Coincidences and Souvenirs

I had delayed buying any kind of souvenirs throughout the trip because I didnt want to carry them. So after finishing Mt Kenya trek, I had just one aim for the remainding 36 hours of the trip- to find a suitable memory of Africa to take to my house in Newcastle.

In "hassle-free gift shop" in Nanyuki a couple of old statues caught my eye. Althougth I desperatly tried to ignore the urge to buy these 1m high interesting wooden structures as I thought it would be impossible to transport them home- they really were 'something else'. They were hidden away in a corner of the shop- covered in cobwebs, but unsual compared to the other mass-produced masks etc.

As you've probably guessed they now sitting comfortably on our freezer at home, having just about made it home in one piece. Although I know very little of their history they are definitely old and I'm going to discover all I can find out about their significance from professionals if possible.

Just after I bought them, fretting whether I would ever be able to get them home, a whole truck load of people were shouting "Claire! Claire!" from across the other side of the road. Matty (newcastle medic friend) and his traveller friends had spotted me- so I spent a wonderfully unexpected evening with them, dancing in the local club.

This random meeting was the last of many other coincidences of this trip. I have bumped into other Newcastle friends on about 8 other individual occasions, mostly completely unorganinsed and surprising. The world is such a small place!