Kenya

A few months ago we bought a car, a pink Toyota Vitz. It’s not pretty, but the price was right and it gets the job done. Cassandra mostly uses it to get to and from work, but it’s really convenient for things like grocery shopping, dinner in the evening, etc, or simply when matatus or taxis are a pain wherever it is you’re going.

Cassandra's pink Vitz
Cassandra’s pink Vitz

Ironically, I had never heard of a Vitz until well after I moved to Nairobi (apparently they’re called “Yaris” in the US), but now I see them everywhere. A buddy of mine even quipped, “It’s Nairobi’s favorite car,” most undoubtedly because of its price, small form factor, and the way it sips gas (as opposed to gulping, of course).

Anyways, living in Nairobi these past two years has been a wildly different experience than living in Tala. Unfortunately I never had the experience of driving around in Tala’s favorite car — just lots of run ins snakes, scorpions, and satanic goats. ;)

Kenya

Picture of the head-on collision
Picture of the head-on collision

I had the good fortune to get hit head on in a friend’s car the other day (haha). We were driving down Church Road, right around the corner from my apartment. A car was approaching slowly but sloppily, and a bit into our lane. There wasn’t much we could do but just brace for impact. “Crap!” I now have a unique insight into the ingenuity of Kenyan car mechanics.

Kenyan mechanics work in “garages.” When you car breaks down or needs work, you take it to the garage. This is not the same concept as the garage that sits beside your suburban California house — the garage most Kenyan fundis (handy men) work in are completely outdoors! Notice it bears no semblance at all to the “garage” where your car sleeps at the end of the driveway.

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