Kenya - Kisumu

Friday cont... We traveled by private car to Kisumu with Sarah Hope and Callie (the ones who live in the mission in Amagoro), who had a ride going there anyway. Made the ride half as short. They drive on the left side of the road in Kenya. And in this picture, you can see as we are going through a town, all the people and shacks selling goods set up on the side of the road.

We passed over the equator once again into the southern hemisphere.

Once in Kisumu we checked into our hotel, the Duke if Breeze, and started meeting up with Ali's fellow Peace Corps volunteers - Alyssa, Emily, and Sajeena. We hung out on the rooftop bar for awhile before getting ready to go out for the night. All 8 of us squeezed into a tuk tuk, a motorcycle type contraption with 3 wheels and generally seating 4. Front: Sajeena & Alyssa. Back: Callie, Sarah Hope, me, Amy, Emily, and Ali.

This proved to be a bad idea, because when we were taking pictures of us all squeezed in, the front door opened around a corner and Alyssa (the one in the front on the right) fell out the side and we ran over her ankle. It was really scary, but thankfully she was okay. She was a tropper and insisted we still go out, so we made our way to the Laughing Buddha for supper. We kinda all shared each others meals because it was all so good. After that we made our way to a club called Signature. We danced the night away, most of the songs were Kenyan songs. It was packed. And hot. But a lot of fun. We met a guy named David, who actually dated a former Peace Corps volunteer that Ali knew. Small world. We had a lot of fun dancing with him and went back to the hotel around 1:30am. As we left, a lot of people kept yelling out mazungu at us, which means white person in Swahili. No shit people, glad you can see.

*We didn't get any pictures after the one above, as Amy's camera took a little tumble along with Alyssa. Sajeena was a miracle worker and fixed it in 2 days.

Saturday: We once again got up early because no body could sleep in. All of us went to breakfast together and then split up. Alyssa went to go get her foot x-rayed and nothing was broken. (Yay!) Ali, Amy, and I went to the impala sanctuary. They have impalas and zebras free range here, and other animals reside in cages.

Here is the view from the back of an tuk tuk. Our driver was pimpin' poppin' his collar.

A cute view of us 3 (the proper number) in the back of the tuk tuk.

First we saw 4 hippos in the water, popping up and down and making some noise. There were NO fences of any kind between us on land and the hippos in the water. Hippos are the most aggressive, number one killer of humans, in Kenya. We were very excited to get this close and treaded very lightly as to not attract too much attention to ourselves. That is Lake Victoria behind us. :)

We walked up to where the predatory animals are in cages and a guy asked if we wanted to pet a cheetah. Heck yes! We walked in the cheetah cage with 2 cheetah's. So Amy and I petted a cheetah. It was crazy awesome!

It rolled over and playfully batted at me, which scared the crap out of me, but I also think it was purring.

Here's Amy's pic!

Afterwards, we strolled down the pathway and saw free range impalas. They had a ton running around the place, and rightfully so since the whole place in named after them.

Then stumbled upon free range zebras and we were so close, it was awesome!

After that we went back to the Buddha for some delicious milkshakes. The three of us joined up with the rest of group and hit up the masaii market. A successful day of shopping. We searched for a specific place Alyssa had heard of to eat, but couldn't find it. Eventually stumbled upon another good place to eat though. Back to the room for showers and a little rest. Then, up to the roof top bar for sine good convo and for some drinks and a light supper. DJ Ned played a bunch of music. I had brought some little Debbie cakes and candles along, so we celebrated Amy's birthday! (just a night early)

A bunch of us then decided to go out again, even though we hadn't planned on it. Out to another club dominated by more Kenyan music. Emily danced with everyone and they loved her. A lot of people took pictures of us (which felt really weird), because apparently white people at this club are a rarity.


Easter Sunday also happened to be Amy's birthday. One she won't soon forget I'm sure. We all slept in, which was amazing, since none of us have been able to yet. All of us went to get breakfast, with the exception of Alyssa who had already gone back to her site. We then went in search if an ATM (which aren't hard to find, but once that accept Mastercard have to be hunted down). Sajeena had a failed date with a guy's cousin who she met at the club. It was really awkward, as she was kinda tricked into the date, but she took it in stride. When we got back, 5 of us decided to go to a resort with a pool called kiboku bay. Kiboku = hippo in kiswahili

It was a nice atmosphere and just nice to hang poolside for awhile and enjoy a drink or two. It had a wonderful view of Lake Victoria as well.

We returned to our own hotel and (once showered, which is an experiance itself in Kenya) we headed out to supper at the Green Garden. Delish food, but our fave was this appetizer of fried matoke (platains) with a peanut dipping sauce.

Then we went to the Laughing Buddha once again. This time we went to smoke some shesha in a hookah. We choose strawberry and mint for our flavors. It was so smooth.

Kenya has a surprisingly big Indian population and influences of the culture can be seen around.

When done, we retired back to the hotel while Emily and Sajeena went out to Signature once again. I am just not that young anymore. 1 night out on the town is tiring, 2 exhausting, and 3 just out of the question.