A word on those chewable green sticks
Trip Start
May 20, 2010
1
14
30
Trip End
Jul 14, 2010
Mombasa, Kenya
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
It's an evergreen plant and the leaves and sticks contain an alkaloid that is similar to amphetamine. It's consumed (chewed) traditionally for reducing physical fatigue or hunger, but it seems to me that most people here use it as a recreational drug or just as a (mostly male?) social habit. Those that tried it say that it's just a light stimulant, I guess it depends on how much you chew ;)
AFAIK Miraa is legal in Kenya and in any case it's impossible to travel here without seeing local people chewing it. Some bars/clubs have "no miraa chewing" signs outside but it's not unusual to see groups of people with their sticks on the table.
(Miraa sticks, image taken from wikipedia)
In my travels I like to sit down with the people I meet, exchange real experiences, get to know more about their culture and society and tell them more abour ours.
Sometime, when I felt comfortable, I joked with people I met in here Kenya when I saw that they had either sticks in their hands or the typical brown color on their teeth. Everybody alwasy downplayed it, smiling "oh I never do it, only today, only two sticks".
At any rate, it's part of their culture so I guess I had to mention it.
Back in the day Mombasa used to be a very important trading port for exotic spices.
Nowadays if you visit the city market you'll be grabbed by touts offering the "spices tour". They'll bring you to a shop where they'll give you the five minutes story of the old trading routes, then somebody will proceed to offer you cinnamon, saffron, clove, nutmeg, garcinia and vanilla.
And Miraa ;)
