21 days, 7 buses, 5 matatus and 3 showers (total)

Travel Day 1: Nairobi – Kakamega

Didn’t sleep at all last night - - Megan and Mimansa stayed at my house and we were way too excited! Walked with our packs to the bus pick-u8p at 7:30am. Bus left Nairobi at 8:30 AND WE’RE OFF!

8 hours on the bus: Megan and I talk, do crosswords, read the newspaper and eat chips. Mimansa takes Dramamine and passed out next to some stranger. Arrive in Kakamega town around 4:45pm. Make a chaotic search for a matatu and drive to the forest. Then pay for our nights in the forest and renting our tent (1750Ksh total for five days - - about $23 USD!). When we finally got to the site and set up our tent it was 8pm or so. Still early, and we were hungry so we started a fire and made #1 Exciting Meal We Cooked Ourselves in Kakamega: noodle and wild rice vegetable soup! Tomatoes, onion, potatoes, carrot, noodles and rice. Food, unpack, bed.

Leaving my house

FULL packs

Our home for five days

Kakamega Day 1

#2 Exciting Meal We Cooked in Kakamega: EGGS!

Megan and I bought one dozen eggs. Six of them we hard boiled, six we kept raw. We cut an egg carton in half and wrapped the eggs up in there, then put them in our sufuria "big metal cooking pot" and carried them. They survived! Megan and I were ecstatic. Megan and I did part of a crossword - we’re doing them a lot lately.

Cooking breakfast/lunch

THE EGGS ARE ALIVE!!!

Airing out our sleeping bags

Kakamega Day 2

Today I spent about five minutes trying to convince a lizard to get out of the bathroom so I could use the facilities in peace. I finally got Mimansa to scare him away. (This becomes a trend for this portion of our tip.) We met a nice couple tonight - Dani and Dave, who lent us this tool that helped take the pot out of the fire. Today we walked 2.5km to and from the forest. We found two beautiful waterfalls, and sat by them for a bit. Then met two guys who are also staying in the forest - one guy from Israel, and one from Australia. They had met a week or so ago traveling, and decided to continue on together! Two nice guys.

Waterfalls!

:) Friend love

Cute little cross bridges were everywhere

Inside the forest

Kakamega Day 3

Spent all morning and afternoon building and keeping up our fire. We hiked in the early evening (4:30 - 6:30ish) up to this giant flat rock that we could sit on.

#3,4,5 Exciting Meals We Cooked in Kakamega: Ndengu with onion, garlic and tomatoes (local dish), Apples with cinnamon sugar and honey on them in little foil packages. POPCORN!

HUGE STORM tonight. Megan and Mimansa were in the tent when it hit, I was outside. I moved all our stuff into the little kitchen shelter and waited for them. It was a pretty big storm, and it took a bit before them came out of the tent. I made fire in the kitchen, but left the one outside going in the hopes that the hot coals under the big pot would be enough to boil our drinking water - - it was! Stayed in the kitchen until 2 or 3 in the morning, chatting and sitting by the fire. The baboons made crazy sounds all night. Did I mention we live RIGHT by them? Cool!

Popcorn adventure!

Mimansa and I reading/writing by the fire

We survived on peanut butter for a while

Kakamega Day 4

Woke up late and made breakfast - hash browns, scrambled eggs, coffee. FIRST SHOWER TODAY. For all of us, I think! Very cold and too close to nature. Each of us took a solo hike after lunch until evening. Megan went on past the big rock place, Mimansa went to the waterfall, and I wandered around everywhere.

Ate dinner, went to bed.

The kitchen area

IN THE KITCHEN! INVASION!

Baboons. All up in our grill.

Travel Day 2: Kakamega - Nakuru

Woke up SUPER EARLY (around 5:30) to pack up some remaining stuff before our pikipiki’s (motorcycles!) came at 6:30am. That’s right…I said motorcycles. We hired three of them to come pick us up and take us to town before our bus left. Very cheap. Very fast. Our bus left at 8:30am and got to Nakuru at about 2:30. We then found a matatu to take us to Jalarem Temple, the Hindu Temple Mimansa arranged for us to stay at for a few nights. That evening we had some tea, napped, ate dinner, found a kitten, named him Solomon and slept.

(We found the little cutie while I was standing on some grating, which catches rain water. He was stuck down there! I rescued him.)

Megan and her pikipiki

On the pikipiki!!

Our first night with Solomon!!!

I fed him some cheese dip

Nakuru Day 1

Today we slept in late and did a bunch of laundry! At around six o’clock we went up the road and found a place for dinner. It wasn’t very good Christmas dinner (unfortunately!). Then we took a matatu into town, and struggled to find the Cathedral we were going to for Christmas Eve Service! (At my insistance.) The service was nice and ended at around 9:15, we then took a matatu back to the temple. Went to bed!

Mimansa and Megan in the matatu

Mimansa and I

Nativity in the Cathedral

Nakuru Day 2

Happy Christmas everyone! Today we did some laundry, ate a lot of excellent Indian food, played with Solomon and read all day. This is all we did.

KITTY!

He sat on my shoulders for a while

He slept on my lap while I read!

AH! Wanted to take him home so bad.

Travel Day 3: Nakuru - Nairobi - Embu

Got up at 7:45, ate breakfast and packed up. We got a matatu and headed to Nairobi, arriving there at noon-thirty. We went straight to the K Room to drop off our sleeping bags, and pick up some stuff we’d left there that we might need in Lamu but didn’t for the first half of our trip (e.g.: swim suits, nice clothing, etc.) I then went and got a couple things from town: iced coffee (a must), two bouquets for Roseanne and her family and a card for all of us to sign. We then met up with Amelia (who had been climbing Mt. Kenya - no big deal…) and the four of us walked to our matatu stop to go to Embu. We took the matatu for about three and a half hours and met Roseanne at a petrol station in Embu. She was SO HAPPY to see us! We were excited as well. We then drove with her to her house and met her parents - they’re so wonderful! We gave them the flowers and we inside to unpack our stuff.

Roseanne and her mom had laid out four thin mattresses on the floor of the study for us to sleep in, and they also put a big water cooler in there which was lovely! Their house is beautiful. We met (one of) Roseanne’s grandmother, who lives in a little place behind their house. Roseanne showed us a bit of her family’s farm, which is HUGE! They grow so many things: coffee, tea (the only cash-crop), macadamia nuts, cabbage, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, avocado, corn, etc. Wow! We went to bed happy, and full of delicious home-cooked food.

Our dirty room

Mutsy rode on the back of my pack for a lot of the trip

Outside Jalaram Temple

All of us girls with Roseanne's Mom

Roseanne's Mom!

The living room

Embu Day 1

Today we woke up early and Megan and walked out of the house (there’s a little gate) to the other side of the road. Roseanne told us if you’re out there really early (circa 6:30am) the clouds are so few that you can see all of Mt. Kenya - - the peaks and all! It was beautiful.

After wishing Mt. Kenya a good morning we went back in the house and woke everyone up. It rained for the majority of the day - so we sat around inside and talked with Rosie, did laundry, ate tons of Kenyan food and drank chai. After we ate lunch, Roseanne took us on the grand tour of her family’s farm. It was SO COOL and SO HUGE. We learned how to pick tea and helped some people do that for a bit. We then went to Roseanne’s sister’s house, and met her and Roseanne’s son, Wayne - - who we affectionately call “Lil Wayne” after the rapper. Went home, ate dinner, star-gazed, bed.

Door to Roseanne's parent's house

SO SO SO SO CUTE

Washing clothes

Embu Day 2

Roseanne made us get up early today so we could go to the tea factory. We got a tour! Did some tea tastings (yes, there’s a specific way you taste test tea - it’s weird), and bought some grade A tea for a cheap cheap price because her dad’s a tea farmer. Hung out in the afternoon. After dinner we tried to convince Roseanne that we were going to have a “slumber party,” a term she didn’t really understand. I told her that’s where a bunch of girls sit around on a bed in their Pjs, talk about the feelings, boys, share secrets…she clearly never read Judy Bloom as a child. But she stayed up and drank wine with Megan and I anyways, which was lovely.

YEAH!!

Roseanne and the cabbage

So cool

Searching for a good cabbage

TEA FARM!!!

Roseanne and I

Rosie and Lil Wayne!

Amelia and I got into the same jacket. Haha.

Embu Day 3

Today we went traipsing around in Mt. Kenya National Forest with Rosie. We found a little stream and played in it. Roseanne was kind of freaked the whole time because, apparently, though I believe it is a lie, there are elephants in the forest. Really! Look it up. We made fun of it for the whole day:

Megan: WOAH! What’s that!?

Roseanne: AH! WHAT!

Megan: Ha-ha, nothing. But you totally thought it was an elephant, didn’t you?

Afterwards, Roseanne’s sister called her and said she had somewhere cool to take us. We drove for a bit, then hiked around in these hills when finally we saw it! Waterfalls! It was so cool. We sat on these huge hills and looked at the waterfalls for a bit, Amelia went down and investigated the fall for herself. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Then home. Then dinner. Then sleep.

Walking in the forest

Playing in the stream

Cuteeee

Megan and Mims

Amelia down by the waterfall

Travel Day(s) 4 and 5: Embu - Nairobi - Mombasa - Lamu (exhausted just typing it…)

Got up around 9 and pack up our stuff. Made up excuses to stay longer at Roseanne’s (her too!), but finally left her house and she drove us to Meru, where we got on our matatu. Before we left there we gave her the card we’d gotten, which instructed her to choose a restaurant and a date in Nairobi because we were taking her out (and treating her) to dinner to thank her personally. She was thrilled! We were all pleased to have had such a wonderful time, and sad to be leaving. One more leg of our trip!

Arrived in Nairobi and had some dinner. Our bus left at 10:30pm, but left late (of course - it’s Kenya). Eight billion hours later we arrived in Mombasa. (Okay, not eight billion.) Our second bus (from Mombasa to Lamu) left at 8:30am. This was the longest bus ride of my life. There were people FILLING the aisles, standing, sitting, some people actualy sat on my shoulder for a while. It was hot hot hot because it’s the coast, and by the end of the ride our skin was dust-covered and we were sweaty, tired, uncomfortable…but happy to be almost there! Got to the very coast and took a dhow ride to the island itself.

EXHAUSTION. But it’s New Years, so we stayed up until midnight (playing silly card games and drinking chai), yelled “happy new years” and went to bed.

I love bunnies!

Bunnies are so cute

Roseanne's goats

Bye Rosie!!

CUTE!

On the boat over to Lamu island - Amelia, Mimansa, Megan, Me

Lamu Day 1

LAMU IS BEAUTIFUL!!! Right on the Indian Ocean, great seafood, donkeys everywhere, cats everywhere, cute little streets, street vendors. It’s excellent. We slept in today, and had a late breakfast. We then went to meet Emily and Cameron (Emily’s boyfriend) who came to Lamu to meet us from Tanzania. We took a dhow ride to Shella beach, on another part of the island, to relax for the day. There were big parties going on all day because of a dhow race, so we sat on the balcony of this ritzy resort, drank tusker and mzungu-watched. We then went back to our part of the island, ate dinner, and went to bed.

Donkeys EVERYWHERE

Lamu Day 2

Mimansa and I went shopping for the morning and early afternoon today. We then met Megan and Amelia for chai (we’re addicted by this point, thanks Roseanne!). Met Emily and Cameron for some dinner (I ate fried calamari - ew). Mimansa and Amelia went to bed early (as per usual) while Megan and I went upstairs, met a nice British couple and chatted with them for a bit. Had some laughs, went to bed.

Mimansa, Emily and Cameron at dinner

Playing a silly card game - Mimansa and Megan

Mims

Me and Amelia

Lamu Day 3

Today we ate a late breakfast at Mangrove Café (our breakfast spot) - - 100Ksh (about $1.30) for toast, eggs, and chai. Yum! We spent the whole day on Shella beach: reading, swimming in the ocean, tanning, creating mischief. The usual! Got back to Lamu late and had dinner at Whisper’s Café, which had the best coffee ever! We’ve termed it the “Java House of Lamu,” which basically means it’s a really ritzy, white-person place. No Africans actually eat there. It’s just so we could get our fix of normal ketchup, good salad and iced coffee. Then chatting, then bed!

The girls! Amelia, Mimansa, Me, Megan, Emily

Shella Beach

Emily

Lamu Day 4

Today we got up and had breakfast at the Mangrove Café again. In the afternoon, Megan and I went to the Museum of Lamu, which was kind of cool. In the afternoon Megan and I sat on this concrete wall and threw some concrete pebbles at fiddler crabs. Two little kids saw us doing it and then started themselves! Bwahaha! Infecting the youth with our hooliganism. We all four threw little stones at the crabs, who would fall into the ocean and resurface (still alive, don’t worry) seconds later. In the evening we went on a sunset sailing trip to celebrate Amelia’s birthday! It was so beautiful. Our captain’s name was Captain Smiley. On the sail back we all sang songs with our “crew,” three other guys. Very funny. A mix of some very interesting songs: You Are My Sunshine, Cama Camelion, Jon Denver, Angels We Have Heard On High, and Jambo Bwana, which means “hello mister.” Came back, ate some yummy seafood for dinner and went to bed late late late.

om nom nom

Me and my boyfriend

Megan

CAMERON

emily and cameron, drinking coffee on the dhow

beautiful view of the sunset from the dhow

Lamu Day 5

Did nothing today. Mimansa and I went shopping for the final time, read a lot by the beach, and just hung around all day. Packed up our stuff in the evening and went to bed early.

Travel Day 6: Lamu - Mombasa - Nairobi

We woke up early and left our hotel, then took a dhow to the mainland where we caught our bus at 9:30a.m. We arrived in Mombasa at 5:30p.m., had some dinner and got ice cream, then got our next bus at 9:00p.m. Rode all night long, and finally arrived in Nairobi at 5:30a.m.

Goodbye already?! We all departed from each other, and found our way home. I got home and fell fast asleep until mid-day.

In some ways the trip went by SO fast. But I feel that way about my entire experience in Kenya. It was so wonderful. The exotic and amazing Kakamega rainforest, the peaceful temple in Nakuru, spending time with our beloved friend Roseanne in Embu, and finally a relaxing few days spent on the beach. I couldn’t have asked for a better, more amazing, more enriching, trip. Nor could I had picked better traveling companions. And I feel so incredibly lucky and blessed for all of these things.

Talk with you all later. Love you love you love you. Miss you all the time.

HI MOM AND DAD!

November 26 – December 5

Yay!! Just after our trip to Maasai Mara, Mom and Dad came to Kenya to visit me! Their flight got in late on Friday night, and I took a driver out to meet them. It took a while for them to find Mom’s bags, so we got to their hotel – The Laico Regency – very late. Enough time for me to sit with them for a while, and then catch a taxi back to my house. Over the weekend, Mom and Dad went out to dinner with my friends, and met my Mom and brother – everyone got along great! Monday – Thursday, Mom and Dad went on safari to Nakuru (flamingo-land) and then to the Mara to see the “Big 5,” which are elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion and leopard. They saw all five!! Lucky! We missed the leopard on our trip.

When they came back we did a lot of shopping, walking around, Mom and I went to the giraffe sanctuary and fed the giraffes (she LOVED it – me too of course!), and Mom and I went out for tea with Lillian and Roseanne.

Here are some pictures from the short time they were here:

me, Rosie and Lillian after tea

Rosie, Mom, Lillian

In the K Room!!

Mimansa, Megan, and I in the K Room

Dad and I!! This is my apartment,

the circled window is MY window!

maasai mara - many moons later

November 24 - 26

Sorry it’s taken me decades to write this blog post. We left for Maasai Mara on the 24^th of November (I know, I know…it’s January now) and were there until that Friday, the 26^th. The road was long and bumpy, and, unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you see it, I had washed some underwear the night before…the unfortunate part is that it wasn’t all together dry. So I dried it out the window of the bus. Yeah.

haha

We stayed at the Sarova Mara Tented Camp – where we stayed in “tents,” which were essentially hotel rooms that had tents over them. We had a bathroom, three beds, a dresser, and a desk. So I wouldn’t exactly call it “tented camping!” Absolutely beautiful, though. We went on four game drives – two night drives (on Wednesday and Thursday evening) and two morning game drives (on Thursday and Friday morning). Here are some things we saw!

roseanne, amelia and emily in the van

punda milia (zebra; literal translation - "striped horse")

wild buffalo

guinea fowl

look how close we were to this guy,

only about 5 ft. away!

sleeping

the king

elephant mama and baby!

beautiful view across the mara

two cuties i was snapping pictures of in

the Maasai Village we visited

baby cheetahs are so cute

cheetah babies all in a row!

It was a wonderful wonderful trip! And thanks to Lillian and Roseanne, we celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday evening with a delicious meal prepared specially for us by the hotel staff, and wine and champagne which was given to us by Lillian and Roseanne. How nice!!

Coming soon: OUR TRIP!!! It was a magical, awesome, exciting three weeks and I can’t wait to share it with you all. Will post as soon as I can.

-me

Independent Travelling Woot!

OUR TRIP!!!

Over the course of 21 days, Mimansa, Megan, Amelia and I will be travelling to four different cities in Kenya. First we’ll travel from Nairobi to Kakamega, where we’ll stay in the Kakamega rainforest. [We’ll be travelling to Kisumu via bus, and then to Kakamega by matatu.]

We'll be staying in Udo’s Bandas, a small place which offers two-bed, thatched roof bandas. Mosquito nets are provided, and there is a small group kitchen area, where we will be cooking all of our food. We’ll be staying in Kakamega from Dec 18 – Dec 23. The rainforest itself is home to over 300 species of birds, and a bunch of primates – including BUSHBABIES, which are my newest favorite animal.

Look how cute they are!

I plan to capture one in the forest, domesticize it, and train it to sleep in my backpack so I can take one home with me. I’ll let you know how that goes.

On the 23^rd, we’ll be taking a matatu South to Kisumu, where Lillian (our resident director) lives.

She has graciously said that we can stay at her mother’s house with her and her family over Christmas. What fun! Kisumu is Kenya’s third largest town and lies on Lake Victoria. We’ll be staying with Lillian from the 23^rd until the 26^th.

On the 26^th, we’ll be travelling Southeast to Embu, to visit Roseanne and her family!

Roseanne has also said that we can stay at her place for a few days. We’re so lucky to have such giving teachers here. We’ll be staying in Embu with Roseanne until the 29^th.

Finally, on the 29^th, we’ll start out longest time period of pure travelling. We’ll first go Southwest back to Nairobi, then take an eight hour bus-ride Southeast to Mombasa, and then travel Northeast to Lamu.

Why are we making these seemingly crazy stops? Because travelling in Kenya is weird and there are no straight buses to Lamu, except through Mombasa. It’s going to be a crazy day or so. Finally we’ll get to Lamu on the 31^st, where we’ll celebrate New Years and then relax for a bit. We’ll be staying in Lamu until the 6^th of January, and then travelling home.

YAY! That’s all I have for now – I promise I’ll blog about (a)going on safari and (b)MOM AND DAD COMING TO SEE ME sometime soon. Before we leave.

-katie

Matatus

October 29, 2010

Something I realize I've never mentioned - but surely need to - is MATATUS. Matatus are a mode of transportation in Kenya (and a lot of Africa, I think). The Matatu is kind of like a bus, in that they follow a fixed path all day but unlike a bus in that there are no set stops or real schedule of any kind. For example, my friend Emily takes the same matatu (the #106) to and from town every day. But sometimes she waits half an hour for one, and sometimes (if she runs fast enough) she can catch one just as she leaves her house. And the driver doesn't stop unless it's picking someone up, or you tell him you need to get off.

Matatu drivers are RIDICULOUS in the driving arena. They completely ignore most traffic laws. At first this was scary, but then I realized that Nairobi drivers, as a whole, tend to drive wrecklessly - and they all know this, so they're good at creating little actual mayhem.

Anyways, there's this guy who's always in the matatu aside from the driver. He's called the "taut" although I don't know what his real title is. He's the guy who communicates to the driver when to stop and when to keep going: by hitting on the side of the matatu with some coins to make this "coin-on-metal" sound. He's also the one who collects your money. The taut mostly just sits in the matatu, but sometimes he's hanging out the door, which is open, while the matatu is driving, yelling at people to get them on the matatu. Sometimes when there's a big jam (traffic jam that is) he gets out of the matatu and scurries around looking for passengars.

The "taut"

Matatus are really cheap, generally. The rate generally goes anywhere from 20shillings to 60shillings I think - depending on where you're going.** (Although I don't take matatus to get into town, so I'm not sure how much that is.) To pick up a matatu you kind of just flag them down and then get on, but sometimes traffic is stopped and you just kind of hop on one. The music in matatus is always SUPER LOUD. I've heard a lot of reggae and a lot of hip hop. But Megan said she had a matatu driver who sang along to A Whole New World one time - so the genre really could be anything, ha-ha.

That's all I can think of to say about them. And - Mom. Dad. We will be taking matatus. Get ready!! (If only to ride one for fun because it's kind of a cool experience.)

**Note: It's good to memorize how much it costs for you to go from point A to point B, if you do that trip a lot because drivers will try to cheap you out on the occasion.

Birthday...PART DEUX!!

Friday October 22, 2010

Tonight was the night we decided to get the whole group out for the first time. We were all looking forward to it. So at about 5pm, Emily and and I set out to walk from school to my house (she was spending the night). It had been POURING for the last hour or so, but if we didn't walk home soon it would be dark and then unsafe to walk. Needless to say we got SOAKED. It was absolutely insane. The water was so high in the roads that it was pouring up over the curb. We didn't even try to stay dry. On our walk home we passed a schoolbus full of children, who were all saying "how are you? how are you?!" as they often do - it's one of the first English sentences they learn. We turned to them and said "mzuri sana!" which means "very good!" and they laughed and laughed. We definitely made their day - - two crazy white people walking around in the rain.

We all met at Timers - a restaurant/bar that's pretty near my house, just past the city park. From there we went to Mwendas and then to Changes - two other clubs we frequent in Nairobi.

Nothing too exciting happened - I took a flaming shot, which was quite exciting and tasted DISGUSTING. But it was a birthday gift and it was actually kind of fun. Here's some pictures from the night:

Emily, Mimansa, Amelia and Saskia

Me and Mims

Saskia, Zach and Emily

Emily and Katie

Happy Birthday Me!!

October 19, 2010

Today is my birthday!! Of course I'd been reminding my friends for the last two weeks or so they had some surprises planned! I was supposed to have Gender and Development from 9-11 and then Politics from 11-1, but Professor Wanyande was sick, so Politics was cancelled! (The first birthday gift.)

I made Roseanne take a picture with me. :)

We all met for lunch at around 11:30 at Pizza Inn, a lunch which my friends payed for so nicely! Emily came with bags of random birthday stuff, including some silver and blue tinsel which I was required to wear, noise-makers and a little piece of cake from a bakery with a few candles on top!

Zach and Emily

Mimansa and Amelia

Amelia and Meeee

MY CAKE!

The group (minus me)

Then they presented me with two gifts! Emily and Zach were the leaders in the gift-buying expedition, and I gave them both huge hugs. They found a canvas painting of a little African boy with TWO GOATS. (Backstory: I've become slightly obsessed with farm animals. When you're driving outside of the city, there are goats and cows everywhere! Literally, everywhere. Once we had to stop in the middle of the road because a herd of cows were blocking our way. And the goats are so cute - especially the little ones. Zach and I like to ask Rosie if we can get a goat for the Kalamazoo room. We told her we'd even get a little box for it to do it's business in! She still says no.) I laughed SO hard when I got the painting and then proceeded to hug each and every one of them. How nice. Emily got me this funny little graduation picture and a frame, because it had a cute little saying on it. And they all sang for me after we ate. It was so nice. I was worried I would get lonely on my birthday, missing home and such. I did a little bit, but I'm really glad my friends came through - they made my day.

The group plus me! And my goat picture haha.

After school I went home and took a long birthday nap. Amelia and I had plans to go out that night with her sister, Michelle, who's in town from Germany, so I knew I needed my sleep. Wednesday we didn't have classes because it's a national holiday - once entitled Kenyatta Day, after their first president, but now called Heros Day. Amelia and Michelle came over to my house around 8:30 and we waited with Kevin to Abby, Gavin and Arnold to show up.

Me and my host brother, Kevin

We went out to a couple clubs, blah blah blah, then went home.

I'll have to finish this post later because I forgot some other pictures from another night. :)