Hujambo!

First, there is no such thing as “lawn mowing” in Kenya (gotcha!). Second, unless you’re the the President of Kenya or the US Ambassador (they live in mansions with big lawns), there aren’t even any lawns to speak of. That’s not to say we don’t have grass. My goodness, there is grass for days and days! Forget Southern California, where strip malls and concrete effectively form one huge, 200-mile-long city; This is Kenya, bwana (“man”)! We have plenty of open space and it’s allllll grass (and sand, but that’s for another time)!

I had an epiphany the other day while walking home through an empty field. It had rained a bit so there was mud all over the place. I remember thinking it was good the grass was low because it allowed me to avoid the mud. The funny thing is, I’ve never seen one lawn mower in Kenya. I don’t even think the two words “lawn mower” have entered my brain once at the same time in the last two years… The only place I’ve ever seen anyone cutting grass is in my backyard and on the college compound, and they do it by hand.
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I went to Thompson Falls in Nyahururu the other day with a friend from Tala. It’s about three hours drive from Nairobi, which itself is an hour and a half from Tala. We left a bit early in the morning and were there around lunch time. Other than some dudes dressed up for the tourists and some sweet monkeys, we had the whole place to ourselves, so we sat and chatted about nature, religion, and Kenyan politics for a few hours. By the time we got back to Tala it was late and we were tiiiiired! Enjoy the pictures…

I went to Fourteen Falls with Pat this past weekend. It’s about an hour and a half drive from Tala via the Thika road route. The road isn’t too bad as long as you sit in the front of the truck (they only use modified pick-up trucks on this route for some reason). The fare was 100 shillings, which isn’t too bad. The other option is to go to Nairobi (150 shillings) and then to Thika (150 shillings), which takes you on a nicer road but eats an extra 400 or so shillings and a few hours of your time. There hasn’t been too much rain lately, so the water was a little low (and green…), but we still had a nice time relaxing with some snacks in the shade.

You can find the rest of the pictures here: http://thefro.org/gallery2/v/2009/fourteenfalls

Well, almost. This past weekend Una and I visited a few volunteer friends who live near the slopes of Mt. Kenya, the second-tallest mountain in Africa. I visited Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, last month, but I had to stand outside the park gate because the entrance fee was too ridiculous (I’m not a tourist, guys!). I was glad Mt. Kenya’s entrance fee was only about eight bucks, because guess what? I never realized there were glaciers in Africa until recently, but we hiked up part of the mountain and there is definitely a glacier on top! I guess most of us Westerners think Africa only has hungry people and deserts (note: I did not say “desserts”)… WRONG! There are deserts, hungry people, glaciers, AND desserts!

All joking aside, the mountain is huge, steep, and cold. I even heard that the Mau Mau rebels used to hide in some caves in the dense forest surrounding the mountain when they were fighting the British for independence. Our friend Janneke lives in some village about ten kilometers from Mt. Kenya National Park’s front gate; this picture was taken from her door step. Pretty cool, eh? Unfortunately it is the only picture I have of the mountain, as the girls were using their cameras most of the time!

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It’s not Kenya, but it’s beautiful! Abdel Monaim and I went over to Deer Creek, about forty miles out of Chico on Highway 32, and spent a few days camping, hiking, reading, and cooking. Here’s a picture if you don’t believe me:

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