Woke up in the middle of the night. In my dream I was beset by a swarm of mosquitoes, returning in sorties for further helpings of my blood. Awake I was convinced the dream was true, and I was itching all over at the thought. This kept me awake fitfully for some time. I stayed in bed till noon trying to escape the headache and nausea that had enveloped me.

Leah was supposed to come at 2, so we could go to KIA and pick up our boxes. I called at 2:30 to find that she had a problem on her shamba, and we would have to wait till tomorrow. I don’t think we will be opening the internet cafe on the 1st February at this rate! Worth a try though.

Yuki and I spent some more of the day in the garden, looking at the different plants and reading. Mary was hung over too, and we didn’t see much of her during today. We also went for a short walk up the road, meeting many small children and shop keepers. We thought we got to Ngaramtoni, where there is a large market on a Thursday, but discovered that Ngaramton is further up the road to Namanga and Nairobi. Later on Phillipo took us up there. We struggled to maintain a conversation with him, but our Kiswahili barely extends beyond the basic greeting habari and hujambo. The phrasebooks we have don’t really get beyond requesting things and ordering people around. I think being able to ask someone if they have a girlfriend or what music they like is pretty important too!

Phillipo helped me buy some Massai sandals made from old tyres. They bere TSh1000, but should have been only 500. I think either our mzungu status, or my wildly differing foot sizes resulted in this.

Ngaramtoni was hectic. A dusty bustle of Massai people selling:

• kangas folded into brightly coloured pyramids;
• fruit in giant heaps;
• enamel crockery
• watches and radios.

Many people wanted to talk to us, and we were followed almost all the way home by a foetid child…

On the way back we visited the Texas Bar, where I beat Phillipo at pool. We got back with the last rays of sunlight disapearing behind the hills to the west. A bit of a quiet day in which we contemplated ways of staying here longer. Ultimately we must become self sufficient and not eat into our savings more than we planned.