The walk into town...Continued

The Walk to Eldoret continued.

As we walk into town it get progressively busier with walkers. At the crossing of two of the main streets we carefully avoid the speeding trucks, mtatus, autos, and motorbikes and walk down Nandi Rd.  We begin to pass fenced in properties like the Eldoret Club, The Pacifica Hotel, and Little Lambs school, and a private hospital.  At the school when we walk by there are often children running a lap around the grounds or a few times I have been lucky to hear them singing together outdoors.  Trees grow up from behind the fences and there are places where one can see into gardens.  There begins to be more kiosks where people are selling drinks or snacks, or depending on the time of day, making tea or roasting corn (mahindi choma) over a fire. I know it is strange, but with the red dirt and dust, the climate and elevation, and the smell of smoke from cook fires I am reminded of my time in south central Utah.  There are very many things that are different.  Along the paths are remnants of those who passed by at some point.  There are bottle caps and scraps of plastic bags.  One might spot an odd plastic bottle or two and maybe the sole of a shoe.  There are the tiny cards purchased to renew minutes to a cellular phone, about the size of a book of matches, and many old picked clean cobs of corn.  The sun has shown brightly every day since we arrived.  Only once in the evening has there been significant cloud cover.  I must remember to slop on thickly the 45 SPF No-Ad sunscreen each morning and then reapply if I’m to walk the route back home again.  I am looking out for my nose and my ears.  Already my skin has browned and I can tell my crows feet are setting in as I squint often in the brightness. On the walk in there are some small cross streets, which lead to the other main roads (all 3 main roads run east/west I believe).  Sooner or later we come to the corner where a new Hindu Temple is being constructed.  It is large and ornate and quite beautiful.  Around the temple are high walls and the best sidewalk in town has recently been constructed.  It is at this junction where one must turn if walking to the IU (Indiana Univ.) house where many of the other westerners (physicians, visiting med students, researchers) live.  We go here for our Swahili lessons and for occasional dinners or to meet people.  If one continues on Nandi road it goes past the AMPATH building, the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, and various other medical institutions.  The foot traffic past these areas and right into the center or town is heavy. People are coming and going, walking at various speeds and there seems to be no system for walking on the left or right or passing.  I will often glance behind and step off the curb (eventually there are rudimentary narrow walks and curbs) to pass a dada, mama, baba, or bwana (sister, madam, father, or gent). Here, closer to the center of town there are many kiosks and many people who have laid out a blanket or sheet of plastic on which to set out some veggies, fruits, clothing articles or shoes.  They call their price to those who walk by.  There is a bit of a hill going down toward this part of town and one can take the scene in: mtatus making drops, taxi pick spots, motorbike rider groups parked together.  Kiosks here play music loudly here and this feels like a vibrant park of town.  Beyond this is the one park, the open air market and to the right and up the hill is Uganda/Nairobi Hwy, where there are banks and bigger shops.  There is even a small indoor mall.  There are restaurants and cellphone stores.  There are people fixing cars and collecting oil in large vats at the side of the road.  There are areas for scrap metal.  In this part of town large trucks literally back up until there open doors almost touch the storefront.  Goods are loaded from truck to store and store to truck while the foottraffic is cut off and must go around.  This is the center of town even when there are relatively few people, it is a bustling active place.