Tuesday, April 13
Toni had agreed to take me into downtown Nairobi. I had seen the area around the Hilton and New Stanley Hotel. But now we headed into less busy sections. As we walked I asked him about a plant called Miraa that I had heard other Kenyans mention as having stimulant properties. Miraa is from a tree which grows in Northern Kenya and Somalia. It has become increasingly popular to chew Miraa and it is easily purchased from street hawkers and some established businesses. Toni, as it turned out, was a devoted consumer of Miraa. He was only too happy to take me to his friend who ran an electrical supply shop, out of which he sold bundles of Miraa stems. The shop was actually just an open window to the street. The front of the building was painted white with illustrations of Miraa wrapped in a conical paper container -- like an ice cream cone but with bunches of green stems pushing out the end. Toni proudly pointed to the pictures, which he had painted. He was a commercial sign painter by profession and this was one of many businesses which had commissioned him. The shop keeper was a big man, chewing gum. After some discussion with Toni he produced a bunch of Miraa stems about the size of a fist. The stems were wrapped by a fiber cord into finger-sized groups, and these were wrapped into a larger bundle. I bought one bundle for myself and one for Toni at 100 Shillings apiece. The shopkeeper wrapped each bundle in a banana leaf, with newspaper on the outside. The banana leaf, Toni explained, was to keep the Miraa moist, since the psychoactive properties would be lost when the stems dried out. Miraa is the Kenya name for the stems and leaves of the khat shrub (Catha edulis). The active ingredient is cathinone, which is structurally similar to amphetamine and appears to exert its psychoactive properties by activating dopaminergic pathways in the CNS .
We headed off with the Miraa bulging in our pockets. "You can tear a small hole and then be taking them out to chew", Toni explained. The stems were each about 5 inches long and about 1/8 inch in diameter. The tips are bright green, sometimes with tiny leaves, while the other end is a darker purplish-red. We started chewing and walked to a small store to buy bubble gum. "Chew the Miraa with the gum, it will hold the Miraa together". We chewed and walked to a street where many carvings and other artifacts are produced for the tourist industry. However, few if any tourists were to be seen. This was where the artisans worked, in long corridors, carving ebony into abstract forms. This was commercial art, popular art. Generally speaking, African art is usually rich in symbolic meaning. However that aspect has been diluted as much of the commercial art is now produced for the tourist industry and for export. We moved past the carvers to the back of the building. In a large room were crammed art objects and artifacts of every description. There were statues, combs, clubs, chairs, pipes, spears, bows and arrows -- all beautiful and exquisite. As we looked about I began to notice a pleasant and even slightly exhilarating feeling come over me. I was clear-headed but feeling very much engaged in the process of examining various pieces and deciding which to buy. My older son, Seth, had asked for a spear, but fearing that his youth and impulsive temperament might make such a pairing too volatile, I opted for a letter opener instead. And for my younger son, Ganymede, I bought a beautifully detailed club, which also had the appearance of a small walking stick. My friend Toni and I went to the desk in front for the purchase. Toni was a good negotiator and insisted that I should not pay the full price. The price went from 2,100/- to 1,500/-. The clerk carefully wrapped each carving in an old newspaper and we were on our way. Back on the street we chewed Miraa constantly while walking past all manner of shops and markets. The effects continued to build. My pace quickened and I felt good. We headed back to the electrical supply shop. By now a small group of young men had gathered outside and were seated on the steps and a nearby bench. We bought sodas and spent the next few hours chewing, drinking, and talking.
Toni wanted to show me some of the bars in Nairobi. So we walked from the Miraa seller's shop to an adjacent section of the city. It was about 1:00 pm when we reached Modern Green. We walked in to find the place suprisingly packed; mixed with Kenyans, Asians , and a few Europeans. "Many of the tourists come here to get drugs or whatever else they want" Toni explained. There were also a few obstreperous prostitutes, with at least one clutching at me. We walked through the crowd into the back room, which resembled an alley more than a room. There were only men seated in the back. At one table at the far end sat a mature Englishman and a Kenyan. In a tense, angry tone of voice the Englishman was shouting to his African counterpart "I'll fuck him!" All the seats here were taken so we walked back to the main room.
Toni suggested that we leave and try another bar. As we headed to the door one of the prostitutes grabbed my shirt but I kept walking and she loosened her grip. In a few minutes we were at another bar, this one mellower and less crowded. We bought beers this time. As we sat down in a corner, Toni showed me that before you drink a beer you first pour a small amount on the floor for the ancestors (a Kikuyu custom). Afterwards we took a bus to his flat. Toni had a small apartment in a huge building. The apartment building had an institutional design and it was obviously not maintained. Toni had only a small bedroom with no kitchen or bathroom. The building had several public restrooms and they reeked of ammonia so much they were probably dangerous to enter. In fact, Toni warned me not to step inside them. We relaxed and drank a little tea in his bedroom while Toni showed me photos of his various commercial art projects. Later, we went up to the roof and he pointed out various landmarks. I told Toni I wanted to see more of Nairobi and asked him about whether we could meet again later in the evening. Toni thought this would be great fun so we planned to get together at Molly's after everyone was asleep.
When I
got back to Molly's, Monica had just phoned an old high school friend
and told me we were invited to dinner. But we returned to Molly's at
about 10pm. I met Toni at 11pm and then we went with his friend
Prince (a security guard from the golf course estate) to a bar in
downtown Nairobi. We were there from about midnight until 6:00 am. I
expected it to be interesting but as the hours wore on it got
progressively more boring. But the place was crowded enough so people
came over to share our table. Toni was drunk and got into pointless
arguments with them. I wanted to leave, but Toni said it was to
dangerous to be out at this time of the morning. A prostitute came
over to sit at our table. She sat there across from me looking sad
and saying nothing. When I left to use the restroom I suddenly heard
Toni behind me, warning me for not letting him know where I was
going. He thought it was too dangerous even for me to piss here.
Well, maybe it was. We left at about 5:30 am. Some street kids were
lying on the sidewalk in front of the entrance trying to sleep, but
the increasing foot traffic was making that difficult. Toni and I
took a matatu back to Golf Course where we happened to meet Prince
again. We parted in the gray morning light. Toni left with Prince to
buy breakfast somewhere while I went back to Molly's to get a few
hours' sleep.