Rolando's

It's Tricia's birthday and all of the volunteers are going to dinner to celebrate.  Strike that, it's not dinner, it's a feast.  It's a very strange thing that a 20 minute walk from the village there is an extraordinary Italian restaurant perched on a bluff overlooking the ocean. There seems to be no good explanation for why this restaurant exists, practically in the middle of nowhere, but the current guess is that Rolando, the owner, is either hiding from the mob or acting as a front for some mob activity.

We walked out and took a seat at the long table that was set for us.  Over the course of three hours, Rolando and his staff brought us many dishes, beginning with a pasta, then roast vegetables, sauteed onions, caprese salad, two types of cheese, and anchovies. Next they brought fried vegetables (zucchini, yam, eggplant) and calamari, followed by shark (really). And finally dessert and coffee.  It was a feast and a wonderful break from the lentils and rice that are our daily fare.

During dessert, Rolando came over and announced "the Kenyan police, they are taking me to jail. You will bring me oranges, yes?" and shook the hand of each person at the table.  We had been gossiping during dinner - a short while before we arrived, a volunteer had seen Rolando's van tearing down the road out of Takaungu.  A member of our group asked Rolando where it was going and got the impression that the mechanic had been working on it, had a disagreement with Rolando and then had stolen his van.  Somehow, someone knew that the mechanic had accused Rolando of brandishing a gun in the course of the argument and then someone else thought that it is illegal to own guns, or at least to threaten people with them, in Kenya. And so we weren't too surprised when the police arrived.