Time to come clean...

For those of you who may still be thinking I’m living in a mud hut, I need to fess up. I’m not. I may spend a couple nights in one before I go, but the Nyali Beach area is a little nicer than that. I actually kind of live in a double-gated community (which sounds pretty cool, until you learn that almost everything here is gated). To make up for my façade, I’ll give you a tour of my real digs.

This is where I sleep (complete with mosquito net), although the mattress situation has changed. Now I actually have a mattress that is too big for the bed, so it hangs off the edges and is bowed in the middle. Aaron calls it the soft taco. I’ve actually decided this is the most comfortable mattress in the house.

Here’s the front room/living/dining area…

The kitchen, complete with propane-powered hot plate and water cooler. Fortunately, we upgraded to a refrigerator that is slightly better-equipped to handle the high volume of traffic created by five people. Maybe only slightly. But I’m grateful to Louis for the upgrade.

And here is my shower. Speaking of coming clean - do you see the water running there, in the bottom right corner of this picture? No? Let me give you a closer look…

How about now?

This is how I’ve taken my shower for the last few days, by contorting myself under that little trickle in the cold water tap that I think is meant for washing one’s feet. Since I came here two weeks ago, our water has shut off twice, and for the last three days we’ve almost completely lost all water pressure, to the point that only the faucets close to the ground still produce water. We actually have a hot water switch we can flip on, but I’ve decided it must just be for show.

Now, I don’t mind at all that my showers here are cold. I actually kind of prefer it, especially after my morning runs to the beach. And I am very happy to have access to clean, running water. I actually feel a little bad complaining about such nuances even in jest, after seeing the water that village women have access to. With that perspective in mind, I’ll just chalk this up to being part of my African adventures. Anyway, on with the tour.

Let’s step outside. This is my flat – the one on the bottom corner. Most of our complex is actually empty, but the residents we have met are very nice. Aaron is locking the door, because he’s the only one strong enough to make the key turn.

Here is gate #1. It is manned at all times. Behind the gate, you can see your friendly neighborhood mosque. This is the one that has been so kind as to remind us five times each day when it’s time to pray. So far, they haven’t missed one yet (although I confess that half the time I sleep through the first daily reminder).

And up ahead is gate #2.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay. If you want to come visit, you can sleep on the little wicker couch in the front room.