from the peaks of Mt. Kenya to the beaches of Lamu

This Christmas started off with a 5 day hike up Mt. Kenya and back. 

On day 1(Dec 23) we were picked up in Nairobi and taken to the gate of the Park, there we began our journey. The first day was all hiking on rough road. It was pretty steep, but we were still at a low altitude, so it was doable.  We also got to walk across the equator on this day!  We finished the day before dinner time. We opted to stay in huts instead of tents.  Definitely the better choice in my opinion, but we didn't really know what to expect from the word "hut". Well it turned out to be a large wooden building a few bedrooms, with bunk beds, and a community space. Much more than I was expecting, that's for sure! 

Day 2 (Dec 24) was much colder! We woke up to the sound of fierce winds hitting our bunk house. We were all already wrapped up in all of our layers of clothes, that were meant for day 4!  Day 2 was more hiking, but much more beautiful than day 1. Most of us started taking out altitude sickness medication this day, to prevent altitude sickness. Well our medical staff did not mention that the side effects include having to pee every half hour, and tingling in our fingers and toes! This day we walked about 16 kilometers from our first camp to where we ended, which was Shiptons Camp at 13800 feet above sea level. And we had the most BEAUTIFUL view of the Mountain from there. 

Day 3 (Dec 25) was our acclimatization day. We only climbed about 3 kilometers, but it was rough! One of the girls started feeling altitude sickness, and the rest of us were moving pretty slowly. We had to climb to a small peak (where we had snow for Christmas!) and then we had to come right back down. We were back to the camp by lunch, and we were all ready for bed at this point. 

Day 4 (Dec 26) started at 3 am! We wanted to reach the summit before sunrise! I also think our guide didn't want us freaking out, which I think we would have done if were were in the day light. We were climbing up the side of the mountain, with no path, on the ice and snow, and if you had the nerve to look around ( I did, but I wouldn't call it nerve) you would see that if you made a wrong move, you could be sliding off the mountain! But once we made it to the summit, it was all worth it! We made it to Lenana Peak which is 4985 meters above sea level! We arrived just after the sun rose, but we watched the sun rise on our way up.  We were above the clouds, and it was the most breath taking view (we were literally having a little trouble catching our breath, since we were so high lol) Our guide and porters that accompanied us on this day had brought lemon tea to the summit for us.  The Kenyans believe that lemon tea will help with altitude sickness symptoms. Im not sure if it really works, but it's delicious, especially when your freezing cold. 

 After sitting at the top for about 45 minutes, we started our descend. We hiked for about another 6 hours till we made it to our camp for the night. We had hot showers! and a fire place, and we sang Christmas carols! It was a great way to end an awesome trip!

On Day 5 we walked a few hours towards the gate, then got a ride from a very old 4 wheel drive vehicle. We eventually made it to the paved road, we only got stuck in the mud a few times. It was probably the most scary part of the trip, possibly flipping to our death in a car older than us, with no seat belts, but we made it.   We then were driven back to Nairobi, where we grabbed our beach stuff that we had left at the hostel ( you certainly don't need a bikini on a mountain). And then were were on our way to the coast! 

Our first stop was a really nice eco lodge in Kilifi. There we soaked up the sun and relaxed, for 2 nights before taking another bus to Lamu.  Out of our group of 8, 5 of us got stuck in the back of the bus, aka the worst seats ever! The road to Lamu, is not a good one, so we felt every bump and hole, and believe me there were a lot! After 6 or so hours we made it to the bay, where we hopped onto a boat, and headed to Lamu.  

Lamu was beautiful! It looked nothing like the rest of Kenya. It reminded me of Greece or Italy (not that I've been to either, but...) it's what they look like in my mind. There are no motor vehicles on the island. You can take donkeys on the island, or boats around the island and to nearby islands.  The houses and building are are very close together, and you walk on small sidewalks in between.  The majority of the island is a very traditional muslim community. So a lot of shops were closed during prayer, and most of the women were fully covered from head to toe (we we a bit under dressed) We stayed at a local hotel, "Jambo House", it is owned by a german man. He is very nice and his hotel is really clean. They prepared breakfast for us everyday, and even packed us a breakfast to go, on our way out of Lamu.  The hotel is located in the "village" so we were not in a touristy area, which I think make the experience even better! 

 The seafood was AMAZING, we found this little place that we ended up eating at most of the time because it was so good. It usually took about an hour for us to get our food, but it was because he cooked everything fresh! He even brought out the enormous lobster before he cooked it.  We took a dhow boat ride on New Years eve day,  to one of the beaches, and they cooked us lunch on the boat. Then they took us to some ruins. It was on a small island, that used to be a village over a century ago, but the tides became to high and they had to relocate.  For New Years eve we took the same boat to a beach party, where there was a bonfire and drumming. The next day we spent wandering the streets, and for our last evening we ordered (AMAZING) pizza and had a mama give us all heena tattoos! We had a great time in Lamu, and I can't wait to go back! 

On our way back we stopped in Kilifi for a night to break up the trip home. On Thursday we were down to just 4 of us girls, everyone else had gone there different ways.  The 4 of us headed to Mombassa, to catch a bus home. We hopped onto a tuktuk (a small 3 wheeled motor car) where my bag then fell into traffic while we were moving,  with out us knowing. Our driver finally realized we lost a bag, and he got out and ran to get it. The bag was about as big as he was! We got to the bus station, where we found out that they sold our bus tickets that I had reserved a week earlier, because we had not yet paid for them (because they wouldn't let me pay a week early), and they are super busy since it's the end of the holiday.  All we could do is laugh it off, TIA,  we were then on the search for new tickets, which were not easy to come by.  None of the buses had any tickets to Eldoret till Monday (it was only Thursday)  We ended up finding tickets to Nairobi for 10:30 pm, it was only 4 pm, so we had to indulge ourselves one last time, in western food, before getting back to our villages, I'm talking, ice cream, pizza, iced coffee, you name it!  On the bus to Nairobi, again we had to sit in the back! I may have forgotten to mention earlier, but the back seats don't recline at all, and the seats in front of them recline way too much, so not only is the road terrible, but there is absolutely NO space if you have knees. 

I finally made it home on Friday afternoon, completely exhausted.  Kibaibai of course is the best face to come home to. We spent the rest of the day snuggling and watching movies. Now back to reality and work. Dreaming of the beach our next holiday! 

from the peaks of Mt. Kenya to the beaches of Lamu

This Christmas started off with a 5 day hike up Mt. Kenya and back. 

On day 1(Dec 23) we were picked up in Nairobi and taken to the gate of the Park, there we began our journey. The first day was all hiking on rough road. It was pretty steep, but we were still at a low altitude, so it was doable.  We also got to walk across the equator on this day!  We finished the day before dinner time. We opted to stay in huts instead of tents.  Definitely the better choice in my opinion, but we didn't really know what to expect from the word "hut". Well it turned out to be a large wooden building a few bedrooms, with bunk beds, and a community space. Much more than I was expecting, that's for sure! 

Day 2 (Dec 24) was much colder! We woke up to the sound of fierce winds hitting our bunk house. We were all already wrapped up in all of our layers of clothes, that were meant for day 4!  Day 2 was more hiking, but much more beautiful than day 1. Most of us started taking out altitude sickness medication this day, to prevent altitude sickness. Well our medical staff did not mention that the side effects include having to pee every half hour, and tingling in our fingers and toes! This day we walked about 16 kilometers from our first camp to where we ended, which was Shiptons Camp at 13800 feet above sea level. And we had the most BEAUTIFUL view of the Mountain from there. 

Day 3 (Dec 25) was our acclimatization day. We only climbed about 3 kilometers, but it was rough! One of the girls started feeling altitude sickness, and the rest of us were moving pretty slowly. We had to climb to a small peak (where we had snow for Christmas!) and then we had to come right back down. We were back to the camp by lunch, and we were all ready for bed at this point. 

Day 4 (Dec 26) started at 3 am! We wanted to reach the summit before sunrise! I also think our guide didn't want us freaking out, which I think we would have done if were were in the day light. We were climbing up the side of the mountain, with no path, on the ice and snow, and if you had the nerve to look around ( I did, but I wouldn't call it nerve) you would see that if you made a wrong move, you could be sliding off the mountain! But once we made it to the summit, it was all worth it! We made it to Lenana Peak which is 4985 meters above sea level! We arrived just after the sun rose, but we watched the sun rise on our way up.  We were above the clouds, and it was the most breath taking view (we were literally having a little trouble catching our breath, since we were so high lol) Our guide and porters that accompanied us on this day had brought lemon tea to the summit for us.  The Kenyans believe that lemon tea will help with altitude sickness symptoms. Im not sure if it really works, but it's delicious, especially when your freezing cold. 

 After sitting at the top for about 45 minutes, we started our descend. We hiked for about another 6 hours till we made it to our camp for the night. We had hot showers! and a fire place, and we sang Christmas carols! It was a great way to end an awesome trip!

On Day 5 we walked a few hours towards the gate, then got a ride from a very old 4 wheel drive vehicle. We eventually made it to the paved road, we only got stuck in the mud a few times. It was probably the most scary part of the trip, possibly flipping to our death in a car older than us, with no seat belts, but we made it.   We then were driven back to Nairobi, where we grabbed our beach stuff that we had left at the hostel ( you certainly don't need a bikini on a mountain). And then were were on our way to the coast! 

Our first stop was a really nice eco lodge in Kilifi. There we soaked up the sun and relaxed, for 2 nights before taking another bus to Lamu.  Out of our group of 8, 5 of us got stuck in the back of the bus, aka the worst seats ever! The road to Lamu, is not a good one, so we felt every bump and hole, and believe me there were a lot! After 6 or so hours we made it to the bay, where we hopped onto a boat, and headed to Lamu.  

Lamu was beautiful! It looked nothing like the rest of Kenya. It reminded me of Greece or Italy (not that I've been to either, but...) it's what they look like in my mind. There are no motor vehicles on the island. You can take donkeys on the island, or boats around the island and to nearby islands.  The houses and building are are very close together, and you walk on small sidewalks in between.  The majority of the island is a very traditional muslim community. So a lot of shops were closed during prayer, and most of the women were fully covered from head to toe (we we a bit under dressed) We stayed at a local hotel, "Jambo House", it is owned by a german man. He is very nice and his hotel is really clean. They prepared breakfast for us everyday, and even packed us a breakfast to go, on our way out of Lamu.  The hotel is located in the "village" so we were not in a touristy area, which I think make the experience even better! 

 The seafood was AMAZING, we found this little place that we ended up eating at most of the time because it was so good. It usually took about an hour for us to get our food, but it was because he cooked everything fresh! He even brought out the enormous lobster before he cooked it.  We took a dhow boat ride on New Years eve day,  to one of the beaches, and they cooked us lunch on the boat. Then they took us to some ruins. It was on a small island, that used to be a village over a century ago, but the tides became to high and they had to relocate.  For New Years eve we took the same boat to a beach party, where there was a bonfire and drumming. The next day we spent wandering the streets, and for our last evening we ordered (AMAZING) pizza and had a mama give us all heena tattoos! We had a great time in Lamu, and I can't wait to go back! 

On our way back we stopped in Kilifi for a night to break up the trip home. On Thursday we were down to just 4 of us girls, everyone else had gone there different ways.  The 4 of us headed to Mombassa, to catch a bus home. We hopped onto a tuktuk (a small 3 wheeled motor car) where my bag then fell into traffic while we were moving,  with out us knowing. Our driver finally realized we lost a bag, and he got out and ran to get it. The bag was about as big as he was! We got to the bus station, where we found out that they sold our bus tickets that I had reserved a week earlier, because we had not yet paid for them (because they wouldn't let me pay a week early), and they are super busy since it's the end of the holiday.  All we could do is laugh it off, TIA,  we were then on the search for new tickets, which were not easy to come by.  None of the buses had any tickets to Eldoret till Monday (it was only Thursday)  We ended up finding tickets to Nairobi for 10:30 pm, it was only 4 pm, so we had to indulge ourselves one last time, in western food, before getting back to our villages, I'm talking, ice cream, pizza, iced coffee, you name it!  On the bus to Nairobi, again we had to sit in the back! I may have forgotten to mention earlier, but the back seats don't recline at all, and the seats in front of them recline way too much, so not only is the road terrible, but there is absolutely NO space if you have knees. 

I finally made it home on Friday afternoon, completely exhausted.  Kibaibai of course is the best face to come home to. We spent the rest of the day snuggling and watching movies. Now back to reality and work. Dreaming of the beach our next holiday! 

My holiday started with a big party! My mama's last born son, became a man by being circumcised. The circumcision was actually a few weeks ago, but the party was the day before I left for my trip.  The tradition for most tribes in Kenya is, that a boy is not a man until he is circumcised. Usually they get circumcised around the age of 13-16.  Though we recommend that circumcisions take place in the hospitals, most families want to continue with the traditional ways. That is, there is dancing and singing, the boy is given lectures by his elders, then he is circumcised, right then and there, with a knife, and without and pain killers or sedatives.  Talk about earning you man hood! Needless to say I am happy I was only involved in the party part of this tradition.

mmmm smells like christmas!

I decided that a little "no bake" baking would help get me out of this little holiday depression. By "no bake" baking, I mean, since I don't have and oven, and making cookies in the jiko oven is easier said than done. I did all my cooking on the stove top.
 Its hard this time of year to be away from my family and friends back home. I will be climbing Mt. Kenya this year! Which is very exciting, but I still miss home. So I "baked" and I "baked".

I made Peanut Butter fudge, chocolate peanut butter fudge, chocolate covered pretzels, muddy buddy cookies, and attempted peanut brittle.
I found the muddy buddy recipe on pinterest (yes we even have pinterest in africa) They are store bought cookies, then you dip them in a chocolate, peanut butter, and margarine mixture, then throw them in a bag with powdered sugar and viola! and they are TAMU SANA! 

The fudge turned out great as well! Another pinterest find! just 2 cups of sugar and a little milk, bring to a boil and then add peanut butter and vanilla. I also added the cocoa powder! Another TAMU SANA!
The peanut brittle did not turn out as good as my grandmas, I tried 2 batches, but not a success. Still edible!
I made all this to give for gifts to my neighbors and friends!

I did attempt to make some nobake cookies, however I cut the sugar in half. well it turned into a bunch of yummy goo. Not gift worthy, well kibaibai took it upon himself to hop up onto the table and help himself, you know since they weren't gift worthy!
I hope he learned his lesson! I know I sure did. I never want to be up at midnight cleaning up his "runny" mess!

This will be my last post until after the holidays. I'm leaving Saturday to climb Mt. Kenya then we're heading to Lamu to ring in the New Year! So Kibaibai and I are sending Seasons Greetings from Kenya! 

World AIDS Day

I am now a world half marathoner,

Our runners representing Peace Corps!!!!

 having ran half marathons in the US and now in Kenya! Today I finished the Kisumu World AIDS Day half marathon! I took me 2 hours and 25 minutes, not my best time, however in America when you are running any race, they are for the most part well organized.  Well today, I ran along side matatus, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, cows and pigs. I ran through the slums and villages of Kisumu, on rocky uneven terrain. So for me .......... 2 hours and 25 minutes rocks! hahahha

It was fun to be involved in a  event thats here to help change the stigma of AIDS in Africa, and remind people that getting tested and protecting themselves is the only way to change the future and reduce the HIV rate in Africa. As of 2005 the HIV prevalence for adult men was 6.1% and 8% for adult women. Knowing their status will help prevent the spread of HIV to the partners. 

This event is sponsored by the Richard M. Brodsky Foundation. http://www.richardmbrodsky.org/

 has been running this event for around 30 years I think. He himself is HIV positive and very open about his status. By him being so involved in the community, he inspires not only us as Americans, to get involved, but it also inspires the Kenyans to get tested and know their status. 

A safe return

Just letting you know that I made it back. The trip went well. I almost got stuck sitting next to a screaming baby and a mother who didn't know what she was doing, thank god there were a few empty seats! I got an isle seat, with no one in the middle seat! Can you say lucky! Also the flight went straight from DC to Ethiopia only 11 hours!  no stop in Rome. Once I got to Nairobi, I went straight to the ATM, so I could afford a cab instead of dragging my huge bag and the enormous dog cage onto a bus. Well go figure, peace corps hadn't payed us yet, so there was NO money in my kenya account, I tried my credit card next, go figure it wouldn't allow a withdraw (my dad later told me they froze the account because there were suspicious withdraws at tj-max and a gas statin (yep that was me)) thank god they had the atm that takes my american atm card( which there are only a few in Kenya, cause its not a visa. ..... anyway I made it to the hotel (finally) Decided I would get up first thing in the morning to take a shuttle home, instead of going right away and getting home in the dark. The next morning I had to lug my stuff only 1 short block to catch the shuttle.  Welp, my dad had bought me a roller cart for the cage, well the cage was sitting on it off center, and walking that one block found to be a tricky task. The whole cart, dog cage, bag and all fell over twice on my walk to the ally where the shuttles are, then I had to maneuver it through tiny tight spaces, before finding an empty shuttle so I could snag the front 3 seats. I'm sure I looked like the crazy mzungu (white girl) hahaha 

   Once we were on the road there were absolutely NO problems. Since I bought all 3 seats I didn't have to worry about sitting next to any vomiting children, or stinky people. Once we arrived to my drive way ( about a 400 yard walk down a uneven dirt path) I was up for the challenge after deciding to wear my heavy bag and put my smaller one in the cage. It didn't go to bad, my neighbor girl helped me out half way through. 

And finally I was home!!!!!! Nothing like arriving home to a happy face! Kibaibai was ecstatic that I was home. Of course I was so happy to see him too! 

I emptied my bags, put everything away and snuggled up with kibaibai for an afternoon nap. 

On Saturday I woke up bright and early to attempt my first run back in Kenya. It went as good as I thought it would (horrible!) but after eating american food non stop, and breathing in good ol Ohio oxygen for 2 weeks, I expected a rough first run. 

 I cleaned a little, washed Kibaibai (he certainly needed it) and walked to Turbo, to get some veggies and eggs. I decided to walk home too, I needed the exercise and a tan! 2 weeks in Ohio and I was as pale as if I had never been to Africa! I got home and fell asleep, I ended up taking a 5 hour nap! Got up around dinner time, made dinner and went to bed by 9 and slept straight through the night! Hello Jetlag...........

Now I'm getting back into the groove. I finished cleaning today (Sunday) and getting other stuff around the house done. It feels good to be back, but I am definitely missing everybody back home! These next 9 months will fly by! 

time flies when you're havin fun

Well I only have a day and a half left here in America. Then back to Kenya for 9 more months. I want to thank everyone who made it out to my open house yesterday, especaially my mom and dad for having a party for me! It feels so good to know that you all are thinking about me! And an extra big thank you for all those who helped pay for my MT. Kenya climb! I promise I will take lots of pictures!

But this trip would not have been complete without the time I got to spend with the best friends and family a girl could ask for!

I had a great weekend with my best friends, including lots of wine, hot tub, and a hummer limo! Talk about showin the love! Thanks girls!!!!! xoxoxo

Also my aunts and uncles and grandparents that came out for our Thanksgiving, thank you sooooo much for coming!

I have eatin everything on my list of foods that I have missed while being in Kenya, this including but not limited to : pizza, subway, taco bell, mexican, slow roasted home cooked meals, moose tracks ice cream, dietses ice crea, and oh so much more!

I had a great trip, but am definitely ready to get back to kenya......

 I miss this guy
 

and the slow simple life in Kenya.

Good bye America! See you in 9 months!