I was realizing the other day that my shoes have been so many places in the last four years. My one pair of Nike shoes has been in the United States, Mexico, Canada, India, Kenya, and Tanzania. Here are some of the highlights:

Randi and I were in India in December, 2006 – January, 2007 and we visited New Delhi to see some beautiful architecture in this old city. Pictured is one of the buildings at the site of the Qutub Minar, the tallest brick and stone minaret in the world. The inscriptions on the building I’m standing next to are all in Arabic, carved maybe 600 years ago. I can imagine Muslims in northern India standing at the top of the minaret singing “Allahu akbar!” to call pious Muslims for prayer. Delhi was a big, dirty city, but it is home to many relics of the old world.

Abdel Monaim and I went for a camping trip at Deer Creek, just about thirty miles outside of Chico. We ended up hiking for way too long and subsequently sat down to rest on the side of the road, only to fall asleep and be scared to death when a car drove by. When we reached camp later that evening we were glad we had set up shop right next to the creek. We spent the night roasting corn, laughing, and relaxing.

One of our VSO volunteer friends, Mariana, was working in the hills of Taita, towards the coast of Kenya. We were on our way to Mombasa for a little holiday and we stopped by her place for a few days to check it out; as you can see, Kenya is a beautiful country.

Anique and I ventured into a rural area to get a glimpse of village life and to see this lake. We had to drive two and a half hours from the nearest city via 4×4 Land Rover to get there. We were packed in like sardines and it was a bumpy road. When we finally reached the village it was almost dark but we managed to hike down to the lake quickly before the sun set. Also pictured is my Che Guevara shirt, which has mysteriously disappeared from my wardrobe… I suspect someone yanked it off my clothes line. Whatever, I don’t need some t-shirt to tell people I’m anti-imperialism!

If things go well I will also bring them to Rwanda and Uganda later this month. That’s all for now!