Jan 13/2000.

A few quick observations before we head out for the day.

We do see a lot of people walking with items on their heads, how they balance them is amazing, and I am talking huge items like sacks of potaotes and massive bunches of bananas.

There are no dogs here, or so it seems. I have not seen a single dog, and I would assume that it's because it is too expensive to keep and feed one. We have seen 2 cats, one here and one in Zanzibar. I don't know...at the pizza place one of the pizzas was called: "Something meaty". ?!

There are still Christmas trees displayed everywhere, artificial ones of course, and people often greet you with a "Happy New Year, Merry Christmas." I don't know if because we are white and therefore probably Christian, or if it's just a common thing.

The hotel rooms provide free bottles of water (2 each morning) and they also have 2 little packets of mosquito repellant in a basket each day. However, we have only seen 2 mosquitoes, both in the hotel! One here, in the internet room and one in the dining room. . I dreamed about a mosquito, it was sitting on my cheek and it pulled down my eyelid and peered in, saying: "Are you in there?"

We see masai warriors on the streets, not in the downtown area, but more on the roads towards the outskirts of the cities. The do wear the red "robes" (I think they are called Kangas) and the carry a spear. It is a very funny feeling, to see these things that you have only ever seen on TV or in National Geographic, it's truely a whole different world over here.

Sometimes we are in a hurry, or just walking quickly to stay away from the people who want us to buy from them, and they laugh at us and say "busy-busy." The people here really are very casual and rushing and hurrying is a North American concept, here, when something breaks, or is late, or doesn't happen they way it should, it's expected and they deal with it by laughing and shrugging their shoulders. And they say "Hakuna Matata", so it really isn't just something "Disney-fied."

Today the phone lines are down, throughout the country it seems, and no one is overly concerned, it will be fixed when it is fixed. TTCL is their only provider, so there isn't a lot a person can do. It must happen frequently though, because everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has a cell phone.

The keyboards have Arabic on them, as well as English letters, which is new to me too.

Only 5 minutes left, we think we are heading over to Oyster Bay today, which is the better part of town and the area where the ex-pats live.