Cape Town

I've been enjoying the past 2 weeks in Cape Town and all that it has to offer. My sister Jessica was in town for about 10 days and we spent a lot of time running from place to place trying to squeeze everything before she had to head back to the US. I think we visited just about every single bay around here, made it up to table mountain (amazing), saw some large and gorgeous botanical gardens, went to cape point (which is not the southern most point of africa), got chased by penguins, did some wine tasting with chocolate and caught up with some old friends from our days in Zimbabwe. We had a fantastic time.

Unfortunately I sent my journal, with all the details, back to the US with my sis, so despite the myriad of activities I'm afraid I'll have to fill in the details at a later date. Right now I'm getting ready to make some dinner with friends Sian, Clare, and Trey before heading down to the beach! Happy New Year to everyone!

Photos: Cape Town

Hi and Goodbye Nairobi

I got back to Nairobi last Thursday afternoon and have to say that coming from Ethipia, Kenya felt like a developed country when I arrived and it was good to be back. One of the major differences I noticed when I came back was the attitude of the people...being in such a closed culture in Ethiopia made me realize how much friendlier the people in Kenya are. I'm speaking in macro terms here, of course I met individuals in Ethiopia that were very friendly and I've met some not so friendly Kenyans, but in general the cultural attitudes towards outsiders/foreigners are much warmer in Kenya. My guess is that having repelled so many invaders (Ethiopia was never colonized) over the years has thoroughly ingrained a feeling of disdain and distance in the culture for anyone/anything foreign.

I have spent most of the week organizing and uploading photos, catching up on email, and finally motivating myself to catch up on all these blog entries. My friend Caroline, that I met in Mombasa on my first pass through, came to Nairobi and we got to hang out for a couple of days; she and I had a very American night and went to the Java House for guacamole bacon cheese burgers and carrot cake, and saw a movie: Borat. I also managed to see the new James Bond movie which reminded me how fun money, women, and fast cars can be...something you somewhat forget in the third world.

This afternoon I head off to Cape Town, where I'll be for Christmas and New Years. I have to admit that three months traveling around east africa has somewhat worn me down, especially my time in Ethiopia, and I'm looking forward to a break in the South before I press on to India mid-Jan. I'm sure I'll have the chance to do more frequent blog updating down there but just in case I don't, or I forget, I wanted to leave you with something for and called "Year's End":

Now the seasons are closing their files
on each of us, the heavy drawers
full of certificates rolling back
into the tree trunks, a few old papers
flocking away. Someone we loved
has fallen from our thoughts,
making a little, glittering splash
like a bicycle pushed by a breeze.
Otherwise, not much has happened;
we fell in love again, finding
that one red feather on the wind.

-Ted Kooser

Photos: Kenya

Back to Addis

My remaining couple days back in Addis were relatively uneventful. I spent most of one day shuttling back and forth to the Indian Embassy to get my visa sorted out. I hung out with my new friend little sammy, a kid living at the guest house. I had one last lunch with 'Pastor Z' and drove to the top of Ntoto Mountain just outside Addis. And on my last night in town MC and I had dinner with her friend Meaza, and they both decided it was a good idea to braid my hair...

The next morning I woke up sick with a cold but made it to the airport with plenty of time. Not surprisingly, the flight was delayed by about an hour, and then when I got on I had to switch seats three times due to some 'mix ups', ending up in a middle seat as opposed to my rightfully assigned exit row seat. I'm proud to say that despite this last straw almost breaking my back I managed to keep it together, thanks to a friendly German guy sitting next to me, and prevent myself from giving the Stewardess an ear-full, which I still think would have made me feel a lot better.

Despite the problems I had in Ethipia I think it's a place that I will have to come back to and explore in a bit more depth...hopefully at a time when other airlines are allowed to fly within the country. Axum and Lalibela could easily consume two weeks of exploring, as well as the much raved about Simien Mountains (often locally spelled 'Semen' for some reason!) which I had to skip. One major change I would make for those of you that might make it to Ethiopia one day, is that I would do the northern trip in reverse, starting in Axum and heading to Lalibela, Gondar, and Bahir Dar; all of the Christian Orthodox history made much more sense after I visited Axum and learned the pre-Christian history.

Photos: Addis Ababa

Axum Part 2

From the rubble palace we hurried over to see a few churches. The one old church that we went into, only open to men, of course had the obligatory ancient paintings of the cruficition, trinity, saint george, and mary, but for once they were in fairly decent shape, or not nearly as old as I was led to believe. From here we took a short walk to see the building that allegedly contains the 'Ark of the Covenant'. Haile told me some elaborate story about how it came to be in Ethiopia, but due to the 'no note taking' policy that he instated I'm afraid it's largely forgotten...something about king Solomon and Queen of Sheeba (who was Ethiopian) and their male offspring and ten tousand Jews bringing it back to Ethiopia.

This relatively small building resides within a gated compound and in addition to holding the Ark a lot of the artifacts that have been found in the area are also kept in this building/compound. All of this is looked after by a 'keeper of the ark', a man who is 72 years old and hasn't left the compound in seventy years! There is another long story about how this keeper is chosen/replaced and why he hasn't left the compound, but I'll leave that to Google for those interested. On our way to a church next to this compound we approached a side gate through which tourists can view some of the artifacts from Ethiopian Orthodox church history that are kept in the compound, mainly various crowns and goat skin books. Thanks to Haile I have a photo with said goat skin book.

As we approaced the gate the keeper of the Ark was actually out roaming inside the compound and he came over and had a nice friendly chat with Halie, they were apparently old friends. Haile instructed me that the keeper wanted to give me a blessing so I should step up to the gate. Now I had seen the 'blessing process' in Lalibela, which involves kissing the center of the cross held by the priest, then letting him touching it to your head, repeat, and then kissing the base. I thought I had it figured out. Well as I moved in for the first kiss I suddenly felt Haile's hand on the back of my head as he decided to take the liberty of making sure I did things right. Well I got the first kiss in ok and then the next thing I know the cross is being rubbed all over my face, then slapped on my back neck and shoulders before being offered for the base kiss. Obviously a different blessing process in Axum! Unfortunately no one is allowed to photograph the keeper so Haile didn't catch any of this action.

After my blessing, Haile leans over and whispers that he has told the guy that looks after some of the artifacts (different guy from the Ark Keeper) that I am an Archaeology student and has convinced him to show me a precious rock carving of the portrait of the Queen of Sheeba, something which is normally not for viewing. The rock is promptly brought out on a blue velvet pillow for me to ooh and ahh and snap a couple of photos. Of course, not being satisfied with just 'showing' me something special Halie then convinces this guy to hand over the rock through the fence so that he can get a picture of me holding it.

After handing back history we took a short walk to a large church built by the Emperor Haile Selassie, passing a few kids playing hide-n-seek. Inside the church I was marched passed a few more ancient paintings (one of the journey of the ark), and another ancient goat skin book. On the way out we passed an enterprising old man who convinced me to pay him to take a picture. To wrap things up we stopped by for a quick visit at the local museum, which Halie had called and convinced to stay open late for us. By this point I was a bit tired from the blitz tour and factually overwhelmed so I remember next to nothing about the museum...but there were some nice glasses.

After a full 5 hours of seeing Axum, a place I could have easily spent a week, I headed back to my hotel for a relatively early night. The next morning I was up with the sun and ready to head to the airport for my early flight...of course the only on time flight of the entire trip was my flight back to Addis!

Axum Part 1

We arrived in Axum around 2pm, close to five hours late. When we arrived someone was, for the first time, checking passports. Now I had actually left my passport at the Indian Embassy in Addis to get my visa for India, but had been assured by my travel agent that I would have no problem as long as I had a photo ID and that had so far been true. When I handed my Colorado drivers license to the man checking passports (who seemed to be more interested in the covers than the content) he was dumbfounded of course. He's saying 'passport! passport!' and by this point patience has run out and I start yelling back, probably not the wisest course of action but after a few mins he ran off to some superior somewhere and came back and allowed me into the airport.

Despite being so late my guide, Haile Selassie, was determined to make the most of things. We dropped my bag at the hotel and were off to the 'Stelae Field' where all of the giant obelisks reside. When he picked me up at the airport I wasn't too sure about Haile, but he turned out to be my best guide yet. He gave me the history of the obelisks, why they were made, by whom etc...unfortunately, because he wanted me to see as much as possible, he refused to let me stop and take notes so almost all of the details are gone, but it sure was fascinating at the time. Haile was also the most photo happy of the guides (to the extent of snatching my camera from me on several occassionas), wanting to make sure he got pictures of me next to and in front of the main obelisk, in the stone frame, at the entrance to a tomb, inside the tomb, by the broken obelisk, etc. I think I have more photos with me in them from that afternoon than from the previous 6 months combined. One fact I do remember from that afternoon is that the broken obelisk is the largest single block of stone ever worked at a height of close to 38 meters and weighing close to 500 tonnes.

Another nugget of information from Halie was that before Ethiopia was a country it existed as part of the kingdom of Axum with consisted of modern day Sudan, Ethiopia and Yemen and was ruled by one king. That king had three sons and split the kingdom up into what are effectively Ethiopia/Eritrea, Sudan, and Yemen today to be ruled over by each of the three sons. From the the Stelae field we headed to a tomb for the first king of Ethiopia, a tomb that contains a 'treasure vault' that still hasn't been opened. One of the things that was amazing about Axum is that a lot of the history there seemed to be quite newly discovered. There were several occassions where I was told that such and such was just discovered a few months ago. Apparently there are at least a dozen archaeological digs currently going on by teams from German, France, England, and the US, and it seems like even with those they are just scratching the surface. One of the things that was discovered only ten months before by three farmers while plowing and only raised out of the ground three months before was a giant stone tablet, apparently similar to the 'rosetta stone' in Egypt, that has the story of some king written in three different languages.

From the 'Axumite Rosetta Stone' we headed to the alleged ruins of the palace of the Queen of Sheeba. I say alleged because a guide book I glanced at seemed to indicate that it was at least several hundred years to new for that, but either way it was an interesting place. What was most interesting was that it was built almost entirely of rubble, meaning that hardly any cut stone was used. I had seen this in other walls but this was the first time I'd see an entire building, let alone palace, constructed this way. Of course Haile had to get a few pictures of me at the palace: leaning against a wall, where the throne was, at the top of some stairs.

Photos: Axum

Lalibela

Just before the flight to Lalibela took off I started chatting with a nice couple from England that was coincidentally staying in the same guest house in Lalibela. When we arrived, since the entire day was gone, we sat down for dinner and swapped travel stories. They told me that Butan was a favorite destination but warned me that Easter Island was a disappointment. Needless to say they helped me add to my ever growing travel list.

Lalibela's claim to fame is a series of eleven rock-hewn (that's cut straight out fo the rock) churches. The quick story is that the Priest King Lalibela traveled to Jerusalem where he received a vision from God to go back and build these churches and in doing so create a second Jerusalem. Originally the town was called Roha, but was renamed after the King when the churches were constructed.

The next morning the three of us were guided through the first six of the churches. These churches are fascinating, which made me even more disappointed that my planned two days was cut short by one. The churches are connected by tunnels through the rock, some more complex than others. And in each church you are required to take your shoes off, so you hire a shoe person to look after your shoes and carry them from entrance to exit. The most well known of the churches is the Church of Saint George which when viewed from above looks like a cross. Each church also has its own head priest who is responsible for upkeep of the church as well as looking after the ceremonial cross and sacred books for that church.

After the morning round of churches we headed into the local market which was a fun experience. The area of Lalibela, and in fact most of Ethiopia, is farm land, and every Saturday people come in from the country side to sell their crops and whatever else, from coffee, to tef (the type of wheat used to make injera), to plastic shoes, pens, books, and donkeys. We broke for lunch in the heat of the day and regrouped a little after 2pm to tackle the remaining five churches.

Our guide had said that all eleven churches were constructed at the same time and only took twenty-four years to complete, however a guide book I managed to glance at said that the five from the afternoon were built first and appear to have not been churches originally with the six from the morning built upto a couple of hundred years later. This theory seemed to be supported by the look and feel of the churches themselves...the group we visited in the afternoon didn't feel nearly as intentional in their design as the group from the morning.

One of the things we observed while walking from church to church was that they were all surrounded by small caves, which we were told become occupied by hermits and pilgrims during certain parts of the year for religious festivals.

On the way to the airport the next morning we found out that the flight was (surprise!) delayed, so we had a chance to swing by another church on the way to the airport. Being that it was Sunday morning there was a service going on, though this seemed to be of little consequence to our guide who just pushed us through the congregation. I have to admit it was a bit awkward, walking through and being gawked at (and rightly so) by the congregation, but it was very interesting to witness a service: the challenge and responses, the passing of holy water, the kissing of the cross, the intent listening.

Even with the stop at the church we ended up waiting at the airport about three more hours for our flight to Axum and again lost half a day.

Photos: Lalibela

Gondar

I arrived in Gondar just before the sun went down and passed the night in a cold, dank, mispainted, poorly lit room with a lone picture on the wall. Early the next morning my guide picked me up to show me all that Gondar has to offer. Turns out Gondar doesn't really have all that much to offer and can be done in a couple of hours, but is mainly used as a jumping off point for the Simien Mountains a couple of hours drive away. Unfortunately because I was leaving relatively early the next morning, the Simien Mountains were out for me.

First we stopped at an old church, the name and history of which I confess I forgot. What did make it interesting is that its steeple cross had 7 ostrich eggs on it, which had alegedly been there since its construction 800 years before. Also, the inside walls of the church were covered with paintings depicting scenes and characters from the bible that are important in the Ethiopian Orthodox church, specifically 'the Crucifiction', Mary with baby Jesus, Saint George slaying the dragon, and the Trinity. Also, the ceiling was covered with paintings of angels, very unique.

From the church we headed to a compound containing full or partial remains for six castles built starting in the 13th century by King Faisalad and his descendants, one castle for each successive king. Unfortunately most of the building were bombed during fights with the Italians in the early part of the 20th century and only three of the castles are still standing. From the castle we went to visit a large pool built by King Faisalad that is currently undergoing rennovation but is usually filled, using a near by river, once a year and used for a religious ceremony.

I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the small town and met another pair from Canada that joined me for dinner. The next morning I hopped up early to head to the airport for my early flight...which you probably guessed by now was delayed...by seven hours. What was most infuriating this time was that three hours into being told every hour there would only be an hour delay, the Ethiopian Airlines employee finally admitted that the plane that took off shortly after my checkin was actually my plane but that it had to fly to Addis and back first...a five hour round trip.

Photos: Gondar

Bahir Dar Part 2

At the news of the cancellation the airline shuttled me and the two other stranded passengers to the Papyrus Hotel for the night. I spent the afternoon getting to know David and Sam, a father and son from Canada in Ethiopia for a few weeks to visit some relatives and squeezing in a bit of siteseeing in the process. I'm sorry to report that the Papyrus wasn't much to write home about but at least it was being taken care of and I'd be out early in the morning right? Wrong.

I woke up the next morning and was first told the flight would be at 9am. Nine turned in to ten and then noon with the flight not leaving until almost 4:30pm, all due to mechanical issues of course...this would become a theme. By this point I was pretty angry at being delayed for so long, especially since the drive to Gondar is only 2-3hrs (something I would only find out later). As a result of wasting an entire day and a half in Bahir Dar thanks to the Ethiopian Airlines I would have to skip my trip to the Simien Mountains outside of Gondar where I had planned to spend two days and one night trekking and camping...essentially the sole reason for going to Gondar at all! I would later find out that there was a religious festival in Axum and that Ethiopian Airlines was redirecting flights to shuttle people back and forth which is why my first flight was canceled and my second so delayed; not only did they cost me almost two days, they deceived me regarding the reason. Surely you can sense my frustration...it's not over yet.

Photos: Bahir Dar

Bahir Dar Part 1

Due to my relatively short amount of time in Ethiopia and difficulty in finding information on buses etc, I decided for the first time on my trip to do a 'package tour', at a cost of my entirely monthly budget for 8 packed days visiting the 'historic route' of northern Ethiopia. As part of this tour I would fly on Ethiopian Airlines to each location where I would be picked up by a guide and wisked off to see the sites and what not. Not exactly my style, but I have to admit I was looking forward to some hassle free site-seeing for once, and price dictated my expectations. Unfortunately we got off to a rocky start with a 3+ hour delay of my flight.

The first stop along the way was Bahir Dar, a town in the Amhara region located at the south of Lake Tana and a short distance from the Blue Nile falls. Lake Tana holds 37 islands of which 27 host monastaries. Since I arrived late Monday afternoon we decided to get an early start the next morning head to the falls and then come back to see a couple of monastaries before catching my afternoon flight to Gondar. The drive to the falls was fairly long, along a dusty gravel road followed by a quick hike to the falls. Unfortunately the river that feeds the falls is now being used for hydro power and so only 40-60% of the water flows to the falls now, but none-the-less it was still worth seeing...although my memories of Victoria falls easily put it to shame. On the way to the falls my guide, Misteru, called the airline to confirm my afternoon flight and was told that the flight was actually going to be early and that I needed to check in an hour earlier. So after snapping a few photos we rushed back down to the van and headed back to town.

We hopped a small orange boat to visit one of the island monastaries and again I was treated to a fairly lengthy ride; we reached the island after 30 mins putting along and rushed to what looked more like a small church than monastary and the sole priest in sight appeared to be closing shop. He was kind enough to show me the church's ceremonial cross and umbrella, as well as the first in what would become a long line of sacred goat skin bibles/books. Apparently the church, like most others on the historic route, was built about 800 years before and was still in active use. After the showing of the artifacts we were ushered out so the place could be locked up and we hopped back on our boat, from which my guide pointed out the start of the Blue Nile and we witnessed some men fishing from small papyrus boats.

On the way back to shore Misteru was insistent on getting a picture of me driving the boat and in the haste to get a good photo I almost ran us into some rocks! We picked up my bag from the hotel and raced to the airport. Misteru drops me and I check in and am told there will be a slight delay...alright no problem. After waiting about an hour I decide to head upstairs for some lunch, since I'd failed to eat any in my rush to get to the airport (good thing). Half way through my plate of scrambled eggs I'm told that the flight has been canceled and they will be putting me up in a hotel for the night to catch a flight in the morning at 9am.

Photos: Bahir Dar

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Part 2

MC's friend Nebiu was nice enough to take MC, Tamara, and I to a not-quite-finished resort kind of place located on a small lake on the outskirts of Addis for two days and a night, which even after just a week was a welcome break from the hectic, polluted city that is Addis. Even in its half finished state it was a very nice place. We spent the first afternoon waiting for our rooms, apparently a break down in communication had left the folks at the resort unaware that we were coming, which we eventually sorted out and then headed to the 'Paradise Pyramid' for a late, long lunch with some interesting conversation including enlightening Nebiu to the phrase 'junk in the trunk'. After lots of laughter and food we headed back along the loosely termed road to the lake. We spent the evening sitting in front of a fire discussing the mysteries of life, making smores, and listening to music.

We woke up the next morning to a breakfast that was delivered and we ate overlooking the lake. I passed the day catching up on some journaling and reflection while the others took a dip in the lake, something I'm generally leary of in African bodies of fresh water. On our way back to Addis that afternoon we passed a go-cart track and pulled in for a few laps.

That next day after church I was fortunate to get to go to a delayed Thanksgiving dinner at the Mengistu's house where we not only had some great American food (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes) but also an entire roast goat to boot! I have to admit, as much as I love ethiopian food it was nice to get a break with some food from the home land paired with good company and conversation. The following morning I finalized my plans for a trip out of the city and that afternoon I headed to the airport to fly North to Bahir Dar.

Photos: Addis Ababa

Ethiopia: Addis Ababa Part 1

One of my main reasons for heading to Ethiopia was to catch up with some old family friends, the Mengistus, that I haven't seen for several years but have known me since I was a baby, and now live in Addis where they started Beza International. I arrived in Addis late Thursday night and was picked up by my Buddy Zeb and shuttled to a guest house run for some people working at Beza, where I met my fellow housemates (Sammy, MC, and David) before calling it a night.

I spent my first couple of days in Addis lounging around and reading 'King Leopold's Ghost', and but got rolling on Saturday when MC invited me to have Waffles with her and her friend Nebiu after which she and I headed to the 'Piassa' part of town, so named due to the Italian influence, where we wandered around for a while before making our way back to the guest house. We were walking back towards the house around 7pm and were about 50 yards from the gate when three guys came up behind us and said 'dont move'. By the time I had started to turn around one had grabbed MC and the other two grabbed and threw me down, punched me in the face, and rifled through my front pockets, making off with about $50US and a small notebook with some notes and contact info. The whole experience was certainly a bit harrowing, but I was very fortunate and got off fairly easily with just a slight black, sore eye for a few days. I figured something like this would likely happen somewhere along the way and if that's all that happens I'll be happy. I'm certainly a bit more paranoid now.

I spent the next few days doing a lot of reading and lounging around trying to figure out where all I wanted to go out of the city. On Wednesday another traveler, Malcolm from DC, arrived which gave me a good excuse to get out. Malcolm, MC and I went tooling around town first visiting the Indian Embassy to check on visa requirements, then to the 'Garden Cafe' where we met MC's friend Tamara and an Ethiopian man asked us if we thought he looked like a monkey, then to the ToMoCa coffee shop to pick up some strong, Ethiopian coffee. While Malcolm went inside to buy his coffee Tamara, MC and I sat and waited on the steps outside. Before too long a beautiful little girl, dressed in filthy rags, came and sat by us...a bit of a strange occurrence considering all of the other children tend to shy away or run away screaming. While she sat with us, MC went and bought bread for a the street kids and mothers that began to congregate. In Tanzania and Kenya I had dealt with plenty of beggars asking me for money but this was the first time I was really confronted face to face with young kids asking for nothing more than a roll of bread which was heart breaking.

That night MC took a big group of us to 'Fasika', a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with great food and an array of different traditional dances from around the country. From there we headed to, of all places, a jazz club...not exactly something I was expecting to find in Addis. We had a great time listening to some quality music.

Photos: Addis Ababa

Book Reviews

Alright, despite the lack of blogging for the past few weeks I've kept up on the reading and rather than trying to write a review for each one, here is a quick break down.

Take Me With You: A Round-the-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home by Brad Newsham:
An interesting book about a guy who spends three months traveling through developing countries in asia and africa in a quest to pick one local to bring back to the US for an all expense month trip to experience his culture, kind of as a way to show his appreciation for all of the great cultural experiences he's had during his travels. A good, quick read for those that like travelogues.

Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller:
About a cross country road trip from Texas to Oregon and the lessons in spiritual growth and relationships that are encountered along the way. A bit too 'coming of age' for me, but interesting an insightful none-the-less. But if you're beyond your early 20's you might want to check out 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' instead.

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild:
An amazing and detailed look at the history of the Congo as a colony of King Leopold of Belgium. While I'm generally not big into these 'history' books, this was fascinating, especially after reading 'The Poisonwood Bible' and 'East Along the Equator' which had both briefly touched on the Congo's terrible history. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the history of Congo or Africa in general.

The Prophet Muhammad: A Biography by Barnaby Rogerson:
At sometimes dry, this was a very refreshingly objective look at the Prophet Muhammed's life and the early history of Islam. A quick and easy read, it makes you wonder how things got to where they are today.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch:
An amazing look at the history leading up to, including, and after the genocide in Rwanda. At time a difficult book to get through, mental images of which still linger, I would highly recommend this for anyone that has an interest in humanity.

Out of American: A Black Man Confronts Africa by Keith B. Richburg :
Very similar to a book I read before arriving in Africa, 'The Africans' by David Lamb, this is the story of an African American man that moved to Kenya in the early 90s to cover Africa for the Washington Post. What was unfortunate was that despite taking place 10+ years after 'The Africans', nothing much changed other than the names involved in the problems of Africa. The other interesting thing was the difference in perspective that this author had in being a black American in Africa. I was pleasantly surprised by the insight, especially one interesting section which included a high level comparison of the differences in post colonial development between Asia and Africa.

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs:
I didn't quite finish this one. This is one man's view of how poverty can be reduced within the current generation. While good in theory, the crux of which is pour more money into aid, personally I think that's as good as it gets...theory. I've just started 'White Man's Burden' which seems to be a direct response to this books theory...

The Light of Day by Graham Swift:
A pretty worthless novel that seems to be much more about writing style than actual story line. While there were a couple interesting sections, it was largely pretty boring and goes no where. Despite being a booker prize winner I would skip this one.

Hello Africa. Tell Me, How Are You Doing? by Osei G Kofi:
I haven't quite finished this one either, but so far this has been a very different look at the state of Africa, in large part because it comes from an African's perspective and not that of a European of American. One of the most interesting things in this book is the inside front cover which shows two maps of Africa, one with Africa as it is today as well as a pre-colonial map that shows what Africa looked like with all of its tribes before colonialism.

On to Ethiopia

After that few days 'rest' in Nairobi I caught a flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last night...after those bus rides, a 2 hour flight in economy class felt amazingly fast and luxurious. On the flight I met an American doing some work in southern Sudan, but who had been stuck in a hospital in Nairobi for the past month recovering from some as yet unknown bug she picked up there, but feeling mostly well and being a trooper she was on her way back. During the flight we kept hearing references to 'his excellency the president' preceeding every announcement...it turns out the President of Switzerland was on our Ethiopian Airlines flight...that's right, I was on Swiss Airforce 1!

Unfortunately as I suspected internet access here is limited to excruciating slow dialup and so as a warning I'll likely be MIA for the next few weeks until I return to Nairobi again...

Resting up in Nairobi

After my 3 1/2 week blitz tour of the East African coast it was nice to return to Nairobi for a few days of catching up and resting before the next stop, Ethiopia. I tried to catch up on all the blogging, emailing, photos, videos, etc, but there is always more. I also have a few more book reviews on their way, so keep your eye out. In the mean time, below is the catch up of all my media for the past few weeks:

Photos: Mombasa, Watamu, Lamu, Zanzibar, Moshi, Arusha

I also uploaded about 30 new video clips from my time in Africa so far, all the links of which I am too lazy to include here, but they can all be found on my video page.

Enjoy!

Arusha

Arush isn't too far from Moshi luckily, so I was able to skip the long bus ride for a day. I met up with my good childhood friend Timo just outside of Arusha where he showed me the hotel he's working at, The Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, an amazing place; an old coffee farm that has been converted into a hotel complete with seven presedential villas! A place I will have to come back on my way to climb Kili.

Tim and I spent the rest of the day hanging out in Arusha and catching up on travel, plans, and life in general. When night fell we met up with a few of Tim's friend at a local pub...a small cement slab next to a small shack, slightly covered with a tin roof. We hung out for a few hours, and our crowed grew from five to thirteen and our small white table filled with empty bottles: soda, coke, beer, whiskey. I sat listening to Swahili conversations and jokes sprikled with just enough english that I could figure out what was going on. When it finally started raining around 9pm we decided to go grab some dinner, and Tim took me to another local spot for some delicious chicken stew with ugali.

The next day Tim and I said our good-byes and he set me on a shuttle bus back to Nairobi to rest up for a few days before pressing on to Ethiopia.

Photos: Arusha

The Foot of Kilimonjaro

I caught another early bus to head towards Moshi, the town at the base of Mount Kilimonjaro (Africa's tallest mountain). Unfortunately we experienced a breakdown (radiator problem) about 3 hours outside of Moshi and ended up stranded for about 3 hours while the driver tried to fix the problem with some epoxy. I had my doubts but it eventually worked and we finally rolled in to Moshi after a 12hr day. Fortunately in the terminal before the ride I met a New Yorker, Anne, doing a few months of travel and we passed a lot of the time swapping travel stories; she had just come off of a horendous 48hr train ride from Lusaka, Zambia to Dar, packed in a 4x6 compartment with 5 other women!

Since I didn't have the money, gear or time to climb Kili this time around I did want to spend a day or two doing a bit of day hiking around the lower part of the mountain. My plans were foiled fairly quickly when it was pouring rain on day one, and then on day two all of the places I talked to wanted a minimum of $100 to take me on a day hike! I decided I'd save my money and come back in a few years to finish things. After two relatively placid, rainy days I decided to press on to Arusha before making the final push back to Nairobi.

Photos: Moshi

A Day in Dar

On the ferry back to Dar I met another Aussi traveler, Alison, that was on her last day of a 3 month trip in east africa that involved surviving a matatu crash (in which the matatu flipped several times), climbing kilimonjaro, spending a month living/teaching in a rural village and a couple weeks on Zanzibar. We disembarked at the port and found a place to stay, and she told me about her travels over spicy chicken dinner and kebab.

I stuck around Dar the next day doing a bit of walking around the city and sorting out my bus ticket to Moshi for the next day. I was surprised to see that in comparison to Nairobi Dar for a large part seemed to be relatively dead, especially at night...dark, quiet streets with occasional pockets of young guys milling around a broken car or on a street corner. Dar wasn't my favorite place, perhaps I missed something, but I was ready to move on after 1 day.

Zanzibar: Bweju

The next morning I caught my prearranged early bus ride across the island to the east side beach of Bweju, where Jen and John were staying. After considerable delay, due to another passenger wanting to stop at every hotel and guest house for a detailed inspection before picking one, I finally arrived at my destination: The Twisted Palm guest house, a small group of 6 huts located about 50 feet from the water, where for $15us a night I got a double bed with mosquito net, my own bathroom, and breakfast!

I hoofed it up the beach to the Breezes hotel and caught up with Jen and John just in time to join them for an afternoon of snorkeling, while they completed their PADI dive certification. When we got back we caught up over a spot of lunch before John retreived a kit-surfing training kite and we played with that for a while (loads of fun)...with me almost succeeding in getting it stuck in a palm tree! After dinner and saying good-bye I headed back to the Twisted Palm and fell asleep listening to gentle waves.

The Lonely Planet guide was pretty spot on when they said of Bweju, "nothing much more to do other than wander along the sand and listen to the breezes rustling the palm trees," and for the next 3 days I did little else than read a few books in a beach side hammock, a bit of swimming and beach wandering, away from the hassling touts and other tourists. It was a fantastic break, and turned Zanzibar into one of my favorite stops so far.

Because Zanzibar was originally a big exporter of spices, there are still several farms that give informational tours about the different spices followed by a lunch of food made with many of the spices you've just seen. It was a nice bit of touristing, but not quite worth the price.

I wrapped up my week on Zanzibar, where I could have easily stayed longer, and caught the ferry back to Dar.

Photos: Zanzibar

Zanzibar: Stonetown

When I asked at the reception at 7am about catching the ferry (a 2 min drive away) at 7:30, I was quickly whisked into a taxi and told that I was running extremely late and might miss it. At the port I was rushed around from one window to another to get a ticket, all the while being told the ferry was getting ready to leave. Ticket in hand I ran down the ramp, expecting to have to toss my bag and jump to the boat as it was pulling away...instead I ended up sitting for 30+mins before we took off.

I got to Zanzibar and quickly found myself being followed by a tout...who would prove his persistence by following me around for 5-6hours while I wandered around Stonetown, had lunch, found accomodation! He eventually did prove somewhat useful in arranging a bus to take me to the other side of the island early the next morning.

After dropping my stuff at the Vuga guest house I did a bit more exploring and bumped into a group of American students from Lewis and Clark doing study abroad in east africa. I had dinner with them and they told me about being on safari for several weeks and living with different local tribes. We also stumbled upon a big night market near the water packed with stalls, illuminated by small gas lamps, selling different curious, fresh sugar cane juice, all manner of fresh seafood, and tastey 'african pizza' (a kind of crepe with different savory or sweet stuffings).

Photos: Zanzibar

On to Dar

I caught a matatu from Malindi to Mombasa, and true to form had to transfer twice due to technical problems (a leaking tire, followed by a leaking radiator). I caught up withe Alexis and Caroline in mtwapa and spent the night in Mombasa before hoping a bus early the next morning across the border into Tanzania to Dar es Salaam

We hit the border at about 10am and it was the easiest border crossing I've had all trip; being the only white person around they quickly ushered me through each line. Thanks to a series of short naps and a brief lunch stop the day and ride passed quickly and we were actually on target to make it to Dar in just over 8hrs until we hit the last 30+km or so outside of Dar. Due to some accident on the 2 lane road it took us about 3hours to travel the remaining distance. When we finally arrived, after dark, the combination of fatigue and change in currency made me prey for shrewed taxi drivers and thanks to miscommunication I was ripped off for my short ride...$10us.

I checked into the Jambo Guest House, scarfed a quick chicken dinner, checked email and headed to bed for much needed rest, before catching the early morning ferry to Zanzibar the next morning.

In Lamu

I hopped off the bus and took a short dhow (wooden boat) ride over to the island, with only a brief moment of concern when I eyed big buckets of water being bailed from the bottom of the boat, but we made it to the island without incident. I made my way to the the Casurina Guest House, my home for the next 3 nights, and was given a dingy room with peeling paint, and a bed that felt like a wooden table, but at least it had a mosquito net.

I grabbed some fabulous 'swahili fish' (grilled fish with coconut sauce and a side of rice) and a giant mug of fresh, thick juice (fantastic!) at the nearby 'Bush Gardens' restaurant before retiring to the roof of Casurina to listen to the water before turning in for an early night.

I started the next day with an omlette and another big glass of fresh juice before making the 30min trek to the the side of the island that is Shella Beach. As I rounded the corner and saw the empty expanse of sand and water I thought, 'finally the kind of beach I've been looking for these past few months'! I spent several hours strolling around, catching some rays (and getting sunburned), taking photos, splashing in the water and finishing off a few books before heading back to town for some lunch. I spent the afternoone catching up on my journal on top of Casurina and was join by lizzie, an english doctor on the island volunteering at the local hospital for a few weeks as well as working as an extra in a german movie being filmed on the island.

The next 2 days were spent with a similar schedule of lounging, lazing, beaching, and eating. To avoid the hellacious bus ride back I decided it was worth spending a few extra dollars to catch the 25min flight back to Malindi...definitely worth it.

Photos: Lamu

Rafi Biscuits

Having expected to arrive in Lamu around 1-2pm, in time for a late lunch, I hadn't brought much food aside from a bottle of water and a box of 'Rafi Biscuits' that I finally broke open around 1pm: a slightly spongy (I'm thinking stale), bland cookie with a slightly bitter, chemical after-taste that left one thinking 'carcenogenic'.

Bus to Lamu

I got up early the next morning, packed, and was on a matatu headed to Malindi by 7:15, to catch a bus upto Lamu. After a brief wait I was on a bus toward Lamu by 9am...a ride I was assured would be no longer than 5hrs, even if the road was a bit bumpy.

Thinking that the road from Nairobi to Mombasa was the worst in Kenya left me ill prepared for what lie ahead on the road to Lamu. I had heard tht the road immediately ouside fo Malindi was pretty good, but that things got a bit bumpy soon after, however 2hrs into the ride (what I thought was the half way point) we were still riding smooth and I was thinking this was a piece of cake. Soon after that thought, the bumps began...

At first things were not too bad, a bit of a washboard with the occasional hard pothole. I still thought that another 2hrs of this would be no problem and even found myself smiling and chuckling to myself at the situation...not bad at all. Before too long however my neck and lower back started to disagree with me as the hits got harder and after each crunching bump I cringed at the thought that surely the next one would snap the axle, if not the entire bus, into 2 pieces.

My fears were realized around the 4hr mark when we stopped and everyone disembarked in a small town, and a welding torch was brought out and sparks started to fly from the rear under-carriage. I start to envision being stuck here overnight and having to hitch the rest of the way to Lamu, Paul Theroux style, on the back of a cattle truck, but before I could my mental scenario we were all loading back onto the bus and on our way, the 4hr mark having come and gone, the 5hr mark approaching fast.

I asked my friendly sear neighbor how far was left and he assured me not far. Around 5 1/2hrs we pulled into a slightly larger town and my neighbor started to get off and casually mentioned that I only had another 50km to go...an eternity on this road!

Upto this point we had managed to stick to the informal rule of one person per seat, a rule that was suspended at this stop; before long every free seat and the aisle-way were filled with passengers, live chickens, sacks of who-knows-what, and other assorted items. And we were on our way. With this new ballast crowding the bus and our slow speed preventing any breeze, the internal temperature soon reached sauna heat and my skin responded with an issue of sweat from every inch, which continued until I got off. Now I knew why my seat had been damp when I'd gotten on the bus that morning!

Around the same time my nose decided it could no longer handle the fine dust floating around; a volley of sneezes ensued and my snot factory started pumping out what felt like gallons of the vicsous liquid...and me with few tissues!

We continued for another 1 1/2hrs before reaching the water, during which there was at least one point, after a sneezing fit, where I wanted to jump up and yell obcenities. Fortunately I made it off and collected my bag without incident, alreadying trying to figure out how to avoid the ride back. 4-5hrs, HA! The experience left my body feeling like I'd spent the last 7 1/2 hrs in a cement mixer, my organs rearranged, my teeth ground down to nubs, and my back and neck knot ridden.

Watamu

After saying good bye to the girls, I wandered through downtown Mombasa in the vague direction I was pointed and hopefully toward the matatus to Malindi. Fortunately I was able to find one without too much trouble and was on my way only 15mins after I set out...not bad. About 10 mins into the ride the conductor starts to ask for the fare, 250 shilings, and I start to dig my money out when I hear a flurry of swahili arguments going back and forth between all the other passengers and the driver and conductor. The next thing I know we are turning around and drive all the way back into Mombasa...it turns out that the normal fare is 200 shilings.

We all pile out of the matatu and an hour after the first ride debacle I find myself on a larger bus ambling along toward Malindi. A few hours, some flooded roads, and a couple of naps later I find myself in Watamu just as its getting dark. I manage to fend off the touts and quickly make my way to Villa Veronica, my home for the next 3 nights.

My first day out I managed to find an internet cafe where I met a group of about 9 girls from all over the world working near by at an eco-concervation center called 'A rocha', all doing various research or volunteer work. They kidnapped me for the day and took me back to their place for lunch. We spent the afternoon playing pictionary, body surfing in the warm indian ocean, I fixed an email problem for them and they fed me dinner before dropping me back in town.

While I had planned to spend day two doing a bit of snorkeling, I missed the outgoing boat and ended up relaxing on the beach with my book instead. By day three I was ready to get up to Lamu Island...

Mombasa

Even though it was nice to take an extended break in Nairobi, after four and a half weeks I was a bit ready to get back on the road and see a bit more of Kenya, so last thursday I hopped an overnight bus to the city of Mombasa on the coast, a place I was anxious to see, having fond memories of Christmas there 10 years go. After a fairly bumpy bus ride, over rutted, pot-holed roads that left my neck a knotted mess, we rolled into Mombasa and its moist, sticky heat around 9am.

After checking into the Beracha Guest House, I spent the first day strolling around the city and hitting the tourist spot of the old 'Fort Jesus' (an old portugese coral fort), where I got a tour from a guide who did little more than read the posted signs, point out the cannons and century towers, and ask me for more money, after which I headed for a brisk walk through the old town, which under the mid-day sun left me drenched.

That evening I made the acquaintance of 2 american girls, that had moved back to Mombasa for a year of volunteer work after being here two years ago for study abroad, and a canadian girl who was back visiting after spending some time working at a refugee camp near Turkana last year. They were kind enough to let me tag along with them the next day through the market (a darker, danker, trash strewn version of those in turkey), find some good cheap food, and a cheap but slow internet joint.

That night the girls convinced me to go with them to the local club 'Tembo' (elephant), which, after a 20 minute matatu ride where I was wedged in a hole between two middle seats, turned out to be a lot of fun. Having seen few other white people in mombasa upto that point, I was surprised at how many were at the club. A quick survey revealed that these were far from my peers: I was a few years to young, my gut several inches to small, my hair count a few million too high, and I was missing the requisite prostitute or two wrapped under each arm.

After a late night/early morning, and a hot lethargic third day, I hopped another bus to the near by town of Watamu.

Review:Dark Star Safari

Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux is a, somewhat pessemistic, travelogue recounting his overland trip through africa from Cairo to Cape Town in 2001, 35 years after he first worked as a peace corps volunteer in Malawi and Uganda.

Admittedly, the pessimism gets tiresome at times but often leads to some interesting insight, especially concerning the role of aid and development in Africa today. Refreshingly, he is fairly well read in regards to these topics during the trip, and cites several books for follow up (which I've since added to my list).

For those interested in a high level, American travelers perspective the changing Africa, or looking for a throught provoking travelogue that's slightly less humorous than those of Bill Bryson I would highly recommend this.

Some of my favorite travel oriented quotes from the book:

• "The best travel is a leap in the dark."
• "Traveling makes one modest - you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world."
• "I had no names, no contacts, just the idle wanderer's distinct confidence that having arrived here I was available for some sort of enlightenment; that I would meet the right people, that I would be fine."
• "You visit a place and peer at it closely and then move on, making a virtue of disconnection."

Review: A Wole New Mind

One of the best, albeit only, 'business' books I've read on this trip, A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink is a must read for anyone who is wondering how to adapt to and diversify in the new economy, the 'Conceptual Age' as he calls it. Process oriented jobs that have led the economy for the past five decades are on teh wane. He tells you to ask three questions about what you're doing:

• Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
• Can a computer do it faster?
• Is what I'm offering in demand in an age of abundance?

If you answer yes to either of the first two, or no to the last then you should consider picking up this book.

After the initial background, the bulk of the book is dedicated to strengthening the less process, more creative sides of your right brain (what he calls the six senses): design, story, symphony, empathy, play, meaning. For those interested in being more creative this book is worth the price simply for the the resources, and exercises that are listed in each 'sense' area. Highly recommended!

Review: The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver follows the life of an American missionary, his wife and four daughters as they move to the middle of Zaire to convert the natives, and how this experience defines the rest of their lives. A great story, made more enjoyable I think by having just finished 'East Along the Equator' which gave me a good, brief history of the Congo upto and including the time that this book takes place. Kingsolver does a wonderful job of weaving history and fiction into the stories of her strong, diverse, and surprisingly relatable female characters. I think this may appeal more to the women, but a good and quick read in any case.

Fruit Salad

Since arriving in Kenya I have not been able to get enough of the fruit here! While unfortunately it isn't mango season, I've made up with copious amounts of papaya (which I usually hate in the US), super-sweet mini bananas (which I've never seen in the US), pineapple, passion-fruit, pawpaws, oranges...all either on their own or in delicious fruit-salads. Now I conciously know why I unconciously dread the American Fruit Salad: it looks like heaven but falls far short of approaching any approximation, in taste, of its African counterpart; such deception!

Old Friends

Before Sambo headed back to the states we made a few rounds of visits to check in with some of the old family friends from back in the day, most of which I hadn't seen for over 10+ years. It was a great experience to catch up with these shadowed figures from my childhood and interact with them in a bit more of a 'grown-up capacity', and have them illuminate my african past a bit to me through stories of when I was young.

Geotagging Photos

Being the super-nerd that I am, after Flickr came out with their new photo map, I caved to an idea my friend Clint had suggested at the beginning of my trip and bought a small GPS unit to use in geotagging my photos, so that they will now automatically show up on the map at the exact spot that I snapped them. For anyone else interested in doing this, here is a good primer on geocoding using the same GPS receiver I picked up; for the technically inclined.

My camera caused a bit of trouble with the 'Time Zone', so if anyone does actually decide to give this a try and runs into any issues feel free to shoot me an email and I can let you know what I had to do to finally get it going.

Masai Village

While staying at the Mara Safari Lodge we also had an opportunity to go and visit a nearby Masai village. As soon as we stepped through the entrance to the village we were greeted by a wonderfully friendly little boy that followed us around for the duration. We watched the masai men do their jumping dance to the sound of their low, hypnotic song(amazing to watch), while the women sang the accompanyment. They were nice enough to let me make a fool of myself and jump with them. We toured one of the hutments, talked with the 'chief', played with the children, and wrapped things up with a visit to their market.

The Spotted Plains

Also while my father was here, he was generous enough to take me on a three day safari while he was here to the Masai Mara game reserve. I hadn't been on a 'safari' for quite a few years, and was curious to relive one of those childhood experiences I remember being so much fun if not a bit scary (with sambo behind the wheel).

After a short, but tumultuous, plane ride in a 13 seater (the smallest plan I've been in) we arrived at our accomodation, the Mara Safari Lodge, my stomach rumbling, to find a cool, minty towel and fresh mango juice awaiting us. Despite the experience consisting of sleeping in 'tents' (a very loose definition of the word) the Mara Safari Lodge would prove to be the nicest place I've stayed on this trip, with excellent food and wonderful people.

After dropping our bags we hopped into the Toyota Land Cruiser for our first drive, where we quickly saw a few lions, elephants, and an abundance of zebra and wildebeast, a fortunate trend that would continue for the next two days over the course of which we also saw lions eating a kill, a leopard and her cub roaming around on the ground (a rarity), and a bevy of other animals, only missing out on the cheetah. While the game driving was certainly a lot of fun, by the end of the second day I was definately safaried out, and tired of the clouds of ultra-fine dust continually wafting through the window to settle in my lap, mouth, eyes.

The Mara Safari Lodge also hosted a different cultural event each night after our return from a day of driving: a nature talk (did you know that hyenas are the only mammals capable of digesting bone?), a masai dance, and a masai cultural talk ( Masai meaning 'the ma speaking people' and mara meaning 'spotted plains'). The weekend was a great, relaxing, 'vacation' experience, but perhaps a bit too touristy for me at this point in my travels, despite which I still took the opportunity to snap a healthy number of obligatory animal photos; my photo numbers paled in comparison to the others in our vehicle: quality not quantity, I hope.

Photos: Masai Mara

Lake Naivasha

My father was recently in town and I had the opportunity to go with him to a conference on lake Naivasha, a large lake located about two hours north west of nairobi. It was great to be able to relax by a bit of water, have some great local food, and meet a lot of great people. One night while sitting and having dinner we were joined by two women, Lydia and Keanu. We started talking about Kenya and why we were there, and my father mentioned that we lived here for several years when I was a tike, to which they asked me what my kikuyu name was. I told them I didn't have one, so they proceeded to give me one: kamau. I asked what it meant and they said they didn't know, but with a little research I discovered that it means 'quiet warrior', an apt name as anyone who knows me would surely attest:)!

Photos: Naivasha

The Carnivore

Two fellow travelers, Kristen and Fernando, that I met back in southern Turkey on the blue cruise, were passing through Kenya this weekend on their way to a 22 day overland tour from Nairobi to Victoria Falls. I was fortunate to catch up with them and join their tour group for a great night and dinner at one of Nairobi's best restaurants: Carnivore.

What an experience! The restaurant was exactly as it had been described to me: you start the meal with a flag at the center of your table, as long as that flag is standing waiters will continue to come by offering to cut you a slice of various meat from traditional beef, chicken, lamb to ostrich, camel and crocodile, all skewered on big swords used to carry the meat and dispense from. After stuffing yourself to a point of incapacitation, the flag is lowered in 'surrender' and you're forced to make a little more room as they bring out coffee and dessert.

I think we all had a great night talking with fellow travelers, and reverting to primal instincts as serving after serving of nothing but meat was carved from big skewered slabs onto our plates. I have to say that my favorite was definitely the ostrich meatballs. I was really surprised when I finally stood up to waddle out of the restaurant, to see that it had taken us over 3 hours to finally surrender. Definitely not a place for vegetarians!

Photos: Nairobi

The Matatu

For the past week I've been staying about 20-30 mins out of town in a suburb of Nairobi called Karen and have been using local mini-buses, known as matatus. The matatu is the primary mode of transportation in and around Nairobi as far as I can tell. I remember matatus from my previous visits as being large, elaborately decorated 'buses' of sorts with passengers standing in the aisles and hanging from the doorways. Apparently the government realized that this type of arrangement posed significant safety risks and in recent years has clamped down and started enforcing regulations regarding number of passengers (14 max), licensed drivers, and uniform appearance (white with a yellow stripe) of the matatus.

Despite the threat of said regulations I think it's still safe to say that you're taking your life in your hands when you hop onto a matatu. Each matatu has a driver and 'conductor' of sorts responsible for calling a stop to pickup/drop off passengers as well as collect the fare. I've noticed on all of the matatus I have ridden that both the driver and conductor invariably have tear filled, blood shot, glassy eyes and offer a blank, zombie start that doesn't exactly inspire confidence. They also often appear to chew some kind of grassy looking material which I have been told is to help them stay awake for long hours of driving.

Being that these small mini-buses lack any 'next-stop' buzzer to tell the driver to stop, the conductor and driver use a complex system of either tapping a coin against the window, a harsh, piercing sound meaning 'stop' to pickup/drop off, or a few bangs against the outside door to signal 'go time' accompanied by a running jump back into the matatu as it gets rolling. Another common practice I was somewhat caught off guard by is that of filling up at the gas station with the engine still running!

What the matatu lacks in western safety standards and practices, it makes up for in fun, cheap experience. It is a great, cheap way to get around; bones and bus rattling in unison along eroded, pot-holed roads, with music blasting from small, tinny speakers, a friendly kenyan with a big, bright smile squeezed in next to you, and a warm breeze in your face.

Baby Elephants

After leaving the Masai Market, Michelle was kind enough to invite me along on a day of site-seeing with her and her brother that coming Friday. We started the day with a trip to an elephant orphanage, where we waited behind a small rope in anxious anticipation for the animals to come get their milk. Before long they all came running out of the bushes near by and made a b-line for the milk bottles. We were able to get up close and personal with about a dozen baby elephants ranging from a few months to a couple years in age. All of the elephants at the orphanage are babies who have been rescued from the wilderness for one reason or another, often because their parents have been the victims of poaching. The elephants are taken care of and brought up to be reintroduced into the wild at a suitable time. It was really fun to be so close and watch these 'kids' splash around in the mud, eat their leaves, and exhibit their individual personalities as they played around with each other.

From the orphanage we caught a ride over to the Giraffe Center, where we were able to climb a platform and hand feed several giraffe, even getting coaxed into giving one a 'kiss'. They had obviously been through the exercise many times before and just shot out their incredibly long, sticky, purple tongues as soon as you got close and vacuumed up the feed pellets. I thought I heard one of the employees say something about them being on a diet, and to feed sparingly, but that was obviously lost in the crowd. We apparently showed up on school field trip day and were soon joined by a large group of elementary school kids.

After making sure we had a good layer of sticky giraffe saliva on our hands and my face we headed over to 'Bomas of Kenya', a performance of local music and dances from around Kenya. Apparently this was another stop on the field trip, and elementary school kids started filling the hall soon after we arrived. The performance lasted roughly two hours and exhibited nine different dances, capped off with an acrobatics show that was certainly the favorite of the school kids.

Masai Market

During my first week in Nairobi, while I was still trying to figure things out a bit, I was fortunate to be introduced to a fellow traveler, Michelle, that now lives in Nairobi and goes to school here. She mentioned that she and her mom were going to be visiting the masai market on the following Tuesday if I wanted to join them. Since I hadn't really gotten into the city I jumped at the chance and rose early Tuesday, caught a ride into town and met Michelle and her mom on a street corner near the market, and we headed into the market.

The market consists mainly of a series of small, square, low dirt mounds, where goods are laid out, with narrow pathways between each mound to allow people just enough room to squeeze by each other. Although on a much smaller scale, the atmosphere was very similar to the grand bazaar in Istanbul in terms of people trying to get your attention and show you to their stall, however, with a slightly more laid back demeanor. Since I wasn't in the market to buy that day, I found that 'I'm not buying today' was a pretty good deterrent.

We wandered around for about an hour and a half laughing and joking with stall owners, with Michelle driving some hard bargains for a few select items of her mom's choosing from the vast array of wood carvings (both animals and masks), brightly colored beaded jewelry, wall hangings, spears and knives, sarongs, and more. While I didn't pick anything up this time around, I will certainly be making another trip back to the market to find a few things that caught my eye.

Review: Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis

'Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis' by Jimmy Carter, is a very quick read and look at the current state of some of America's policy and the 'moral values' or lack there of driving that policy. While he does tend to toot his own horn a fair amount, he raises some valid and interesting points. Certainly a bit of a simplistic look at American Policy, I would recommend it to anyone with a couple of hours to spare and a belief in the fallacy of 'the moral majority'.

Review: East Along the Equator

'East Along the Equator' by Helen Winternitz is the story of a couple who embarks on a journey through Zaire primarily via the Congo river, in the early 1980's. The book describes their encounters with local merchants, catholic missionaries, secret police, and members of President Mobutu's cabinet as they work their way from Kinshasa east to Goma and back again.

While now a bit dated, this book provided an excellent view of what Zaire was like during the time of the entailed trip, as well as a historical look at the Congo as a colony of Belgium and how it ended up in it's present state.

Review: A Fine Balance

After an interesting discussion about India with a fellow traveler in Turkey who was heading that way, he highly recommended I read 'A Fine Balance' before I got there. This was another book that I had never heard of, but as soon as one person mentioned it I heard about it from several people over the course of the next couple of days. I picked it up on my way out of Turkey and spent my first three days in Kenya thoroughly engrossed. The story of four characters in Bombay during the mid-70's that end up together via a series of circumstances, this book takes you from utter despair to triumphant hope and back again. As another friend characterized it, "The best, depressing book you'll read."

A great read for anyone interested in knowing more about Indian life and culture, or wanting a tale of joy and sorrow

Review: Extremely Loud and Incrediby Close

'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' by Jonathan Safran Foer was another book I was fortunate to pick up in Cinque Terre. Flipping through the book I noticed several random images, that seemed out of place, and I was anticipating one of those books that is all ove the place, with the author 'trying things'. The person that passed it along said it was a good book, but didn't give it a rave review by any means, and being that the book is centered on a boy who loses his father in the World Trade Center disaster I didn't have high hopes. I'm happy to admit that I was wrong and pleasantly surprised. Despite 'trying a few things' and perhaps because of them, along with his mastery of language, this was another book that found me choked up on my flight to Nairobi.

If you're looking for a tear jerker, I'd certainly recommend this one. I plan to pick up his first book 'Everything is Illuminated' which is supposed to be even better.

Review: Passage to India

My friend Anna from Cinque Terre was kind enough to pass along E.M. Forster's classic 'Passage to India'. Being another one of those books that I had heard was a quintessential read, I think I failed again to get what was expected. The book was certainly interesting and entertaining, providing a good example of cultural difference, but I had a difficult time imagining the 'India' described in the book, especially having read more contemporary India books. I will be curious to see which if any of these british colonial attitudes remain.

Nairobi, Kenya

After uneventful, but comfortable flights I arrived in Nairobi at 9am Friday morning. I'm sorry to say that apathy has kept me from doing or seeing much over the last few days, but promise to have some fun, photo filled updates soon.

Leaving Turkey

I have to say that I was somewhat sad to finally be leaving Istanbul; I had finally started to get the hang of things and know my way around, and it had become fairly comfortable with a small group of friends, familiar restaurants, and that comfortable starbucks;). Before Leaving I decided it was time to finally buy my first souvenier and upon Adam's suggestion, picked up a set of onyx worry beads from the grand bazaar. I have to admit that the beads have already proven their worth in distracting my mind when necessary.

Adam and I also took advantage of one more turkish bath on my last day in town, one that I'm sorry to say was both more expensive than and not as good as the first. The wash was quick but still resulted in a good shedding of rolls of dead skin. The massage only lasted about 5 minutes, and during my masseur's unnecessary preoccupation with my left leg, I swear I heard my left knee cap cracking against the marble. As you can see, the masseurs were just as happy about the experience as Adam and I.

My experience in turkey, the places I saw, the people I met, the food I ate, were amazing and I can safely say that it is a place I plan to visit again in the future.

Review: Miami Vice

Yes folks, in a moment of weakness, grasping at one last 'western' movie experience before heading to africa Adam and I ended up as 2 of 5 viewers in a giant theater where the sound was too loud to even understand half of the dialogue. Surprisingly, the sound problem took little away from the movie, as we still managed to decipher such jewels as "Is that your go-fast boat?","Yes","How fast does it go?","It goes very fast!" and "I'm a fiend for mojitos." To conclude, let me just say that despite how cool the poster looks, you might want to save this one for DVD...or the garbage whichever comes first.

The Kanyon Mall

I've been looking for a few things that I figured would be easier to find in Turkey than Africa and so Adam suggested checking out the new Kanyon Mall. I have to admit that I think this is the most interesting and unique mall I have ever seen; elegantly designed to be both in and outdoors, with gurgling fountains and frosted glass walkways, and chock full of great restaurants, clothes store, the biggest grocery store I've seen since leaving the US, and a myriad of other shops to cover just about everything one might need. Swank.

Review: The Razor's Edge

When I solicited some book recommendations back at the beginning of my trip, one book that had come highly recommended, but proved difficult to find was The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. I finally acquired a copy upon returning to Istanbul and was glad to finally sit down and read it. I have to say that the book wasn't quite the 'quintessential travel book' that I was expecting, but certainly a very insightful and enjoyable read about a young man that embarks on a journey of 'loafing' and discovery lasting many years. Before reading it, I had a difficult time finding an adequate summary and am afraid I won't do any better here, but definitely recommend it. It looks like there is also a DVD.

Africa, Looking Ahead

It's hard to believe both that I've already been gone for over 3 months and that only 3 months have past; the time since leaving seems like a blur and yet I've been so many places, seen and learned so much. What's even stranger to realize is that there are still 10 months to go! So far I've, somewhat unconciously, considered my time in Europe to be more of a warm of for Africa and Asia, in the sense that it is the most like home. With that in mind I am anxious to press on to Africa in anticipation of the challenges and experiences that await.

I've given a fair amount of thought to what I want to accomplish in my time there, and will spare everyone the finer details, but wanted to share a few items in brief, I: a) want to continue to meet and interact with interesting people and b) further develop the tools used in that exercise, c) begin to quiet my mind, d) find outlets for thinking and expressing myself more creatively, e) futher open myself to new and different cultural experience while identifying and setting aside my 'americanisms'.

Rather than spend so much time city hoping and siteseeing, which I will no doubt still do to some degree, I plan to spend some time doing volunteer work. To that end my friend Emilie has recommend two great resources that are great for finding volunteer opportunities all over the place: idealist.org and escapeartist.com.

Second Casualty

I keep meaning to mention this, and it's old, stale news at this point, but I lost my Nalgene bottle getting off of the train in Venice. I didn't have the leash on him and he ran off. That bottle had been all over the world with me and has been sorely missed this past month. Don't fret, there should be a replacement on the way soon.

Europe, a Retrospective

While resting up in Istanbul over the past week I've been spending a good deal of time reading, writing and reflecting over the past three months of travel and the trip thus far to determine to some degree how I've changed; what I've gained/lost and what I've liked/disliked about the trip so far.

Gained:
One of the biggest changes I think has been social, my social skills have vastly improved, due to necessity, and meeting people is no longer a slightly feared chore but a fun game that I look forward to almost daily. Traveling on my own has also been a bit harder, at times, than expected and I've also been thrown into a lot of situations where there has been no one to turn to for help and I've had to figure things out on my own, which has strengthened my self reliance and made me realize that I am much more capable of overcoming obstacles that I had realized. This in turn has translated into a more relaxed disposition; I'm no longer nearly as worried about things not working out and so have abandoned using that as an excuse not to do something, which has made me much more apt to try things that I might have been reluctant to in the past. All of these 'improvements' have further manifest in an overall sense of greater confidence, and belief that I might be able to complete this trip after all;).

Lost:
One of the things that I seem to have lost for now, is a sense of Focus. I definately have less idea or what I should be doing than I did when I started, which is probably a good thing for now. At the same time my mind is restless and in need of something to 'work on'. This is entirely acceptable for now, but I will definately be trying to identify some 'goals' for my time in Africa.

Liked:
There have been a lot of likes on this trip so far, certainly interacting with new and different people, seeing sites, and enjoying food and culture has been at the top of the list, and seeing as that was a large reason for the trip it should be no surprise. It's also been great to read so much and back into that habit, as well as the habit of writing on a semi-daily basis, which has allowed me to collect my thoughts for better focus and reflection. And somewhat to my surprised I have really enjoyed the photography aspect, and like to think that I'm getting a bit better, and have to admit that sometimes I wish I had a dSLR.

Disliked:
There have been few dislikes thus far, but the major one has been the constant travel (every 2-3 days), which I never intended but occured due to a series of circumstances. Certainly this let me see a lot, but moved many experiences from qualitative to quantative in that I didn't have any chance to get to know a place before moving on again. Also, the incessant movement was both physically and mentally draining which further diluted the quality of experience in some places.

I'm working on determining how I can apply what I've learned over the first three months to the next three months in an attempt to maximize my experience in Africa. Having said all that one thing I plan to try and diminish somewhat is over-analysis!

As always, any feedback, comments, (dis)agreement, etc is welcome and appreciated.

Meeting People

One of the best things about this trip so far has been the people, and the chance to meet such a wide range of them. They have provided great information, been a sounding board for ideas and questions, and greatly enhanced the experiences of each place.

Being thrown into situations where I step off the train into a new country/city and don't know the language, have no idea where I'm going to spend the night, and don't even have a map has forced me to improve my social skills and meet people much more readily than I would have in the past, and it has had amazing results in terms of how easy is now is to meet people. I think part of this ease may be attributed to practice but also recognize that a large contributing factor is the conducive environment that traveling allows. I'm hoping (and practicing so) that when I get 'back to reality' this new found skill/confidence will translate.

Unfortunately, this abundance of meeting hasn't been without it's downside: constantly starting the 'get to know you' process only to part ways and start over again on a daily basis becomes mentally and somewhat emotionally draining. It gets old. I've started to come up with some new ways to mix things up and will see how that works out. Despite the drain of so many constant encounters I feel a compulsion to keep meeting, not quite sure if it is driven by a hope that the next interaction will lead to a lasting/sustainable friendship, or perhaps by the new found confidence of feeling that I can now approach and interact with people at will with only an occassional and subdued fear of rejection.