Kenya - Back to Nairobi Briefly

Woke up Wednesday morning and realized we are starting the last leg of our trip. My how time has just flown by! Took a taxi into town to the stage and hopped our last matatu ride to Nairobi. So glad to be done with those. We checked back into the Kenya Continental hotel (where we spent our first few nights) and went to meet up with Alyssa and Ryan. We went to a mall we had not yet been to and ate at a very americanized restaurant called Artcafe. Then on to frozen yogurt at Planet Yogurt. 

Yum! We hit up a few stores in the mall for a few souvenirs. We lucked out and today they were having a masai market nearby, so we also navigated that. I think i'm getting decently good at bargaining and I ended up with a good amount of things. I still feel as if I have a lot more I need to get. Back to the room to put our stuff away and shower before we went back out for supper. This time we went to a delicious Thai restaurant. Yum! Then out briefly to a local bar where we hung out with a few more Peace Corps volunteers.

Project Life - Week 15 (April 9th - 15th)

Week 15 of Project Life wraps up the end of my Kenya trip. Chris isn't big on taking pictures, so the homefront has no pictures on what was going on this week.

Left Side:

- My collection of tickets for matatu rides for the week

- The sign for the entrance to Top Camp, where we stayed on Lake Naivasha. We had a cabin complete with a kitchen (including a fridge, which Ali doesn't have at home!) and an amazing view overlooking the lake.

- A story about a night at the bar/restuarnt at Lake Naivasha

- Amy with the head lamp on. We had to walk from where the restuarant was lakeside to the very top of the hill where our cabin was in the pitch dark.

- Getting groceries at a roadside stand.

- Amy enjoying some frozen yogurt in Nairobi. So good!

- We took a boat ride out on Lake Naivasha to see the hippos. It was so very much fun.

- The view halfway down the hill from our cabin to the lakeside.

Right Side:
- I really wanted to keep the receipt from our safari company, so I used 3 slots up for it. Love that I was able to keep it.
- Eating Thai with 2 more of Ali's amazing Peace Corps Volunteers - Alyssa and Ryan. The 5 girls pictured here are the 5 that went on Safari together.
- Skipping the next 2 slots filled with receipt
- Weekly recap
- Return airplane ticket stubs
- Visiting a Masai Village near our safari camp. We actually got to go inside tradional mud huts.
- The 5 of us in our safari van - so very much fun!

Thanks once again for stopping by!

Kenya - Lake Naivasha

Ok, I'm also back with some more Kenya!

On Monday, we woke up bright and early to make it down to the stage (bus stop) where were hopped a Matatu (or I should say a series of Matatu's) to take us from Kisumu to Lake Naivasha. It was a long, hot, dusty trip. No air conditioners in any van and on the longest trip we got stuck in the back. Very very dusty in the back. Here we are at the first stage, waiting for our matatu. I reaaallly needed to sit down and eat in this picture. I was starting to get nausious from being too hot on an empty stomach, and I'm not sure if Amy was feeling so much better.

One of the most unpleasant parts about traveling by Matatu is not the tight squeeze into the van, or the lack of air conditioning, but the people trying to sell you stuff at every stage by sticking their products in front of your face in the window. Very annoying, but it can sometimes be to your advantage when you are starving and want watermelon.

Our trip consisted of 1 tuk tuk ride and 3 matatu rides. The first matatu ride was the longest to Nakuru. There was a lot of road construction, so it consisted of a lot of gravel diversion roads. It was very dusty, but very pretty as we rode through the Rift Valley. The second lag was from Nakuru to Naivasha.Our end goal was Top Camp on the southern side of Lake Naivasha. Unfortunetly, once we got there we had to lug our luggage up the top of the hill.

But, once we got to the top we were rewarded with the most beautiful view. And this picture is only half way up (or down) the hill to the lake! Amazing to wake up to this for a couple days!

Our cabin's name was Kitete. It had a fully equiped kitchen, complete with a mini fridge! Ali doesn't have a fridge at her place, so this was a luxery for her. We loaded up on groceries at a roadside stand closeby and Ali made us eggs in a basket (eggs in toast) for breakfast. Mmmm... good. Showers at Top Camp were heated by boiler which was in turn heated by a wood fire. Our water pressure was crap, but at least it was warm running water! We were able to do our laundry in the bathtub during the day.

We spent the morning of our only full day at Lake Naivasha on the lake looking for hippos! And find them we did. We got so very close to the hippos. It even scared our guide because we were so close. Ali was able to negotiate a good price for it (it's important to negotiate for everything in Kenya, and it will ususally work, especially when they speak the language). We spent an hour out on the lake.

See how close we got! This wasn't even zoomed in a whole lot. And to think, Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Kenya. They hurt more humans than any of the big cats you typically think of while on safari.

We spent the afternoon heat either napping or reading. This was my view from the cabin next door which was unoccupied while we were there.

We ate all our big meals at the resturant associated with the 'sister' camp on the lake, Fisherman's. The first night we got there, we quickly ate (we were starving) before heading back up to the cabin. While we were there, the hippos came out of the lake to graze on the lakeside. Fisherman's keeps a electric wire live at night to keep the hippos away from the campgrounds, but still enough room for the guests to enjoy the hippos.

The second night, a group of other people invited us to join their table. Our group slowly grew. 2 girls from Australia with 1 girl from Engalnd, 2 guys from England, 1 guy from Argentina, 1 guy from India, and the owner (who was also originally from England). This means there were 5 continents represented, and we were physically in the 6ht. So cool! They kept buying rounds of shots and we hung out together for quite awhile at night. Ali went with a bunch of them to try to get into Hell's Gate National Park to swim in a geothermal pool. No luck getting in though.

All in all, we had a great time at Lake Naivasha!

Project Life - Week 14 (April 2nd - 8th)

It was been a very busy summer thusfar here. And we still have a lot planned for the remainder. How about for you?
Week 14 brings me to the first full week in Kenya. I took so many pictures this week and next, that it was really hard for me to narrow down what to use. Therefore, I choose once again to do a 2 page spread.

Left Side:
- Feeding giraffes at the Giraffe Centre just outside of Nairobi. So much fun!
- We got caught in a downpour at the Elephant Orphanage. We got absolutely soaked, but it was worth it.
- We had supper at an authentic Ethiopian resturant. Very different that what we are used to here, but still very good.
- Weekly Recap
- Spent a lot of time driving on this trip. For our first and longest journey, we took a 'coach' bus cross country. I got a lot of good reading in on this trip, including; The Hunger Games and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I included my bus ticket over these 2 pockets
- There are markets everywhere in Kenya. Here, we are at the food market in Malaba, just on the boarder to Uganda. The fruit in Kenya is amazing! Nothing like fresh fruit, especially the pineapple the ladies on the side of the road cut up and sold to us for something like 10 shillings (10 cents!)
- At the school where Ali teaches we were treated to more tradional Kenyan food. Maize and Beans the first day and Ugali, Sucuma Wiki, & Nyama the 2nd day. Interesting, but filling.

Right Side:
-Early Morning sunrise walk in Ali's town of Amagoro, Kenya. Surprisingly I was up... my clock was apparantly way off from where it would normally be here - lol, and we were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. We also learned how much of a draw 3 white girls walking in the country can be. ;)
- The Impala Sanctuary in Kisumu was another amazing adventure. Here is where we pet the cheetahs! I included the admission ticket in this pocket as well.
- The hotel that we stayed in in Kisumu
- A tuk tuk ride with 2 of Ali's amazing fellow peace corps volunteer's out to a resort.
- A night out clubbing in downtown Kisumu - fun no matter what continent you are on!
- Celebrating Amy's birthday in Kenya! I brought little debbie cakes and candles from home for the celebration.
- We visited a resort with a pool called Kiboko (Hippo) Bay for an afternoon. It was nice just to sit poolside overlooking Lake Victoria.
- We also decided to visit a hooka bar on Sunday night for Amy's birthday. We had strawberry and mint flavors. It was a fun first experiance for me.

I used a past SC kit for the papers of this weeks Project Life.
Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life - Week 13 (March 26th - April 1st)

Welcome back to my Project Life. Sorry I've been a little MIA. I guess I've been busy with real life. It's summertime and thus the season to get things done in Minnesota. Winter doesn't really give us an opportunity to work outside here. We have been busy fencing so we can rent out some acres to some horses. This also means that soon we will be ripping off and replacing the roof on the stable building.

Week 13 marks my first week doing a 2 page spread for Project Life. This week:
Left side:
- Chris' Dr. appt
- My life insurance physical
- Sunny Girl
- Weekly recap
- My new fave yogurt
- Counting pills
- The rack shack with my bother
- & the rack shack with Amy & Kenny

Right side:
- Chris's new toolbox
- Flying
- Lottery ticket for the big jackpot - didn't win :(
- Chris cleaning up the pasture with the big toys
- Amy at the airport, ready to leave on our big adventure!
- Boarding pass
- On the plane
- Our first beer in Kenya. We made it!

Once again, thank you for looking.

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.

Kenya - Visiting Ali in her town, Amagoro

Ali and Amy taking the Easy Coach halfway across Kenya.

 The Boda Bodas that hauled our luggage to Ali's house.

Ali lives in the left half of the house.

Today, we woke up and had breakfast (chocolate cereal!) and went with Ali to her school. She teaches a an all girls secondary school. We got introduced to all the students and it was so funny, as you could hear the classroom get loud with anticipation as we approached them. They were all so happy to meet Ali's sister.

They have 1 white board in her school.. in the computer room (which they are also lucky to have). They have spotty internet here too. See how happy she is about the whiteboard?

Ali & me outside the teachers room.

Ali didn't have a lot to do at school today, so we went to Malaba to the market. We took matatu to get there, which is a small van we all were sardined into. 18 people in a van. Yeah, it was an experience. Cheap travel, but interesting. Ali thought it was so funny that I chose to sit on Amy's lab instead of the 'normal' 4 people across the row of seats.

We had some fantastic pineapple at the market for 10 shillings.

I picked up a ring so my naked ring finger would feel less so. Malaba is right on the Uganda boarder, and I was actually able to take a picture of the mountain Glen (from my church) was on a mission trip by. Amy by the border crossing...

We bought a few fruits (which were absolutly fresh and delish here) and then hopped the matatu back to Amagoro.

Seeing the women over there walk with huge amounts of stuff on their heads always amazed me.

We picked up a few more things on our way back to school at the super market. Ali finished her lesson plan and we ate lunch at the school - beans and maize.

She then taught her lesson, using the computer room. Amy learned how to wash her clothes by hand. And she apparently got way to much sun while we were out and about in Malaba. We forgot to put sunscreen on this morning.

Ali hadn't had water for awhile due to lack of rain, but it finally came back this afternoon, so Ali and Amy took cold showers (there is no water heater in her house). We made supper on a traditional jiko, which is run on charcoal.

Since there are no screens on windows here and it is too hot to close them, the bugs come in at night, attracted to the light. (Especially the June bugs - ewww). We then played cards until bed.

We woke up a little later today & Ali went to school before us. We helped her fill out report cards and gave her students end of the term prizes which we brought from home. They included notebooks, pencils, sticky pads and bath items. Morning tea time brought us a new traditional Kenyan food; chai tea with maandazi (kinda like a donut).

Then we watched Ali teach a lesson and administered CATs (a test). Lunch was very traditional Kenyan food - ugali (ground and boiled maize), sucuma wiki (kale), and nyama (beef). Amy couldn't stomach it, so she didn't eat much. It was very greasy and the meat fattier than ours back home, but not unedible by any means.

Finished up done stuff at school, then home. For supper we went over to some of Ali's friends who live at the mission, Sarah and Callie. They have a few more luxuries than Ali, including a fridge, stove, and TV. Supper was noodles with a variety of sauces to choose from - peanut and beef, a veggie sauce, and a bean sauce. All if them were good. Spent the night talking about what we are going to do in Kisumu.

Good Friday. We woke up early (6am) once again, to go on a walk in Ali's village. We were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. The huts in her village and the people plowing fields with cows were framed nicely by the sunrise. It was so funny though to see the groups if kids run to the road to watch the white people walk by!

We had lunch at a restaurant in Amago. Really slow service (typical in Kenya) but amazing food! This was a delish beef strogenoff with roasted potatoes. We also got to try a couple kinds of new pop, Krest and Stoney.