cushioned roof. Nice touch I think. Let me describe the normal matatu ride to you from start to finish. Walk to the road and hail a matatu. The driver tries to rip you off, you argue a bit and finally get the correct price. You look in the matatu and think, how am I going to fit in? All the seats are already taken, with people sitting in the spaces between the seats. You get shoved in anyway and find a place to rest your bottom. 17 people in already. Licensed to carry 14. Oh well. Driving along, swerving left, swerving right. Whoops, giant pot hole the size of a donkey. Bang, hit the head on the roof. Lucky it's padded. On the road, off the road, on the road again. Another pot hole, hit the person next to you this time. Stop, 3 more passengers, 2 with babies. Couldn't possibly. The fit. Driving again, 20 people, 2 babies. Snugly. Pot hole, road, no road, road. Stop 2 more people. No way. Yes. Off we go again, sliding door open, air gushing around the van. 3 people standing on the outside of the van holding on. You can see the strain in their fingers. We are flying, swerve left, right, road, no road, slam on brakes, pot hole. Flying again. Police inspection. Bribe. Flying once more. Over take a car. Over take two cars. Over take a car over taking a car. Oh no truck, back on the right side of the road. Pot hole, two pot holes, speed bump. Huh speed bump? Oh no that is where I was meant to get off. Stop! Matatu stops. 9 people get off so I can get off. They jump back on. Thank you! Off the matatu drives. That is the normal matatu drive. I have been on when their have been 27 people and 2 babies. Absolutely ridiculous. The first say 10 times you get on a matatu are scary, but then you become desensitized to the dangers and get used to it. I do not feel unsafe in a matatu, it is just totally different to Australia. It is a main form of transport and many Kenyan's take the matatu's all day everyday. If I am living in Kenya, I need to get around like a Kenyan. After all this is KENYA!