Creepy crawlies

Monday, June 8th, 9:36 PM.
Well. I was walking back to my tent after a lovely evening around the fire. Marveling over the absolute bright light of the full moon, I was thinking of all the poetic words I would write here in praise of moonlight, but when I hung up my jacket a huge brown spider ran by… Inside my tent, which is a FIRST.

Now there are big black spiders everywhere. In fact, it has taken a lot of effort and deep breathing for me to progress to where I am with the black spiders. I mean, I don’t want to get too personal, but usually when I go to the bathroom I need to be relatively relaxed. Relatively. But these black spiders are the size of the palm of my hand! That’s including legs, but they are not daddy long legs by any means, they have Big, spidery bodies. However I sit carefully, and think thoughts like “I come in peace” “I mean you no harm” which I am convinced allows them to stay still until I am ready to get out of there. It’s all I can do not to jump off the seat if they start running around!

So, I was sitting at the fire having a lovely time with J and P, and S, the chef. I finally had dinner with them, and got to taste ugali, which is like polenta and is the typical Kenyan food. And we talked about all sorts of things, and had a great laugh.

Yes and I came back to get ready for bed.
Enter the tent, hang up my windbreaker, and boom – BIG brown spider runs past and freezes on the spot.

I knew I would never get a wink of sleep unless I did something, so I went back to the fire and asked for help. P, the carpenter, grabbed a hammer and a bucket of “white spirits” (shellac?). I asked him if spiders were dangerous and he, very practically I might add, answered “sometimes.” We returned to my tent and looked for the mother. There it was. P aimed and hit right on. A couple times. He scooped up the puddle and the bits into the bucket, said “Lala Salema” and cheerfully walked out the door. Leaving me in the middle of the tent, practicing Lamas breathing to calm down and inhaling the residue of the fumes from the white spirit alcohol.

I can deal with the scary sound of the wind blowing the tent. I can deal with the dark walk to the bathroom at night. Growling lions, fine. Monkeys, a pleasure. But spiders, and ticks, which everyone says are common, and which I keep imagining I have acquired, are a Problem for me. Capital P.

So here I am. “Spiders are small and they are more scared of us than we are of them, and even the dangerous ones don’t want to crawl to you and attack you on purpose. No, we are coexisting here at Lewa. I am okay. I am okay.” (that’s what I had to whisper to myself after Peter left, when I was still huffing gas)

Anyway, time to think happy thoughts. I will be here for three more months. Only my mum can read this and know what I must be feeling, as it was she who would run to my room and wipe the tears from my face when I had nightmares about spiders as a child. A sob story, you say? I’ll be the first to admit it.

Happy thoughts. I thought about what we talked about around the fire tonight. Lots of things. They are big laughers and jokers, these Kenyans. Maybe it is just this gang, but I can appreciate it.

For example, one of the guys bought a new fridge, and needs to move it to his house up in the country, but there’s no electricity there. So there was a lengthy debate about whether he should use a generator or a solar panel, as well as many jokes about what one could do with a big fridge (who knew?). It turns out that someone else around the fire uses a solar panel, and that is the way to go! I was surprised, but not too surprised, because other places I have been to, Cuba especially, also use solar panels much more than we do at home. And if you have a spare battery you can even charge it for the cloudy days.

On and on, we chatted by the fire.
People told stories about the longest walks they ever did. In 1965, one man walked kilometers between two towns all in one day. When he said he couldn’t walk again for a week everyone burst out laughing.

Well that has distracted me, and I am feeling better. I really like that gang. I am so glad that they’re here. It’s like a different taste of Kenya inside this utopian zone. Although they sometimes talk about heavy stuff, they always intersperse it with a few well-placed jokes, and they are smart and lovely. I am so thankful that I have made some friends.

Tu-onane kesho (see you tomorrow).