Discovering a hidden paradise in Burundi

Longer blog posts will follow soon about my recent 8 day vacation in Burundi, but before that I really need to tell you all about the hidden paradise I found in Burundi - Tanganyika blue bay an amazing resort on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Rumonge, Burundi. I went to Rumonge, searching for answers, seeking solace after weeks of stress that saw me get diagnosed with fatigue by the doctor. The doctor pretty much recommended I take a break - from consulting, from book launches, from hectic travels etc. I decided there and then that I wanted to go off to somewhere remote by a lake, river or ocean and take the time for introspection. I could not have chosen a more amazing place for this than Tanganyika Blue bay. What did I love about the place? Everything.

1. The amazing beach - I had fallen in love with the location from the pictures on the website.  Usually one should not trust website pics as of course they are taken from the best angles, with the best lighting and with great cameras. In this case though, the actual beauty of the place even surpassed that of the pics on the website. As soon as I arrived after my long long flight (that's what I get for getting the cheapest ticket that has you stop in Addis, Kigali and finally Bujumbura..:-) I thought I would get to the location and pass out, but I was immediately mesmerized by the beauty of the lake and the beach. I found myself sitting on the pier, singing and writing poetry - that is how inspiring the sight was.

2. The exceptional service - Even before getting to Burundi, I was impressed by how prompt they were to reply to all my emails with information requests (I asked about everything - the weather, ease of changing money etc, and they were always so detailed and polite in their responses.) On arriving in Bujumbura, I was warmly welcomed at the airport by the lady who had helped with my booking. At the resort, I was warmly welcomed by the owner and his family. During my time at the resort, the staff gave me all I could have asked for and more. They would set my breakfast table right by the lake and under a tree. Next to me they would set up my day bed as they knew I enjoyed swimming after breakfast. When the skies turned grey, they invited me to the lovely VIP section which allowed me to have an outdoorsy feeling, but still remain dry. They let me and my friends use this section as much as we wanted during our stay. The waiters always recommended new places to set up the dinner table "Today's sunset is lovely. We can put your dinner table on the pier." I was so impressed by how much they paid attention to detail and went out of their way to spoil us. We never lacked for anything during the vacation. I give special thanks to the owner, his wife and his lovely family, Susan, Joseph, Celestin, Nestor and Joseline for making our stay at Tanganyika blue bay such an amazing experience. 

3. Rooms and the amazing outdoor spaces - I remember one morning I spent in the VIP lounge outside, lying on my wonderful day bed, watching it rain on the lake and marveling at the wild waves on the lake - as I was covered by my blanket in this lovely outdoor structure made of bamboo and fiber. It was beautiful! To be outdoors in the rain, napping and still dry - it was beautiful. While the rooms were basic, I really loved how they used a lot of local materials. I have always had an appreciation for lovely cottages, and this cottages were exactly that. They did not try to be excessively modern - a feature that I think can look inauthentic at times. They were cottages that felt like cottages - they were warm, inviting, comforting, familiar and so Burundian - bamboo decorations in the rooms, hard wood tables on the balcony with wooden chairs from where one could watch the beautiful view. All the rooms had amazing views. I never ever closed my curtains as I loved the feeling of waking up to a room filled with sunlight at 6:30am. This truly was paradise. The one improvement though that I would suggest for the rooms is additional lighting. The lighting was romantic - as I guess it was meant to be, but I remember the first night, struggling to find my black night dress in my suitcase - as the light was too dark in the room:-) Maybe the lighting should have two settings - honeymoon or solotravel....heeee heeeeee

4. Little knick-knacks  - The attention to detail at Tanganyika blue bay was amazing. I have already told you about the amazing VIP sections, but have I mentioned the trees right by the lakes that had sockets? Yep, you could lie on the beach and charge your phone....Where else have you seen that - and in the middle of nowhere for that matter. For wifi lovers, the location has wifi. For those who love watersports, the resort has jetskis, boats etc. It's the little things in life that make us so happy

5. and most importantly......The Food - I have never eaten amazing fish like the ones I ate at Tanganyika Blue Bay. Every day the waiters would recommend a different type of fish that was a fresh catch - straight from the lake to your plate. The chef would work some magic on the fish in the kitchen and  bring you really really delicious meals. The bread, the cheese, the fish, the fresh fruits, the fresh juice - they had it all. The resort had a garden where they planted a lot of the ingredients that made their way to your plate. I remember being welcomed with a glass of fresh tangerine juice - it was so yum that I took the whole jug....no shame in my game:-)

Thekenyanexplorer gives Tanganyika blue bay a rating of 9.5/10 - In short, grab your passport, pack your bags and go to Burundi - you will not regret it:-)

(Note: Thekenyanexplorer is saving her rating of 10/10 for heaven - in short, I give Tanganyika Blue bay a perfect score - for somewhere on earth:-)

Buenos Aires city tour part 2

CITY PLANNING

It was so cool to learn the streets were so well planned in Buenos Aires. All the streets start from an avenue called Avenida Rivadaria. From this place each block is 100m long and all streets have a logical naming norm and everything is regularly spaced. I find it interesting when a city is planned in a way that makes it easy to extend it and easy for people to navigate it. It’s hard not to compare with cities such as my very own – Nairobi – where planning is taking place after the fact leading to a lot of demolition and reorganization. When I complain about this to other Africans though, I am told that Nairobi is a success story. There are many other cities where you can have a house next to a bar next to a church next to an office (Addis is one example…I remember being so confused when I was there trying to understand where the residential and commercial areas were – everything was all together….)

We got to see lots of interesting buildings and monuments in Buenos Aires. “The thinker” an iconic sculpture by French Sculptor Auguste Rodin can be found in the city center of Buenos Aires. There are only 28 of them worldwide with most being in museums, but right in the city center, one can be found.

Another interesting building called “Palacio Barolo” is famously known as “Dante’s House” as it was constructed in accordance with the cosmology of Dante’s Divine comedy. Constructed in 1890 by an Immigrant Italian architect, the building has 22 floors, divided into three "sections". The basement and ground floor represent hell, floors 1-14 are the purgatory, and 15-22 represent heaven. The building is 100 meters tall, one meter for each section of the Divine Comedy. The lighthouse at the top of the building can be seen all the way in Montevideo, Uruguay.  When completed in 1923 it was the tallest building, not only in the city, but also in the whole of South America. It remained the city's tallest building until 1935 when, on completion, the Kavanagh Building in Buenos Aires acquired this distinction.

The world’s largest avenue used to be in Buenos Aires, but just recently has been replaced by a wider one in Manaos Brazil. Other sites we saw included Café Tortorni – Buenos Aires’ oldest and most famous coffee shop built in 1858.

There is a huge obelisk in Buenos Aires. It is most notable for a safe-sex campaign in the late 1900s that saw the obelisk covered in a giant condom.  We also saw quite a few places dedicated to Diego Maradona – who is likely the most loved Argentinian in Argentina after Evita. While world famous for his “hand of God” unpenalized foul that saw Argentina win the 1986 World Cup, in Argentina he is known as a demi-god. You can get into real trouble for saying that Argentina won that game unfairly. 

Buenos Aires city tour part 1

I made friends with such a great girl during my first days in Buenos Aires – Bex from the UK. We hit it off and together we had several adventures in Buenos Aires. We decided to go on a city tour, but Argentinian strikes decided otherwise. Me, Bex and a guy who also became one of my Buenos Aires besties – Adam – had to run around town trying to get a bus to take us where the tour began as the subway was closed. We managed to make it in just the nick of time for the free city tour. The tour was fun, interesting and so eye-opening.

ARGENTINIAN FIRST LADIES

One recurring theme was the role of Argentinian first ladies. Of course the most famous first lady of Argentina will always be Eva Peron (Evita) made more famous in pop culture by Madonna’s depiction of her in the musical “Evita.” Who can forget passionately singing along to “Don’t cry for me Argentina” as a child despite not really knowing much about why this song evoked so much emotion even continents away? I am guilty as chargedJ. I will write a whole section on Evita, but for now let’s focus on the fact that Argentina’s current President – Christina Kirchner – is the wife of the previous president – Nestor Kirchner. Yes, mull on that for a few minutes. It’s pretty cool that Argentina has a female president and sort of bizarre that prior to that she was the first lady. Ok, we are on the same page? Guess what, she is not the first female President of Argentina. Uh huh, and the other previous president was also the wife of a previous president…..yep, you see the pattern? Argentina’s first female President was Isabel Peron – the third wife of former President Juan Peron. This is the same Juan Peron whose second wife was the legendary Evita Peron – undoubtedly the most famous and most loved Argentinian. My advice to any Argentinian woman who wants to become the President, would be to marry a future President….tricky to predict which of the thousands of politicians could be head of state in the future, but you might end up betting on the right horse – hee heee!]

PINK HOUSE

One of our first stops during the trip was the Pink House – the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina. It’s best known for the balcony where Evita gave her speeches to the people of Argentina even when she was close to dying. It gets it’s pink color from the cow’s blood that was initially mixed with paint to prevent the building exterior from being affected by humidity. Yep, you heard me right – cow’s blood.

More to follow in the next blog post

Tigre island, Buenos Aires

After the little shower incident highlighted in my previous blog post, I had exactly 3 hours to sleep/sober up and head to a little town called Tigre in Buenos Aires. 

Tigre (Tiger) is a town to the North of Argentina. It lies on the Parana Delta and is a tourist attraction. The island was created by several small streams and rivers and was founded in the early 1800s.  The name comes from the jaguars that were hunted there in the past centuries. In modern times Tigre is best known for the celebrities who have homes there including Madonna. 

The idea to go to Tigre had been hatched the night before at the hostel - before my night of partying till 6am...As such, when I woke up I really debated with myself if I wanted to go. I was suffering - suffering. In addition, there was one person in this group who I had a serious aversion to. I generally like most people, but there was this one girl who I just did not like. The trip turned out to be ok. It wasn't the most beautiful island I have been to or anything. As such I would advise anyone going to Buenos Aires to skip it - nothing much to see. Buenos Aires itself had many more beautiful sites than Tigre.

We eventually got back to our hostel at 7pm and I went straight to bed. 2.5 hours of sleep after a long night out is no longer what it used to be:-)

Hibernation and partying in Buenos Aires

Sometimes it's easy to forget how exhausting backpacking can be. 24 hour bus rides, hours of walking round cities, nights of endless partying, living off a backpack - going up and down hills with an 18kg backpack:-) At some point your body reminds you that you are only human. I woke up at 4pm on my second day in Buenos Aires. No shame whatsoever. I found something to eat and wondered what to do with all my new-found energy. 

I made some friends at the hostel and we decided to go out clubbing. Every night the hostel had vouchers for different clubs. On this particular day, the deal was a discount offer at a club close to the hostel that would be playing hiphop, dubstep, electro etc. The best thing about Buenos Aires was that no one gets to the club before 2am. As such you can never run late. We first went to a place close to the hostel for some food and drinks. Hours later we walked to the club (yes, walked - it was that close and that safe.) In the club our tickets let us get quite a few free shots. We danced and danced. At some point everyone else decided they were tired and wanted to go back to the hostel. I was not the least bit exhausted (having woken up at 4pm:-) Left alone, I somehow made my way into VIP where I made some new friends - two Argentinian girls. We had a few drinks and off we went to another club. At 6am we were still partying hard and the girls said we should go to yet another club. By this point I was not in any state to be club hopping. I hopped into a cab to get to my hostel. The cab guy got on my nerves and I was yelling at him in my minimal Spanish. He knew I was a foreigner and was trying to rip me off. I knew we were 2-3 blocks away from my hostel, but he kept on driving round and round in circles to charge me more. He only took me back to my hostel when I threatened to get out and not pay a cent. Note to self: Cab guys will generally try to rip off tourists....I stumbled into my hostel, quietly tried to tiptoe past the 5 other people sleeping in my room and get to the bathroom - to take my lenses off and brush my teeth. I have a suspicion my tiptoe-ing was more like an elephant stumbling through the room. In the bathroom, I took my lenses off at the sink - then the strangest thing happened - the shower curtain grabbed me - from out of nowhere - it just grabbed me - I felt my feet give way and I landed butt first into the little shower behind me with my hands trying to grab the sink to hold my balance. 

Of course I was mortified the next morning when I woke up and was asked by one of my roomies if I was fine after falling in the shower in the morning as I was brushing my teeth in the sink. Of course I was mortified. Who would not be if a shower curtain had sabotaged your morning by trying to make you look like a drunk fool who falls in a shower as they are brushing their teeth in the sink.. Malicious curtain!

First day in Buenos Aires, Argentina

I finally had access to my hostel room around 2pm. By that time I had realized that napping for the day was a total waste of time - sleep is for losers:-) I decided to go to walk to the nearby plaza - Plaza Serrano for lunch. Lunch was delicious, the weather was perfect and I was enjoying the new scenery. After my yummy lunch I decided to walk to the Palermo lakes - errrr, I never got there. I think I went in the wrong direction, but everywhere I went was beautiful. So I decided it really wasn't that important for me to go where I had planned, given where I found myself was still beautiful:-) The joys of being in a city for a long time and having flexibility.

Somewhere along the way I met two Aussie girls who were also lost. We decided to get lost together. We found ourselves in a lovely Japanese garden. The first thing I saw were Mai fish and I instantly thought "Oh gosh! Those are the fish from screensavers." Yes my friends, they are real. 

I eventually parted with my new Aussie friends and tried to get to the Palermo lakes, but again it was all in vain. One hour later I had seen lots of forests and no lakes. Oh, and I had began to experience what I call the "Argentinian cat-call." It is as creepy as any cat-call you will ever experience passing near a construction site. Everywhere "pssssssssssst sexy lady!" "Pssssssssssssst!" Cars slowing down, "Pssssssssssss!" I guess I didn't see any other black women in my time in Buenos Aires.....but the catcalls were a pain. You never get catcalled by Brad Pitt or Idris Elba. It is always very shady characters who you just wish could stop. 

I finally found a lake and took a break. I sat on a bench and watched people roller blading and skate-boarding all around me. After a while I was surrounded by really beautiful but aggressive geese. I waited till sunset then began my long walk back to the hostel. It was a peaceful first day in Buenos Aires.  

Leaving Mendoza for Buenos Aires

Having gotten home at 7am from the club after my last day in Mendoza, I needed to check out by 10am at the hostel. My bus to Buenos Aires wasn't until 5:30pm. I woke up around 9:30am to pack and shower, but could barely get out of bed. Loud drumming was going on in my head. I stumbled to my water bottle - took a few gulps and realized I was now asleep standing up. The Kikuyu in me had to make a tough decision. I am generally good with money, and don't make unnecessary purchases - especially when backpacking for months - and there is a real risk of being broke and homeless in Argentina towards the end of my trip. That morning though I did not even think twice as I walked to the reception and paid for an extra night's stay so that I could sleep in till 3pm. 

I went back to bed, passed out till a more decent hour - woke up and ate some leftovers I had in the fridge, quickly dressed, packed and left for my Buenos Aires bound bus. Calling the bus a "bus" seems like a bit of an insult. That bus was like a plane - no kidding. I had the largest seat I had ever seen on a bus. I was welcomed on the bus with a glass of champagne. There was food served on the bus - inclusive of real cutlery. The seat reclined almost fully and I was able to have a great night's sleep. I read for a few hours and must have fallen asleep around 9pm to be woken up the next morning around 9am once we got to Buenos Aires. I took a taxi to the hostel and that is when I realized Buenos Aires was massive. 

The Japanese garden, Palermo

                                  Tango in San Telmo

                                   One of the tombstones at Recoleta cemetery

Pink House - the mansion and office of the President of Argentina

Buenos Aires is split into at least 5 distinct parts with the main ones being "Centro" famous for having a 67m Obelisk in the middle of it and also housing various famous Cathedrals, theaters and Government buildings (including the "Pink House" - the mansion and office of the President.) The second area is "La boca" that is famous for its artsy vibe including various museums. The third area is "San Telmo" famous for it's huge flea market and wide walkways where on Sundays couples (young and old) can be seen dancing to tango in the streets. The fourth area is "Recoleta" best known for it's  beautiful and massive cemetery in which Eva Peron "Evita" the former first lady of Argentina and the most famous Argentinean woman to date is buried. The fifth area is "Palermo" well known for it's beautiful lakes, forests and gardens."

Having driven across town from the bus station to my hostel after a 15 hour journey I was really looking forward to getting to the hostel to rest. I got to the hostel around 10am and was bummed out when I was told that check-in was at 10am. I spent quite a few hours on the lovely chairs in the hostel lounge as I waited for my room to be ready. I blogged a bit and was really happy to discover the wifi was great.

Finally - going on a Vineyard tour...about time..

This was a successful day. I woke up, had lunch next door to the hostel and was in great condition to go wine-tasting. Yes, I had to pay again, but that is the price for foolishness. I was happy that my nice German roomie - Barbara and another fun Dutch girl we had met at the hostel - Esther - would be joining on the vineyard tour. 

Our first stop for the day was Bodega Domiciano - a family winery that had been in Mendoza from 1919. We started off with a tour of the vineyards and an explanation of when the best malbec grapes in the area were ready for harvesting - the delicate balance that was needed between sunlight and rain to end up with grapes that were not too watery but also not excessively sweet. After this we were taken to the cellars where the thousands of liters of wine were preserved in oak barrels. The aging process was a delicate one that requires significant amount of time, investment and expertise. At this winery, wine was aged both in the barrels then later on in bottles all underground in the cellar. 

The next part was the most exciting - the wine tasting. Unfortunately we were not given a proper tutorial of how to taste well at this winery, but this was fixed at our last location. We tasted around 4 different types of wine at each place - there were generous servings - at least half a glass per wine. 

Our next stop was an olive farm. Again we had a tour of the farm, followed by the processing section and finally a food tasting session. That was some delicious olive oil!

Our final stop was a winery called Don Arturo. This was my favourite winery. I finally learnt properly how to "taste" red wine. We started off by placing a white napkin behind the glass to see if we had a truly red color. A "brownish" color would be a sign of too much oxidation, and that is a wine that you do not want to drink! After this we swirled the wine in the glass for 30 seconds or so to let it breathe and to see if the wine had "tears." At this stage we looked at the glass to see if there were "streams of tears" coming down the glass after the swirling. In the words of our guide, "If the wine doesn't cry, you will do the crying the day after drinking it." Having ascertained that our wine was enough of a cry baby, the next step was to sniff the wine. You were to let your senses take in the different aromas, flavours etc. and mentally prepare your palate for the tasting. Next, I took a large sip. You were to keep the wine in your mouth for a few seconds and try and really taste it. It was such an enjoyable process. We went through this for quite a few different types of wine. Their wines were great and well priced. I think each of us left with a bottle or two. 

We got back to the hostel in time for free wine. Our refined palates were now able to discern that the wine at our hostel was not all that great (when compared to all the others we had been drinking at various wineries, but likely still more superior than most wines we had drank in our lives:-).....It is from a wine growing region in Argentina after all......I suspect that some of the wines I have drank in my younger years had never ever contained anything from a grape...perhaps they were vodka with red food colouring....) Back at the hostel, everyone was in a good mood. It was an American girls's birthday and her friends were making a huge dinner. They invited all of us to join in and just asked us to bring drinks - which we were more than happy to. I love the communal nature of hostels - can you imagine something like this happening at a hotel? Heeeee heeee! 

After dinner we decided to go clubbing. By this time our group had grown larger to also include a few French backpackers. We got lost walking to the club. We asked a random stranger for directions, and they asked all 6 of us to jump into their car - and drove us there......This was definitely not Nairobi. Reminiscent of Valparaiso, I got to the hostel at 7am even though I had an almost 14 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires the next day......That is a story for my next post:-)

The aftermath of wine country

                                   One of the reasons Thekenyanexplorer needed to reflect on her life

After my fun day in Mendoza - going out to the park, making friends over free wine, going out clubbing and discovering what I believe is the worst drink known to humans - Fernet, getting home at 6am....I woke up at 12:30pm.....Suffering. This was to be the day of the vineyard tour. I had already paid for it and I was not about to lose my money. I showered, drank lots of water and tried to look as functional as I could given my poor state. Around 1:15pm we were picked up from the hostel for the vineyard tour. On the itinerary were two vineyards and one olive farm. The van spent the next 45 or so minutes picking people from various hostels. I was already starting to feel unwell but thought I would survive the day.

Our first stop was the olive oil farm. We were escorted to a lovely room with all sorts of  hors d'oeuvres that either had olives or were to be dipped into different types of exotic olive oil - ginger, garlic, pepper flavoured....everything that would normally entice my senses. I felt a gag reflex. I promptly fled from the room, went and ordered a taxi (that cost me a pretty penny) to get me back to the hostel. I blame fernet. I spent the rest of the day so so sick. At the hostel I was advised to take some flavoured soda water to at least fill my stomach. I couldn't eat anything all day. I bought the soda water, went to a little park opposite the hostel and reflected on my life. My reflections were as follows: "Silly silly girl! You should know better! What is wrong with you? Why did you have to take so much wine, beer and fernet yesterday?" Having self-flagellated to an acceptable extent, I went back to the hostel. I joined people on the patio for free wine at 7pm, but sat there drinking my flavoured soda water. That day we were determined to find the buffet place, which we finally did. By that time (around 9pm) I was ready for my first meal of the day. I stuffed my face at that nice buffet place on Lazarus street. Haiya! I just realized how ironic that is. I felt like I was brought back to life from the dark place I had been during the day...on Lazarus street of all places. 

All of us went back to the hostel and watched "Taxi driver" followed by "The others." That reminds me I need to watch "The others" again. I love horrors!

Heeee- so this is wine country!

Picking grapes off the "roof" at the hostel patio

The park close to our hostel in Mendoza

In my first official day in Mendoza I woke up at around noon. I was in a 6 person room and was woken up by the sounds of new people moving in. I jumped out of bed. This was late! I had planned to go on a vineyard tour that was to depart around 1pm. My two new roomies turned out to be a really great German guy and girl. We instantly hit it off speaking German and hearing from them about their adventures in South America. I believe the standard list of questions for other backpackers I had met along the way was 1. So where are you coming in from? 2. How long will you be in South America for? 3. What does your itinerary look like. We quickly got up to speed with Max and Barbara. The best advice they gave me was to change the hostel I planned to stay in Buenos Aires. 

Max and Barbara: It is a party hostel

Thekenyanexplorer: Sounds like my type of hostel.

Max and Barbara: No, really! It is full of 18 year olds who don't know how to drink. You will wake up to puke on the floor. You can never sleep as people party 24 hours a day.

Thekenyanexplorer: Uh huh! Ok. Time to cancel my "Milhouse hostel" booking and change to this Eco Pampa place you guys have recommended.

They also had plans of doing the vineyard tour, but we quickly discovered there was a nationwide strike that day. Everything was closed. This actually became quite common during my stay in Argentina - nationwide strikes. The weather was rainy, but we all decided to go to a park nearby that was meant to be quite pretty. We waited at the hostel for a Norwegian friend of theirs and together we went to the park.

It was half an hour's walk away, and we spent an hour or so walking around at the park. I was so thankful for all the speed-walking I have been doing at Jaffreys as this was no normal stroll in the park. We were walking quite fast - which I actually enjoyed a lot. I am one of those people who get irritated when I am in Nairobi CBD and people are walking slowly as if they are in a wedding procession. 

After our cardio session at the park we went back to our hostel and had a few beers as we waited for the 7pm free wine. Now that I think about it, I don't think we ate anything that day other than some yummy chocolates that Jonas (our Norwegian friend) bought us. After the beers, we had lots and lots of wine. More and more people streamed onto the patio and at "free wine time" was when I realized just how many people the hostel had. Friendships were quickly made - lubricated by bottle's of wine and cemented with memories that none of us would clearly remember at a later date. The patio was something from another planet. I only realized that the plants hanging from the patio "roof" were grapevines, when we were provided with bowls to grab as many grapes as we wanted to have with our wine...Yes, true story!

At some point someone mentioned there was a great buffet place that cost around $10. We all walked there - by this point we were a group of around 15 or so very loud tourists. We never found the place and ended up eating somewhere along the way - no real recollection of where exactly. At some point Jonas mentioned he knew a cool hip-hop club in the middle of Mendoza. Off we went! I was out till around 6am and clearly remember hearing Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby got back," in Mendoza:-) Wonders never cease. My one poor decision for the night was having a few shots of some Fernet - an Argentinian liqueur. It was a decision I would really regret all of the next day. 

Going to Argentina baby!!

With a heavy head (terramoto hangover) I left for Valparaiso in Chile for Mendoza in Argentina. I really should learn to read maps. My original plan had me leaving Santiago in Chile for Argentina with Buenos Aires being my first stop, followed by Bariloche then Mendoza (wine country). Anyone who can understand maps would tell you that this made no sort of sense. Mendoza was closest to Chile. While in Chile someone told me how cold and empty Bariloche was, and I scrapped it off my itinerary. My main reason for going there was because I read the beaches were amazing - I had no plans whatsoever to end up in a coastal town during winter.....I also realized that it made most sense to get to Mendoza first then end my trip in Buenos Aires.

From my hostel in Valparaiso I took a cab to the bus-stop around 7am. Within 2 minutes of getting on the bus, I was out cold. I slept all the way till we got to the Chile-Argentina border hours later. The border process was a jistier version of the Kenya-Uganda border. We all got off the bus, went to "exit" from Chile then went to a different queue to "enter" Argentina. It was relatively painless as these were 2 countries in my South America trip I actually had visas for......heeee heeee. Tulivuka border - crossed the border.

At 4pm I got to Mendoza. The hostel was decent and it's main selling point was that they served free Malbec wine every day between 7-8pm. Malbec is a type of red wine whose origin is in Mendoza in Argentina. Think of it as a type as "Cabernet sauvignon", "shiraz", "merlot" etc are types. It's a bit of a big deal, but not found in general shops in our parts of the world. I went out to a nearby restaurant - ate pork, got back to the hostel and enjoyed lots of free wine and made good friends at the hostel. 

I knew I would enjoy my time in Argentina!

Touring Valparaiso

After my late night at the hostel hearing of people's travel adventures, I planned to go on a free city tour the next day at 3pm. I could not believe it when I woke up at 2pm and realized I was very likely going to miss the tour. I jumped out of bed, showered quickly, possibly only oiled visible body parts (hands, legs etc) and sped off. I was extremely hungry, but because of foolishly waking up late, I had no time to eat and had to go for a 3 hour walking tour on an empty stomach.

The tour was great in that they told us a lot about modern Valparaiso - artsy town, large port, UNESCO World Heritage site etc, but the tour was severely lacking in historical information. I love history and learning about different countries' past. I was hoping to hear about dreaded former dictator Augusto Pinochet. I wanted to hear about the Chicago boys - a group of US educated Chilean economists who in the 70s and 80s were responsible for free market policies that are lauded for the positive economic impact in Chile. Unfortunately we didn't get to hear about any such things. 

The tour was useful though in many ways - I got to see a lot of Valparaiso in a short time. We went to a place that sells 60 types of empanadas. I stuffed my face given how hungry I was. We used a few of the town elevators - really ancient but interesting elevators. We went to the port, walked up and down crazy hills. I felt energized. When I got to my hostel I actually walked up the hill. It was exerting, but not too bad given altitude was not an issue. If this had been a hill in Bolivia, I would probably have given up the ghost after 5 minutes. 

I got to the hostel and sat on the balcony with my hostel mates watching the sun set. We decided we were going out that night. I always do stupid things like that when I have an early morning bus/plane/train. It's some sort of self sabotage thing. We had dinner and drinks at the hostel then went out to party. We walked around in circles for an hour or so, finally gave up on finding the specific club we were looking for and just went into the first bar we saw. We found a place that sold "Terremotos."

"Terremotos" require a paragraph of their own. It is Chile's national drink and translated to "earthquake" mostly because of what it looks like, but it is might also be a forewarning for what your tummy will feel like after drinking this. It is served either in a half liter or liter cup and is sweet white wine with pineapple icecream. It is actually quite sweet, which is why I would say it is dangerous - so sweet that you don't realize how much you have had.

As we drank our terremotos we told horror stories. I'm not quite sure why.

I really struggled in the morning to wake up by 6am to catch my morning bus to Mendoza in Argentina.

Aaaaaaaah Argentina! I will enjoy telling you about my time there in my future blog entries. 

Valparaiso - home of artists in Chile

Valparaiso was one of those places I had never heard about before getting to South America, but once I heard about it, I immediately decided I would visit. As I said before, I found Chile to be a bit too conventional for my tastes - too clean, too organized, too-not-what-I-imagined-it-would-be. Everyone told me that Valparaiso was completely different from the rest of Chile - it was an artsy place, where people wore bold colors and dared to different in all kinds of ways. I quickly added it to my itinerary. 

I planned to take a 4:15pm bus to Valparaiso from Santiago. It was only an hour away by bus. I got to the train station, bought my ticket and the girl at the ticket counter, had a pretty bad handwriting. She wrote my bus would leave from platform 7....or so I thought. I waited and waited and finally at 4:30 I went to the booth to find out why my bus was delayed - only to find out my bus had left from platform 1. She told me I would have to buy another ticket or try my luck talking to a bus driver for the next bus - I tried my luck and was luckily able to get on the next bus without any additional charges. I had slowly been picking up enough Spanish in Bolivia to survive, have basic conversations etc, but I realized that I could barely understand anyone in Chile - they speak really fast and have a different accent. 

When I got off the bus to Valparaiso,  I was directed to another bus that would get me close to the hostel I was to stay at. My hostel was on top of a proper hill. Valparaiso is very hilly and there are old school elevators linking lower parts of the town to upper parts. The bus driver assured me that I would be at my hostel shortly when I hopped on the bus. Half an hour later, we had been driving and driving and driving - dropping people off and still no sign of my hostel. Another half hour later I was now the only person remaining on the bus and I started to panic. Of course I had no idea where we were. I kept on asking the driver if he was still going to get me to my hostel and in his rapid fire Spanish, I think he said something like, "The moon is wearing a purple dress." With this assurance I sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the view. My anxiety came back when we got to a bus parking lot - not quite different from bus station in Nairobi except for the fact that it was deserted. I remember thinking of what I could use as a weapon in my bag because by now I was beginning to think I was getting kidnapped. 

The driver got off the bus and came back with a broom and started cleaning the bus, "Cough! Cough! Ahem! I am still here." His response, "Yes the sun shines a brilliant blue." After this he proceeded to count coins. He then sat down, read a newspaper for 15 minutes and finally started the bus after that. In another 10 minutes I was close to my hostel. I was able to get a cab from the bottom of the hill. I was in no mood to lug my backpack up a hill for half an hour. I still have no clue why the driver took me around on a sort of not so joyful joyride.

I got to my hostel, rang the bell and a barefoot Indian guy with a British accent and long dreadlocks came and opened the door. I immediately knew I would like this town. It just seemed like a very chill place. He directed me next door where he told me I could buy some yummy empanadas (meat pies) for dinner. I went there, bought some food and drinks and came back to the hostel. It was such a happy place. I went to the lounge, ended up meeting lots of friendly people and we shared drinks and talked till the wee hours of the morning.

One particularly fascinating conversation was about ayahuasca. I had seen a documentary about this crazy natural hallucinogen that is used by healers in parts of the Amazon forest to give them visions that enable them to cure sick people. One of the tourists in our midst told us how he had spent a few months living with a tribe in Ecuador in a forest and that he had used ayahuasca to "become one with humanity", "open my mind" etc. I sipped on my beer and thought to myself, "Some people are just from a different planet." 

Arrival in Santiago

I got to Santiago around 4pm and took the metro to my hostel. I stayed at a place called Princesa Insolente (the rude princess) and it was one of the hardest hostels to find. Poor thekenyanexplorer had to carry her backpack for around 30 minutes to find the hostel. The directions there made no sense. I had evening plans with a lovely Chilean couple I had met on the streets of Bahia in Brazil. I had notified them on facebook that I had arrived and they invited me for a night out with them and friends. 

I had a huge dinner alone at a place close to my hostel. After my 24 hour bus ride with no liquids and a few snacks, I felt like "splurging" and eating a proper meal. I don't remember exactly what I ate, but I remember that I had a huge 1L beer to go with it. Aaaaaah! The joy of a large meal and a refreshing beer. Later on we went to watch a dance show by a Chilean group that was performing Colombian inspired music.....Yeah, I am still confused by what that was:-)

My Chilean friends and their friends were really kind. I have to confess though that of the 4 South American countries I went to - Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, Chile was my least favourite. It's hard to explain why, but my main reason was that it felt so conservative and not exotic enough. All the other countries had tribes, different races, unique cultures etc, but Chile felt like a generic European country - which is fine if I am in Europe, but when in South America, one clearly has expectations of "flavour", "rythm", "excitement." I never found that in Chile. I guess it's kind of like Wazungus who come to Kenya and expect to see jumping Masaais, lions everywhere, people walking around in their "tribal" clothes and instead find Nairobians in Western clothes sipping lattes in Java. 

It was not Chile's fault - I just had my own expectations of the place.

"Great expectations make frustrated men" - Hama Tuma in The Case of the Prison-Monger.

Heading to Santiago, Chile

My last day in San Pedro de Atacama was spent doing nothing. I had not realized how exhausted I was from all my crazy traveling in Brazil and Bolivia. I had a 4:45pm bus to Santiago. It was going to be a 24 hour bus ride and I was looking forward to sleeping through most of it. I had paid for a "cama" seat which I assumed would be fully reclined, but was disappointed to find out it was only halfway reclined. I realized that the next 24 hours were probably not going to be the most comfortable. A few minutes after getting on the bus I realized just how pressed I was. I was so annoyed with myself, "Why would you drink so much water before getting on a bus?" I had been forewarned about how buses generally left passengers who got off the bus at restpoints and didn't get back quickly enough. I had already vowed that I was never going to be one of these passengers - who got off the bus, were left by the bus and had to figure out how to get their luggage from halfway across the country and also find another bus to your chosen destination - I had zero interest in being one of those people.

I tried to think dry thoughts to ignore my bladder - think of dry bread, ok, now think of deserts. No, not the oasis! Just the dry dry desert. By the time the bus made it's first stop, I realized I was going to need the washroom - my dry thoughts had only made me more and more pressed. The bus stopped and I was the first person at the door. The conductor drily announced that they were only going to stop for 10 minutes. I had thought of asking the person sitting next to me to make sure the bus didn't depart without me, but I did not know enough Spanish to say this. I thus opted for running really quickly to the washroom and back. The building we had stopped at had 2 floors. I ran to the first shop I saw and asked about the washrooms. The person behind the counter must have had some sort of speech impediment that made him speak reaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllly reaaaaaaaaaalllly slowly. I wanted to cry. "You are wasting my 10 minutes!" Finally he finished explaining where the washroom was. I ran there only to realize that you had to put coins into a machine, that opened swinging doors, that let you into the toilet. I had no coins! I ran back to the shop to get change. The guy who spoke reaaaaallly reallllllly slowly also worked reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaallly reaaaaaaaallly slowly. I wanted to scream as he slowly opened the till, slowly counted the coins, slowly handed them to me. I ran back to the loo and I was in and out in under a minute!

I ran back to the bus platform and was happy to see my bus (or at least a bus that looked like mine) still at the platform. I got in, went to "my chair", sat down and turned to "my neighbour" only to realize I had never seen this person before in my life. "Oh shit! I am on the wrong bus." I ran towards the exit and the bus had already started moving. I told the conductor (who I also didn't recognize) that I was on the wrong bus. He slowly looked at my ticket instead of letting me get off to figure out where my bus was! I was getting irritated. He assured me that I was on the right bus and told me that my neighbour had alighted at this particular location and that was the reason why there was someone new next to me. 

Phewks! I sat down. Despite not drinking anything for the next 24 hours to avoid a repeat performance, my bladder still felt it was only proper to spontaneously fill every few hours. As such the scene narrated above was repeated at least 3 or 4 more times during the trip until we got to Santiago - the capital of Chile. 

It was only when I got to Santiago that I learnt the buses had loos! Sigh......

Gulliver's Travels part 8 (The End): Almost becoming a hobo in Rome

In the summer of 2006, I worked in Munich and hungered to see the world. I was able to get 8 days off my summer internship and decided to go to Austria (Vienna) and Italy (Rome, Pisa and Sicily). After that chaotic trip, I wrote an email to my family and friends chronicling my adventures and these are the tales I have shared with you over the past few weeks - ending with this post today. 

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My plans once I got to Rome was to spend the day at the Vatican . My train would arrive at 0611 and I would begin my great trek to the Vatican (1 hour walk.) I would be there by 0711 and hopefully get in line for two or more hours and be in the Vatican hopefully at 1011. The lines at the Vatican are legendary, and people get there before 6am . Someone told me the line is soooo long that you can’t see the Vatican when in line. The line stretches for miles. Hmmm then it dawned on me that finances were dangerously low…..That is an understatement. I had exactly 5 euros and 13 cents to my name in Rome if I didn't count the 6euros Salvadore owed me. There are  four trains leaving Rome for Munich daily, and I realized pretty late that the only ones that weren't speed trains ie sort of cheaper and would cost me 5 euros instead of 15 euros (which I didn't have anyway…) were the ones leaving at 0742 and the one leaving at 2100. Unfortunately the one leaving at 2100 was leaving from a different station, and I would have to take the subway to get there. I was pretty sure there was no subway that would cost me only 13 cents. So financially it only made sense to take the 0742 train to Munich . Besides I was now too broke to buy water which I would definitely need lots of for my pilgrimage to the Vatican . I was also really exhausted after two nights of sleeping on  the train. I just wanted my nice bed in Munich , my inextinguishable water supply and food in Munich and a nice long long long hot shower.  My little energy would not be enough to stand in the line under these scorching heat. The Vatican also has a dress code that restricts showing shoulders, thighs etc and these would mean I would have to sauna in my jacket. Common sense prevailed and I decided to go home. So yes I did not get to see the 16th chapel and Michaelangelo’s famous mural, but at least I got to sleep on a bed that evening.

*****NOT WITHOUT MY CHILDREN/BAGS ******

            My train got to Rome late ie 0630 and my Munich train was to leave at 0742. I had 1 hour and 12 minutes to reserve a ticket and get my bags and be back. I went to reserve my ticket, and luckily the line wasn't too long due to the early hour. I got my ticket i.e. parted with my 5euros, and ran to get my bags. I got to the hostel, and rang the bell. No answer!! I rang  the bell more frantically!!!!! Still no answer!!! This just could not happen to me. I was absolutely broke now, and absolutely needed to catch that train I had just paid for. It was past 7am right now. I banged on the door!!! I banged on the window!! No answer!! I was now really beginning to panic. I started screaming out “SALVADORE!!!! SALVADORE!!!!!” in the middle of the street. Then I decided to scale the wall, and scream his name through the window. There I am looking like a real criminal and screaming “SALVADORE!!!!! SALVADORE!!!!!! While hanging from a window pane. I was just thinking “my bags!!!! my bags!!!! I need my bags!!” Finally I hear someone come and open the door. I was sooooooo soooooo happy. He had red eyes and looked like he wanted to kill me. I apologized, but told him I really had to catch my train. I got my bags, and my money from him. I ran to the train station and jumped into my train. I put my bags in the luggage storage overhead, and sat down. I breathed a sigh of relief having made it just by a hair’s breath.

The train starts to move and I am dreamily staring out of the window saying goodbye to Rome, goodbye to Venice, goodbye to Sicily, goodbye to Italy and having the feeling that this is not really ‘goodbye” but “till we meet again.’ The announcer starts to speak in Italian……blah blah blah…..welcome to this Trenitalia train……blah blah blah…..destination Monaco!!!!! Monaco !!!!! What!!!!!! Monaco !!!!! I jump up not really sure what I am going to do now that we are already in motion! Jump out the window with my bags and run across the train tracks to catch my train to Munich.!! I frantically ask the guy next to me who luckily speaks English “Is this train going to Monaco ?” He tells me “yes.” I start looking for the train official or something now really believing I must have the strangest luck. The guy asks me where I want to go. I tell him Munich , and he tells me the train is going to Monaco , Germany .  Can you imagine that!!!! In Italian Munich is called Monaco and Monaco is also called Monaco ….only with a different emphasis on the “o.” I actually had to laugh at myself. I laughed and laughed till I was in tears. My cabin mates looked at me like I am insane. I really didn’t mind anyway. Maybe I am indeed insane.

Gulliver's Travels part 7: Sicily

In the summer of 2006, I worked in Munich and hungered to see the world. I was able to get 8 days off my summer internship and decided to go to Austria (Vienna) and Italy (Rome, Pisa and Sicily). After that chaotic trip, I wrote an email to my family and friends chronicling my adventures and these are the tales I will share with you for the next few weeks. 

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 I got to my assigned seat, and there was these creepy old Sicilian dude sitting there who was the carbon copy of  Al Pacino. He was not smiling, not talking. Just sitting there and watching my every move really intently with furrowed brows. Watching thekenyanexplorer pretend to look for something in her bag. Watching thekenyanexplorer apply lipbalm. Watching thekenyanexplorer look out of the window. Watching thekenyanexplorer pretend to read. I was so happy when my other cabin mates arrived. They were two guys and one girl- all Sicilians and really friendly….all around my age. Creepy dude was still watching me, but atleast I didn’t mind so much now that we had company. Our train was due to arrive in Sicily around 11am (12 hour journey), and I really wanted to sleep. My nice cabin mates agreed for us to all slide our seats down and therefore have each two seats join up to make a long bed. So we ended up with two really long beds next to each other. The seat next to creepy dude was unoccupied, but no one was willing to move there. So the four of us had two “beds.” We were all stretched out really well, and dozing off when I inquired about the light. In all the other night trains I had taken we would switch off our light. They gave me a funny look and told me “If we do that we will arrive with no luggage in Sicily . The South is a dangerous place.” Fear filled my heart, and I started wondering if it was really a good idea for me to travel alone to Sicily . Anyway finally we slept with the lights on. However my suite mates were really active people and kept on waking up and walking in and out of the cabin. Everytime they would leave the cabin I would be unable to sleep for fear of having our bags stolen as I slept. Every time they left I would wake up feeling watched, and quite true I would find creepy dude sitting on his seat, dark eyes boring into me…still watching me in these wee hours of the morning. Man…there are some creepy people in this world, and I happen to meet most of them. So on and off I slept. At some point I woke up to find my suitemates leaving yet again. Then they told me we were on a ferry. I thought I was dreaming. I looked out of the window and we were moving though the train wasn’t moving. I could actually see people standing next to the train, and unable to understand the complexity of the scene I went back to bed. When I awoke we were passing some lovely landscapes, and I noticed that the people in these parts were much darker and taller than in Northern Italy . They actually looked like North Africans which shouldn’t be surprising since Sicily is an island and South of Sicily is the island Malta , and to the West of Malta is North Africa . On the journey back to Rome from Sicily was when I realized that the whole train got on a ferry to get to Sicily - yep, believe that! A train on a ferry. Dunia ina mambo! 
 
We arrived in Sicily at 1113. It was unbelievably hot. It must have been in the high 40s. The first thing I saw in the train station was a dog that had passed out due to the heat, and was just lying there on the ground looking dead. It was alive though, just dog tired. Later on in the day I would see doves that had also passed out. It was the strangest scene….four or five doves lying on the ground looking dead, and only slowly walking away when some naughty kid started stamping on the ground. Honestly when was the last time you saw doves passed out on the ground. My arrival in Sicily was marred by uncertainties. Though I have an eurail pass that allows me to hop on trains in Germany , Italy , France and Austria , some of the trains require a reservation. I had reserved my ticket to Sicily for 3 euros, but when trying to get one back, the ticket officer had told me all reservations were sold, and I would just have to hop on a train and hope for the best. I felt very unstable being in Sicily , and unsure of how I would get back to Rome . The train I was to take needed a compulsory reservation, and I did not have one. Reservations usually cost around 3 to 4 euros, and sometimes for night trains can be as high as 7euros. The most I had paid for a reservation had been a shocking 15 euros from Venice to Rome, but that had been because the only train from Venice to Rome is a high speed train and therefore really costly. I decided to get into the long line in Sicily at the ticket office, just to make sure I could make a reservation. I finally got to the counter, and the counter guy only spoke Italian. I wrote down what I was looking for and he told me all seats were full. I panicked. I had no room reservations here in Palermo , and yet he was telling me I couldn’t leave tonight! I went to the information office to see what I could do. As I was there I heard these three girls behind me speaking in German. They also had the same predicament. They needed reservations for the night. We instantly bonded since we had the same predicament. The guy at the info. Office told us that our best bet would be to take the train at 1800 since this would be the only train that wouldn’t fine us for traveling without reservations. Ps-fines can be up to 40 euros which to me at this moment sounded like 1 million dollars. The girls and me got maps of Palermo and instantly went off to explore the city.

Gulliver's Travels part 6: The leaning (falling) tower of Pisa

In the summer of 2006, I worked in Munich and hungered to see the world. I was able to get 8 days off my summer internship and decided to go to Austria (Vienna) and Italy (Rome, Pisa and Sicily). After that chaotic trip, I wrote an email to my family and friends chronicling my adventures and these are the tales I will share with you for the next few weeks. 

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  The Vatican was going to be closed for two days due to a national holiday. I left Rome on Tuesday 1346 hrs and got to Pisa at 1657. The journey there basically involved me falling asleep and waking up to more lovely views of the Tyrrhenian Sea (the name of the Meditteranean in the North West of Italy.) The views were spectacular, and I got to enjoy the mountainous countryside of Italy.I had drank lots of water, and decided to venture into the restroom (I usually religiously avoid restrooms in trains.) This restroom was surprisingly very clean, but there was a strange breeze in the room and no windows. So when I was done using the toilet I tried to look for the flush button but could not find any. Then I looked into the toilet and strangely there was nothing there. No tissue. No water. I needed to solve this mystery! I peered further and what do I see………………………….the train tracks!!!!!! Yes you heard me right. All the regional trains I took in Italy also followed in the same fashion. I was soooo totally grossed out. Not only is that like major pollution….I mean all the toilet paper that must be littering the train tracks all over Italy,  I vowed never to cross train tracks in Italy. This was just way too disturbing. How can they make a toilet that looks just like a normal toilet but discharges on the train tracks????? Strangely I had seen one of the other bathrooms had a sign that said “Out of order.” I wondered what “out of order” could have meant. There was definitely no plumbing involved in the toilets .In Pisa I walked for half an hour, found the leaning/falling tower of Pisa . I mean that tower is dangerously leaning. It looks like it could fall over any minute now. Pisa was a cute little town though it looked really ancient (not ancient like 1500s, but ancient like stuck in the 1920s.) Maybe it was the town or maybe it was my new sunglasses, but the town had the strange brown color/ sepia that TV had just after black and white and before they got color quite right.  I managed to find a cute little dress in Pisa (5 euros.) Stuff was really cheap in Pisa and I wished I had more time to check out the shops. My train was leaving Pisa at 1900 and getting to Rome at 2228 and my train to Sicily would leave Rome at 2300. Yes I know I am very daring. Sooo yes my train from Pisa left ten minutes late, and the whole journey I was holding my breath knowing that if I missed my train to Sicily I would be homeless for the night and really messed. Luckily my train got to Rome at 2248 and I hopped into my train to Palermo , Sicily .

Gulliver's Travels part 5: Pub crawl in Rome

In the summer of 2006, I worked in Munich and hungered to see the world. I was able to get 8 days off my summer internship and decided to go to Austria (Vienna) and Italy (Rome, Pisa and Sicily). After that chaotic trip, I wrote an email to my family and friends chronicling my adventures and these are the tales I will share with you for the next few weeks.

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Well what can I say……I came, I saw, I crawled. Yeah so once I got back to the hostel I just really wanted to drink and party. I asked – Gibrila- the Ethiopian dude..if he could ask the Scottish girls from the night before if they were going out tonight (I had met some nice cool Scottish  girls the night before at the reception when I was waiting for Salvadore to find me a room…..they had been drinking wine and were on their way out and looked like cool company.) Gibrila had just showed me where my new bed was- I was on the top bunk, and I had looked at my room-mates and I am convinced I have seen furniture that had more life in it than them.  Now people…Gibrila and I don’t share any common language….he speaks Amharic and Italian…his Eritrean friend speaks Tigrean and Italian and Salvadore speaks only Italian. This was the hardest conversation of my life. At some points he thought I was telling him I am a lesbian and I want one of the  Scottish girls…The next minute he thought I was asking him for wine….Finally I gave up. I just decided to shower, get ready to party and go downstairs to ask Salvadore if there was any party places in the region. So I got ready,and I went downstairs and Salvadore gave me instructions to a pub nearby and strict directions to walk back only along the main road when coming back since any side streets would be harbouring criminals. Then the Ethiopian guy comes and takes me to the Scottish girls’ room. I was really surprised that he had understood what I said. I wondered if he had just been making fun of me during that long conversation earlier. So I got to the girls’ place and they were tipsy and all drinking wine. We all started chatting and I was drinking my martini. They told me they were not going out that night since their train left at around midnight , but they knew where I could go. They told me the night before they had gone for Pub Crawl.

What is Pub Crawl? Well it is a thing totally organized for young tourists in Rome to get to meet each other. Basically you pay 20 euros, and you get to drink unlimited beer and or wine and eat pizza at the Spanish Steps in Rome then after that they take you bar hopping to 4 pubs where you get in for free and get a free shot at the entrance of each pub,and finally you are taken out to a huge club with hiphop, techno, house, rock etc till morning.  They also told me there are a lot of drinking games which equates to more free drinks! You also get a free t-shirt!  Sounded like my type of party. Cab fare back would cost me 8 euros which sounded great. They were going for dinner around that region so we left and took the subway together. We just barely made it into the last train and sat down. Some girl was trying to get into the train, and I believe that the subway in Rome must have killed some people. She just got halfway in, and the doors started closing on her. Not the closing that means the doors will open if you push a bit more……it was the closing where she almost lost her leg. The doors closed on her foot,and I could see her face turning redder and redder as she tried to save her foot. The (un)lucky girl managed to salvage her foot,but her shoe went with us in the train. I was actually traumatized though tipsy enough to forget that creepy incident. One of the girls told me that the long distance trains in the UK open for a specified amount of time,then immediately close. So if the train has many people getting off then you are assured you will not get in. Random!!!

So finally I got to the Spanish Steps, and strangely the organizers of Pub Crawl are university students from the States working for the summer in Italy . This is a really cool night job if you ask me. I met the crowd there and mostly consisted of Australians, Scots, Irish and a scattering of Americans and people from everywhere.  The nationality of this people should have been enough to make me pack my bags and go home on realizing that I was in the midst of expert drunks. I still felt up to the challenge and stayed. A few beers later, and my martini bottle half empty I heard some german conversation behind me. I turned and started talking to these two german girls. Off we went to the first pub. Shots at the door. I participated in one of the drinking games inside and won this competition. Off to the next club….by this time me and my German friends are quite drunk. I am just remembering bits and pieces from the night. Get another shot at the entrance.  I don’t remember how we got to the next pub. Ok obviously we walked but I don’t know how. Another shot at the door.  Heeeee then I started feeling really drunk. World spinning!!! Seeing doubles etc. Same for the German girls. Me and the German girls (who it turns out were in a youth hostel next to mine) hopped into a cab, and went home. I  feel stupid that I never made it to the dance club, but I doubt anyone other than the Scots could make it that far on all the booze we had been drinking.  I got home, and I was drunk, drunkety drunk. I remember that randomly my phone got an sms and I was trying to read it but could see nothing.... I couldn’t read. My youth hostel is a fortress, but mysteriously I was able to use my keys to open the main door, the elevator door, the floor door and my room door. I got to my room and thought “to hell with changing clothes, I will sleep as I am so as not to wake up my roommates!” I climbed the table from which I would be able to spring on to my top bed. All these actions are happening in the dark by the way….. I spring from the table top onto “my” bed and land on someone!!!!!!!!!!!!! The startled person springs up and I couldn't tell who was more shocked….me or him.  Anyway it turns out that Ethiopian dude had showed me the wrong bed. I was actually meant to be on the bottom bed. I am not sure what apology I gave the guy on the top bunk. I was beyond feelingl feelings like embarrassment. I went down to my own bed. The next morning was when I felt embarrassed. I only woke up once I heard him leaving the floor, and even then I showered and packed up rapidly so as to make sure he didn’t see me in the daylight. 

The next day I woke up with a head heavy enough to dent a wooden pillow.  I was hungover like wow!!!It was my last night at the hotel and I had earlier on intended to spend my day at the Vatican . Luckily I found out from someone that the Vatican would be closed that day and the next day. I couldn’t figure out what to do in Rome for the day since I was too hungover to go walking around for hours. I needed to lie down somewhere. I decided that I would change my travel plans a bit and jumped on the train to Pisa where I would atleast be able to nurse my hangover and nap in the train. I left all my luggage in Rome in storage for two days at my youth hostel (2euros per night) since in the evening I planned to take the train to Sicily , and didn’t want to go with my baggage.

Gulliver's Travels part 4: Rome in a day

In the summer of 2006, I worked in Munich and hungered to see the world. I was able to get 8 days off my summer internship and decided to go to Austria (Vienna) and Italy (Rome, Pisa and Sicily). After that chaotic trip, I wrote an email to my family and friends chronicling my adventures and these are the tales I will share with you for the next few weeks. 

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I left Venice at 1432 and my train was due to arrive in Rome at 1905. I sat next to a really chatty Italian couple, and managed to get an hour or two of sleep in between their very animated conversations. I got to Rome around 1935 (half an hour late) and tried to get a map of Rome at the train station. The lines in Italy are crazy long and the government offices and public places are sort of like in Kenya- highly inefficient. A place with 20 or so booths usually has only one or two tellers working, and you can only imagine how long the queues are during tourist season. Finally I gave up on the map idea since it was getting really late, and I really needed to find accommodation for the night.  I headed out to the streets,and tried looking for any place that looked like a youth hostel. I ended up in a hotel or two, and they all told me they were full for the night. I was beginning to panic,and feel like Virgin Mary and Joseph looking for accommodation in Bethlehem . Finally at the third hotel, a really sweet old guy told me it would be impossible to find rooms around this area at this time. In true Italian hospitality he gave me a map of Rome , and marked youth hostels on it that I should look up. After thanking him heartily I went to the first place he had picked. It was a 10 minute walk and by this point I really hated my suitcase. I got there and the doormen –one was Ethiopian and one was Eritrean- let me in.

This youth hostel is actually owned by these two really rich Eritrean women. They told me they doubted if there were any free rooms,but that I should talk to their boss- Salvadore. Salvadore made me wait for a good half hour, and finally I was led into this kitchen/main office. We all sat down- Ethiopian, Eritrean, Salvadore and me, and it honestly looked like a mafia meeting-them having a heated conversation in Italian and me silently sitting there knowing that my fate for the night lay in the hands of Salvadore.  I was given a cold glass of orange juice which I downed with gusto.  I really believe that I must have been Italian in my previous life. Either that or Italian is a really easy language to understand. I guess it is the latter- Italians speak with a lot of actions,and you always understand what they are saying even if you don’t get the words. I could see him going through a list of rooms and coming up blank. The Ethiopian asking him “And what of this other room? ”  Salvadore looking it up, and coming back with a negative response. Things looked glum for me. Finally in gestures, symbols and Italian with a thick Sicilian accent he explained to me that all the normal rooms were full and the only empty place he had was a private room fully equipped with bathroom, and that I would get breakfast in bed. Hmmmmmm he named some crazy price,and gave me a pained expression showing me that this was going way below what he should charge for it. I knew I was being robbed blind, but at this time in the night I had no chance of finding another place, and the thought of a bed and a long hot shower made the hole they were making in my pocket seem smaller.  I showered and slept in a bed. No train officials disrupted my sleep asking me for my travel ticket in the wee hours of the morning!!! Sigh……the joys of sleeping on a real bed.

The next morning, I woke up to breakfast in bed. I moved to a normal room which was immensely cheaper than my previous room, though I had five roommates now. Grabbed a shower, and off I went to explore Rome armed with my map. I walked and walked and all I could see was the non-historic part of Rome i.e. normal buildings, shops etc. The roads in Rome are highly dangerous. They are sooooo soooooo sooooo wide, and you just have to run across them, and hope for the best. Then there are just as many motorcycles as cars, and I think motorcycles can turn on red. Phewww!!!! I had many close calls. Finally I turned a corner, and felt like I had walked into ancient Rome . It was unbelievable the change of scenery. Ruins, ancient buildings centuries old, churches from ancient times.There was so much to see, and it was unbelievable to be in such a historic site. I climbed up the millions of steps at one of the monuments, and once I got to the top I decided to take a seat. Warning people- don’t ever take off your shoes at a national monument in Italy . It is illegal. So there I was I took off my sandals and sat cross legged and watched Rome from above. Suddenly a cop comes up to me, and speaks to me in Italian. I thought he was telling me that I can’t sit there.Turns out actually he was telling me to put my sandals back on. Strange law!! Finally I went to the Colosseum. What can I say……..it was colossal!!!!I felt like I had walked right into a history book. Later on in the early evening I went to a lovely cathedral where I got to see Michalangelo’s “Moses.” Sadly I didn’t get to take a picture of it since Mass was just about to begin. I walked around all day not believing that so much history could be squeezed into one town. Every corner was like walking into a time machine. Unbelievable!!! In the evening I partied. It was lots of fun!!!