Setting up a Home in Tarime

The bus ride from Nairobi to the Tanzanian border, which normally takes 6 hours, lasted much longer. The bus didn't leave until it was full, and then we stopped for gas! That took 3 hours. When things were finally going well, we came upon road construction. I was dozing off most of the time, but awoke to find our bus nose-to-nose with a road grader! Our bus driver must have offended the work crew. Because there were shouts exchanged and other vechiles went by in both directions, but the grader strategically ran interference with our bus, repositioning whenever necessary. Bus riders shouted at wokers, and workers returned the favor. This went on so long that when we finally did get going we passed up the restroom stop. I, for one, was getting desperate when the driver pulled over to the side of the road. Everyone chose a tree, took care of business, and reboarded the bus.
When we finally got to the border, it was very late. Kate was able to rouse the border guard, who asked several questions repeatedly. Since we answered them consistently. He led us across the border into Tanzania, where the process started all over again. The only taxi driver at the border was drunk and wanted tto charge us $50 to go 10 km, so Kate called a friend in Tarime who rescued us.
When we got home, the water and elecric were off, but I was so thankful to have a bed and a toilet I really didn't mind. Nate summed up the day in this way: "Welcome to Africa!"