22JAN2007 "House Moves & Kilifi Conversations"

We spent the weekend hanging out and enjoying the ‘creek side’ before our move to the new house. We took a nice long walk and got miserable sunburn despite multiple applications of sunblock. We went to the Kilifi Farm Shop where we tried some of their renowned ‘smoothies.’ Their attempt at a smoothie is a small plastic dish with smushed bananas, milk, and melted ice cream (who knows what that really means here). It pretty much tasted the way it sounds - like warm, soupy, smushed bananas.

After eating lunch at a local dive and inquiring about watching some British football later that day (only because it was advertised on the outside chalkboard), we bought some beer at a local bar. They were really reluctant to sell it to us because they were worried we wouldn’t bring back the re-usable bottles. After leaving a very hefty deposit, we left with a plastic crate full of Guinness and Tusker. We couldn’t find a tuk-tuk right away and Patrick got discouraged. He decided we should walk home with our 16 20 oz beers. I was against it, but he told me he would carry it the whole way. We were a couple of kilometers from home at least. Fine, no skin off my back. Less than 10 minutes later, we were carrying the crate between us. A guy on a bicycle offered to help, but he wanted 600 Ksh (~$8.50), a completely absurd sum considering we could get a tuk-tuk for 150 max (~$2). We solicited a tuk-tuk rolling by, but he already had a fare, so we set off again carrying the crate. When we were only 1 km from home, a kid on a bike pulled up and offered to help. We had seen him earlier, sitting at the farm shop with his kid brother sleeping on his lap and then just a short while before he had passed us on the road with his brother on the back of the bike. He had stashed his little brother somewhere and instead strapped our crate of beer on the back where the little brother had been sitting. The boy’s name was Beka and he was 13 years old. He walked along side us all the way back to The Shack, pushing his bike and our beer. He didn’t seem very sure if he should expect a tip for his trouble, and he didn’t seem very sure that he wanted it. I (Patrick) gave him 50 Ksh and told him ‘asante sana' (thank you very much). With the money in his hand he smiled graciously, but still hesitated. He then told me that he learned his English at the primary school just down the road and asked if we would come visit him there. I told him we would try, at which point he happily smiled and rode off…

The move to the new house was relatively uneventful. We managed to pack back into the same van we came from the airport in, although this time had to lift the removable roof to make room for the (now assembled) mountain bikes. But, we couldn’t leave The Shack without a final farewell, and had some friends over for brunch at the Kilifi Boatyard, a nice bar with whom we generously shared our beach front. It was nice hanging out and relaxing and getting to know each other better. Conversation was quite interesting because there were scientists (of course), a couple of mechanical engineers (Nathan and Patrick), and some of their guests (who happened to be artists/painters turned film-makers). We discussed many things, ranging from local gossip (the politics of the research center vs. the retired European & white African residents of Kilifi), to the working principles of a gas-powered refrigerator. We had already moved on to a discussion of what sort of art/murals the guests should paint in their guesthouse to earn their lodgings, when my counterpart mechanical engineer looked up from his smartphone and read from Wikipedia the detailed workings of the gas-powered fridge (he is coincidentally also the local Nokia rep/consultant). This launched us into a discussion of open source ideas and the misconception that if you read something on the internet, it must be true!

Our new digs are very different from The Shack. The Alamanda House (B25 Bofa Road) is located on a long stretch of road that runs parallel to the beach. Bofa Road (named after the Swahili word for ‘puff adder’) is lined with large compounds and extravagant mansions. All of the properties are walled in, giving it a very sterile, unfriendly feel. Our house is across the road from the beach so it doesn’t benefit from the breeze blowing from the ocean and is much hotter and stuffier than our creek-side property. The Shack was on the far edge of town, nestled amongst some small hills, on a ridge over the creek, while The Alamanda House is on a flat plot surrounded by a high wall and you can hear the trucks trundling along Bofa Road towards the coral quarries. As old and spartan as The Shack is, The Alamanda House is a properly appointed home in the Old British style, complete with a soda maker for preparing whiskey and soda. We thought about turning one of our three bidets into a water bowl for Suki, but did not want to train her to drink from the toilet! It is elegant in a slightly threadbare way, reminding you that everything gets faded, worn or musty before its time here on Africa east coast. It felt odd to be arriving at another house and intruding on another staff when we had just gotten comfortable with Katana. We immediately missed Katana’s laid back, calm demeanor and his unassuming ways.


On the first night we were unsure about whether we had made the right decision to move at all. We both liked the humble, unassuming atmosphere of The Shack, the feeling of space and isolation. We could see ourselves making it the home that we wanted it to be. At The Alamanda House, we feel a little like we are in a hotel. The gardens are really lovely and I (Wendy) have counted at least four different types of hibiscus. They do go quite a long way towards making us feel further away from the road. Plus, biking to work every morning in 15 easy minutes versus 30 sweaty minutes is a big difference…the jury is still out.

LATE UPDATE

Tonight we discovered that we are sharing our garden with an Africa Pygmy Hedgehog! He is just about the cutest thing you have ever seen, but he is terrified of the flash so we don’t have a good picture of him yet. We are trying to be as discreet as possible when we check him out because we do not want to Suki to think he is her newest squeaky ball! I am sure he has some defense mechanisms that she will respect, but we will have to see how the relationship pans out.