Where in the World Are You, Chris Vourlias?

The subject of our latest nearly up-to-the-minute interview with a traveler somewhere in the world: Chris Vourlias, a contributor to TravelGator.com. His response landed in our inbox this morning.

World Hum: Where in the world are you?

A muddy road in front of my hostel in Nairobi, Kenya. The place is a couple of miles from downtown, at precisely the point where the roads go from slightly suspect to downright shoddy.

What are you doing there?

Recovering from a cold. After five months in the Middle East, Kenyan winter has caught me off-guard. Nights in Nairobi are dipping down into the 40s, and my body would very much like to be back in Tel Aviv.

What do you see around you?

Two lanky guys in plastic sandals washing cars with filthy rags. A woman with a baby slung across her back. A man in a three-piece suit sitting on a tree-stump, reading the newspaper. Clouds of dirt kicked up by a couple of matatus. Shafts of copper sunlight. Chickens.

Got a pic?

What did you have for dinner last night, and where?

Mutton curry at Annie Oakley’s—further proof that cowboys and Kenya go hand in hand. It’s a local hang-out next to my hostel, and it’s packed every night with businessmen in crisp suits and pool hustlers and prostitutes wearing enough PVC to outfit a plumbing supply.

What music are you listening to these days?

I’ve been entirely schizophrenic with my music; maybe it’s the Lariam that’s been screwing with my head. I went from Chopin’s “Preludes” to The Smiths to Jay-Z’s Grey Album [a mash-up of Jay-Z’s “Black Album” and The Beatles’ “White Album” by Danger Mouse] to some Syrian folk music I picked up in Damascus. Right now I’m listening to “Planet Rock,” by Afrika Bambaataa—an electro-hip-hop classic that makes me wish I could spin on my head without causing internal hemorrhaging.

What are you reading?

The State of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence, by Martin Meredith. It’s an exhaustive portrait of the continent’s downward spiral since the wave of independence swept across it in the ‘50s and ‘60s. You’d think that tackling the ills of an entire continent is a daunting task, but Meredith is a wizard, and there’s been a sad, sobering pattern to how most of sub-Saharan Africa has progressed (regressed?) in the past half-century. Flirtation with democracy; one-party rule; military coup; corruption and graft; economic freefall. Not the most encouraging book to kick off a six-month tour of Africa, but necessary all the same.

What did you experience in the last 24 hours that you’d recommend?

Shopping in Nairobi. This town has a bad rap that’s not entirely undeserved, but it’s probably got the best shopping for 3,000 miles in any direction. I had to pick up a new camera after an unfortunate run-in with gravity and a stone floor in Jerusalem. It took a half-dozen shops and the better part of an afternoon, but I’m finally ready for my first safari.

What did I experience in the last 24 hours that I wouldn’t recommend? Walking around downtown Nairobi with 30,000Ksh—about 460 U.S. bucks—bulging in my pocket. Hardly easy on the nerves.

Where in the world are you headed next?

The middle of nowhere. A friend of mine met a Maasai chief when she was visiting Kenya a few months ago, and she passed along his digits. I’m going to spend the next week in his village, sleeping in a mud hut and wondering what I have to do to get a decent cappuccino.

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