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| The first day we met Nancy, one of the daytime support staff at our guarded gate. She was so sweet, holding my hand the entire time we chatted with her. She kindly took the photo of Tom and me. We love being able to talk to the locals. |
Today’s photos are from our first stay in Africa in Diani Beach, Kenya, in 2013. For more photos, please click here.
When I commenced my first walk of the day, I found that a huge section of the corridor was roped off by one of the three elevators (lifts). I walked up to that point, curious as to why it was roped off. It took me seven times up and back from that point to our door to walk ½ the distance I usually walk each hour.
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| There we were at last, in Kenya, Africa, hot and sweaty as we embarked on our first walk outside the gated complex, onto the main road, definitely a daytime event only. |
Respecting the ropes, I continued back and forth until I completed my first mile (1.6 km) for the day, knowing I had four more such rounds to go to do my usual five miles (8 km). It was more boring than ever. The usual full walk in the corridors is boring enough, returning to our room to await the next hour’s walk.
Thus today, instead of walking non-stop for the entire mile each hour, I’d walk twice an hour for the entire mile, every 30-minutes, setting the timer on my phone as a reminder. This way, I am getting up and moving around more frequently rather than sitting in one position for the hour. Who knows? I might go back to the old way soon enough. But, boredom is dictating that I mix it up as well as increase my hourly mobility.
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| The dirt road we walked in our gated community. |
But, today, the shorter distance made the walk all the more tedious. While walking, a manager dressed in a crisp white shirt, tie, and black suit approached, telling me he’d called our room, but we hadn’t answered. I explained Tom was in the shower while I was out walking.
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| As we began our walk within the gated complex, we saw and heard many local workers working on the house destroyed by a fire in 2009. Hans, our landlord, told us that insurance companies didn’t pay fair claims for the losses, so many homeowners endured, ultimately paying out of their own pockets for repairs that often took years to complete. |
He’d come looking for us to let us know that the area beyond the theater-type red ropes with the brass stands is intended as a marker to prevent us from going further into the corridor. He explained that 20 guests from the outside world, all from various locations in India, would be staying on our floor in the rooms beyond the ropes. All of the hotel’s other floors are booked with guests.
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| This wall was on our right as we walked along the dirt road within the gated community. Most houses were tucked away behind large stone walls, making it difficult to see the homes in the neighborhood. |
As it turns out, these 20 guests will be staying on our floor for five or six nights. I just returned from one of my ten daily walks to see some of those guests arriving, wheeling their bags, all wearing masks. From what I could see from my vantage point, several cleaning staff members were down the corridor, along with several well-masked uniformed sanitization workers carrying stainless steel tanks with sprayers to sanitize the rooms.
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| A protected entrance to a neighboring home. |
Of course, we’ll proceed with caution, but this scenario raises a few concerns, such as how safe will our cleaner be when he arrives to clean our room around 10:40 each morning? And, how safe will our food and room service server be when our food arrives twice a day?
Perhaps, I’m overly cautious, but I keep hearing stories of people we know and family members who’ve exercised the utmost caution and still contracted the virus. We could stay in our room for the next six days and nights, no longer walking the halls, but we haven’t worked this hard to lose some of our stamina from not working out for almost a week.
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| This statue was in the entryway of the neighboring home. |
Also, as of late, I’ve been getting so tired of the dinners, I am considering going to one meal a day, just having breakfast. But, I can’t imagine missing those 30 minutes of dining around 6:00 pm each day. The routine is more important to me than the food. I know I’m eating way too many carbs with the red sauce with my chicken each night. But, without the sauce, the chicken is rubbery and dry.
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| This massive home was burned out, sold, and yet to be repaired, now almost four years later. |
Whew! We sure could go for a big juicy steak on the grill, cooked rare for me and medium rare for Tom. I can’t wait for that first meal, along with a huge salad of fresh greens and other diced vegetables, let alone a glass of dry red wine to savor along with it! We haven’t had anything but chicken (and occasionally salmon for me) in almost nine months! I haven’t cooked a meal in nearly nine months!
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| The dense thatched rooftops, typical in Africa, can easily be seen as a fire hazard. These would never be allowed in the US or many other countries. |
I need a salad! (Not safe to eat here!) tonight, I’ll order the salmon, which I do about once a week, but it’s only a tiny portion with cooked vegetables on the side, which doesn’t fill me up.
I wonder what those 20 guests will be eating? The last time they had a group here, a few months ago, they all dined in one of the conference rooms. They were all Indian people, so most likely, they consisted of items we didn’t eat. Tom is still ordering his penne pasta with chicken with a side of roasted potatoes, not a very healthy meal. We’ll worry about that later when once again, we can cook our meals.
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| Oh, this looks refreshing on the shared property between our holiday rental and the owner’s home. We never used it. We’ll have our private pool in the next house in South Africa, where we’ll be in 3 months. |
This article popped up online last night, implying that South Africa may open their borders sooner than we’d thought. Still, that won’t do us any good unless India resumes international flights.
Stay safe and healthy. Please wear a mask and social distance so we all can get out of this predicament!
Photo from one year ago today, September 6, 2019:
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| This had been our view for the past two weeks in Falmouth, Cornwall, England. This has been an excellent place to stay! For more photos, please click here. (Please excuse incorrect paragraph spacing, which is being resolved). |