SMELLS ::MOMBASA::
on Alejandra Barahona (Kenya), 17/Aug/2010 08:29, 34 days ago
So my commute is not so different from the one in New York, except here is like i'm taking a roller coaster day and day again... The Matatu drivers are suicidal, yes, worst than in Guatemala. Every day it's like the race of death and then the Ferry to Likoni which is worst than a NYC subway station at peak time. Everybody hurries in and out and if you are not quick enough the crowd will literally step all over you so running is the next best thing. Ok, crows and the heat! you can imagine how that smells like right?Smells have this amazing thing of transporting you to the past. Memories are linked in a way to smells and tastes and so far every smell and every taste has been different so it's like having your memory wiped out and having all these series of new things come in… although I must say I wish my memory don't remember the smells of Kenya when I leave… uffff, smells, what can I say, I once worked with someone who in my opinion stank but the smells around here are a thousand more times stronger than what I've experienced before… It's the coast right, so sun = sweat + no deodorant = ikkkk (can you just smell that???) + days and days without showering = OMG, can't even describe it but sometimes it reminds me to the first time I had wasabi, that spicy thing goes into your mouth, going up into your nasal ducts and into your brain, well, it's something similar, although China always tells me she rather have wasabi every day, the smells  just go up into your nose and it's like a brain killer… it's hard to avoid it sometimes so I try to sit close to windows, put some  liquid sanitizer in my hands and just inhale all the alcohol in it until my nose can't feel a thing anymore… this only last a couple of minutes but while I'm doing that I pray for the stop of this guy or woman giving us a brain freeze… nice right?There are things we can change and things we can't so we have to adjust, smell the smells, taste the tastes and experience as much as we can… two years may be nothing or it could be a lifetime so the least we can do is just enjoy it while it lasts and laugh about it….meanwhile take a look at out first weekends in Mombasa...