Saturday, January 4
After going to bed early and sleeping a lot Friday night, I woke up feeling very well rested of my Saturday adventures. At 8:45 am, I headed over to the Junction, the local mall with free WiFi in the restaurants, with a friend Manny to meet Kayla for breakfast. They ate and we all used the internet. At 11, Mark came by so all 4 of us could get picked up for our water safari tour about an hour drive away. But our driver was late, of course...thank you, African time. We called and he had to pick other people up who were lost but he was coming - it was complicated. After waiting while, we finally started our drive to the boat ride at 12:30, an hour and a half late. Now, this water safari was on a lake in Navash. We arrived and head out onto the water with no time to spare because I had plans at 5 pm on the other side of Nairobi and had it be home by 4 to get there on time, muzungu time, not African time, and we were already an hour and a half late.
On our way, we were driving on the hills overlooking the Great Rift Valley. We pulled over to take some photos. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. But that was not the last beautiful thing we saw that day.
The boat ride was also beautiful. The sun came in and out of hiding from behind the clouds, the birds were chirping and the wind was perfect. We mainly saw a few different kinds of birds, and hippos. Hippos hang out in groups and they keep half their face out of the water to breath but when they swim they are completely under water. Our first gang of hippos we saw bobbed their head in and out it of the water. They all went under and disappeared and the next thing we knew, one hippo was behind us! He had swam under our little boat and came up for air near the rear of the boat! Talk about scary!
We continued on the ride seeing a few more groups of hippos, many birds, and some zebras. The weather was absolutely beautiful as we rode on open water. We took a few more stops near a peninsula with more zebras, antelope, and more birds- very cool. I was very late for my next activity and my fellow boaters were a bit bored watching animals eat so we headed back to the dock and headed back to Nairobi.
The drive was a big long and at points scary yet entertaining. Many trucks and some cars were struggling to get up hills. Some trucks were pulled over next to road because they had broken down, others just incredibly slow. In Kenya, they also really enjoy passing each other on a 2 lane road. Any chance they get they will pass a truck or another car and squeeze in right in front of the vehicle they just passed. They will also take the risk to pass even if another car in the other lane is quickly approaching. It's not so fun to see a car speed towards you. But I lived through it, at least enough to write this on Sunday morning.
The driver was able to drop me off at the home of an American/Israeli couples home next to the US embassy and U.N.. Gila, a friend of my mother's friend, invited me over for dinner with her wife and another Jewish woman involved in development work who was just passing through. We all sat, had a glass of wine and told our stories of our passion for development work. We drove to a local mall with a food court and I got some Indian food. It was very nice to talk to these women, hear these stories, and make connections. The other woman, Karena, went back to the airport and I got in a taxi back home. Tired, I went to bed an hour later.
Sunday is a relaxing day. Spend time in the sun, go to the Junction for internet and watch a movie at night. Monday starts volunteering again.
After going to bed early and sleeping a lot Friday night, I woke up feeling very well rested of my Saturday adventures. At 8:45 am, I headed over to the Junction, the local mall with free WiFi in the restaurants, with a friend Manny to meet Kayla for breakfast. They ate and we all used the internet. At 11, Mark came by so all 4 of us could get picked up for our water safari tour about an hour drive away. But our driver was late, of course...thank you, African time. We called and he had to pick other people up who were lost but he was coming - it was complicated. After waiting while, we finally started our drive to the boat ride at 12:30, an hour and a half late. Now, this water safari was on a lake in Navash. We arrived and head out onto the water with no time to spare because I had plans at 5 pm on the other side of Nairobi and had it be home by 4 to get there on time, muzungu time, not African time, and we were already an hour and a half late.
On our way, we were driving on the hills overlooking the Great Rift Valley. We pulled over to take some photos. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. But that was not the last beautiful thing we saw that day.
The boat ride was also beautiful. The sun came in and out of hiding from behind the clouds, the birds were chirping and the wind was perfect. We mainly saw a few different kinds of birds, and hippos. Hippos hang out in groups and they keep half their face out of the water to breath but when they swim they are completely under water. Our first gang of hippos we saw bobbed their head in and out it of the water. They all went under and disappeared and the next thing we knew, one hippo was behind us! He had swam under our little boat and came up for air near the rear of the boat! Talk about scary!
We continued on the ride seeing a few more groups of hippos, many birds, and some zebras. The weather was absolutely beautiful as we rode on open water. We took a few more stops near a peninsula with more zebras, antelope, and more birds- very cool. I was very late for my next activity and my fellow boaters were a bit bored watching animals eat so we headed back to the dock and headed back to Nairobi.
The drive was a big long and at points scary yet entertaining. Many trucks and some cars were struggling to get up hills. Some trucks were pulled over next to road because they had broken down, others just incredibly slow. In Kenya, they also really enjoy passing each other on a 2 lane road. Any chance they get they will pass a truck or another car and squeeze in right in front of the vehicle they just passed. They will also take the risk to pass even if another car in the other lane is quickly approaching. It's not so fun to see a car speed towards you. But I lived through it, at least enough to write this on Sunday morning.
The driver was able to drop me off at the home of an American/Israeli couples home next to the US embassy and U.N.. Gila, a friend of my mother's friend, invited me over for dinner with her wife and another Jewish woman involved in development work who was just passing through. We all sat, had a glass of wine and told our stories of our passion for development work. We drove to a local mall with a food court and I got some Indian food. It was very nice to talk to these women, hear these stories, and make connections. The other woman, Karena, went back to the airport and I got in a taxi back home. Tired, I went to bed an hour later.
Sunday is a relaxing day. Spend time in the sun, go to the Junction for internet and watch a movie at night. Monday starts volunteering again.
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