November 22, 2009
I’m blowing dusty boogers out of my nose! After two days of travel this weekend (Saturday to Nairobi, and Sunday to Hell’s Gate) and driving on these crazy, extremely dusty Kenyan roads, everything seems to be coated in dust, including my nose and lungs!
Nairobi was fun—we packed our day with several stops, including a shopping trip at an outdoor bazaar, a visit to “the Giraffe Center” where we all got big wet kisses from Laura the giraffe, a little learning at the Nairobi national museum (many of the famous skull and skeletons of early hominids were found in Kenya!) and a dinner at a restaurant called Carnivore (perfect for the vegetarian) where they served giraffe (poor Laura!), zebra, ostrich, wildebeest, and more!
Today we got up early and headed out to Hell’s Gate national park. When we arrived, our guide said “welcome to hell” and we descended into a deep canyon of lime stone with waterfalls of hot water from geothermal sources. There was beautiful obsidian stone to be found all over the ground from previous volcanic activity. There were also many animals in the park, including really cute (but cute in an ugly way) warthogs and warthog families, more giraffe, gazelles, impala, zebra…
I have pretty much given up taking pictures… I had no idea how inferior my camera is until I took some pictures with Dustin’s camera the other day, and realized was mega-pixels are all about. My camera is from medical school, which doesn’t seem that long ago, but Dustin’s has 8 mega-pixels and mine has 3, and what a difference it makes! None of us has a really nice camera, but the animals are amazing no matter how you photograph them—sometimes I think they pose for us!
We got home today, and I went for a run and Dustin played ultimate frisbee with some of the doctors, and Vy took a nap. Then we all met up for dinner at the Rift Valley Academy cafeteria—they charge us 250 kenyan schillings ($3.25) for a really good buffet and you can eat with the students, and avoid cooking for a night!
I can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving week! We’ve been invited to the Trotter’s home for dinner Thursday. Not sure what we’ll bring—baking is difficult due to the elevation. But the ladies up the street sell amazing fresh fruits and veggies (we eat mangos at 50 cents a mango, amazing pineapple for $2 each, and they have delicious root vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, etc). They like for you to buy something from each of them, so best to bring a list of what you want, and they divvy it up amongst themselves so everyone gets paid. It’s a confusing, but sweet system. Very Kenyan.
I’m going to get off the computer and give Vy and Dustin some time to journal and email. On call tomorrow, and a busy week ahead. I can’t believe our time here is half over! I’ll be looking forward to hearing everyone’s Thanksgiving plans…
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Haven't met you yet but have heard fabulous things about you from my brother Thys, sis-in-law Kate and Dusty of course too! I'm Krystal, his "cuz", hope we get to meet in real life someday too! I'm LOV-ing following your journey over there, thankful Jane sent me the link. What an example of sacrifice of comforts and service you are setting for those of us back home. Thanks for taking the time to keep everyone posted in the midst of, I'm sure, your crazy day to day African Doc schedule. Praying for safety for you guys over there as you continue on...please give Dust a big fat hug from his cuz!
ReplyDeleteHey Aly, we look forward every day to read another blog about your amazing journey. Thanksgiving is going to be different that's for sure. Without you chopping and sauteing (with my help of course), the stuffing just won't taste the same. Eric and Michelle and Lily and my mom aren't coming either. We'll have Katie and Linds, though so that's good. I can't wait for you guys to get back just to see pictures! I was watching a Nova special on PBS about the evolution of man and so much of it was filmed in the Rift Valley! Just being in the place where the first human type creatures evolved is just phenomenal. Keep up the interesting stuff and stay safe. We miss you and love you. Dad
ReplyDeleteHey Al!
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you. I love reading the blog. Any chance you can post a picture or two? Suggestion: if you want to take a picture for the blog, change the camera to the lowest quality setting. Then the picture will be small and quick to upload. Just don't forget to change it back to the higher setting for all your other pictures.
Anyway, we miss you and we can't wait to see you in December. Stay safe and have fun! Love, e, m, & l
Hi Honey, This is the second time I've written this and I don't know where the first one ended up. But I tried to add a little picture of TG's past and I guess that didn't work. So anyway the weekend sounded great and I can't even think about your schedule without getting exhausted. We will be miss you at the table but more so at the counter, and we will be missing E,M&L too. But "the times they are a changin'" and I am the posterchild for adaptability. If enthusiasm is a measure of success the meal will be great because KT & Linz are up for the challenge. You may have competition in the future. For now, best wishes for a happy thanksgiving to You, Dustin, Vy and all your loved one's in Kijabe. Love The Mama
ReplyDelete