This last weekend was a great trip out of town, a month ago I was talking with another family here in Nairobi and we both said that we wanted to go up to Eldama Ravine, so we thought it would be a great opportunity for us all to go up together, and have a few others come along. Well, it ended up starting out at the beginning of the week with the six singles (minused two by the time we left) that are here right now, and two families planning to head out on Saturday.
Our day started early Saturday, you all know that early is not my strong point and I had to remember everything, not just myself, but since I helped out with lots of the preparation, I had made food for a couple dinners and done all the shopping for the list that they were responsible for, there was lots of stuff!
Destination...Eldama Ravine, about 221 km or 3 hours outside of Nairobi, in Western Kenya, in the Northern Hemisphere. So that is right, we crossed over the Equator, it was so exciting...but we didn't stop for a picture, you just have to believe me!
this is what the sign looks like with a random kid next to it!
What we did before the Equator was quite fun...now what is your first reaction to what activity you can do when you put two guys that own Land Cruiser's together? The goal was to find the best off roading trails available to man! We did this incredible terrain drive up a mountain, and over the hill and through a field. We were so entertained by it at one point I looked out the window to see at least 100 kids following and chasing after us. A few of the older adults actually came out to watch us, and laid down on the grass laughing at us Crazy White People "Mzungu" in Swahili would drive over and through anything that we could find. It was a blast...the best part was this amazing puddle in the road...that covered the entire road for 1/4 of a km and it was deep, one of the trucks half disappeared into the muck it was great. Then it was our turn to go through that, it was just as much fun doing it as it was watching it.
This is Kate..she jumped in the driver's seat when the guys went out to
assess the path we were on...she started by revving the engine...
the guys quickly came running back up the hill to
see what us girls got ourselves into....ha ha ha! We really scared them!
(And no...I didn't put her up to anything...she thought of it all on her own ;) )
Lets just say...that everything made it there in one piece except that the watermelon...didn't really taste good on one side, I made the comment without thinking. It's funny, the watermelon is really good on one side and then it seems that it is bruised on the other. Then it clicked that the watermelon didn't survive the ride.
One of the stops was at the Elma Barrett Children's Home on the way there, our friends have been helping out there short term for the last 8 months. It was a great experience to see and meet all the children there. When we got there...they were all busy with Saturday chores.
This was the boys dorm...the girls dorm was to my left
and just finishing up on construction
As you can see everything is green and lush...
Kenya has been blessed by rains throughout the country...almost ending a five year drought.
I learnt a new game this weekend, called Hand and Foot, it is great I am eager to teach it to anyone that is willing to play. We also played Dutch Blitz...I was in my element, but with the worse migraine that night it was hard to concentrate but you know me...I play hard no matter how tired, how sick, or how much in pain I might be.
Sunday morning we set out for a Sunday morning stroll....ha! That was what we were misinformed about. It was great. One person thought we were out for a hike, another thought we were on the search for a waterfall. Neither knew what the other knew. So we hiked for a bit, also with three young girls that were 5, 6, and 7, so then our hiking turned into a game of tag in the forest. Now I have to clarify this forest had trees that were spaced out by three meters and all in a direct line, so this forest had wide open spaces. So we ran around for a while playing tag with the kids, but then the kids got smart and saw that I would protect them, so we hid out together. They were tired and ended up heading back home. Well the other still wanted to search out the waterfall, so smart me said...I think I hear it! It has to be close. Me the Canadian, can also hear a tree fall in the forest when no one is around!
So since I got these guys convinced, my mistake was that I forgot that we had three MK's (missionary kids) with us, they all grew up in a third world culture. So, we set out on an adventure, we ran up a hill and into the forest, went through the forest, found what looked like a sink hole at the top of the hill some thought it was a crater??? (not sure what they were thinking). Then we decided we needed to head back for lunch...so these guys thought, there has to be a shorter route back down through the forest...a whole other way. So headed down the hill, and over left and then back over right, and then back up, and then back over left, and down again, to head up, please note while we were in the forest we had Kenyan children running and giggling at us. About half way through our adventure and we really seemed that we were just bush whacking and mud sloshing I thought out loud, does anyone have good enough swahili to as the children how to get out on a path? No one answered, but the last trek back up one of the guys thought to ask. They lead us out of the nasty bushes, and mud, but not before I ended up with a branch stuck in my finger and one of the girls ended up siding down a hill with mud, as she was trying to go back up. I ended up bleeding profusely and it was the smallest cut ever but also scrapped up my fingers really well.
But through all that we ended up losing the 3 MK's, two of them thought they would continue through the trees instead of around, and the other remembered he had the keys to where lunch was and ran ahead. Leaving a California, a Virginian, and the Canadian to get out on their own.
So all in all, it was a pretty good hike, I survived to tell you all about it so it wasn't all that bad. I am just a little cut up, have a swollen finger, and a little sunned by it all. Yes, randomly I have a swollen finger that shouldn't surprise us at how random it is. But as the day went on my finger just was getting sore and now I can't seem to bend the top knuckle of my fore finger on my right hand and it is swollen.
It isn't serious but it has provided a few laughs so far, for instance...I can't write...I learnt that as I tried to pick up a pen to write, in front of someone I wrote like a gimp with two fingers and a thumb with my sore finger sticking out. I also can't open anything, or carry anything. And my finger just points out because it can't bend. It is stinkin hilarious because it is so random but it does hurt but the good news is that I can type with little pain. I just have a fat finger that doesn't bend so well.
Other than that...the weekend was great, it was relaxing. We started off the weekend with a trip to Diamond Plaza on Friday night with some great Indian Food and a trip to the DVD store. Can I just comment...the guy at the store is hilarious! He always likes to sell us movies, and his claims that they are the best quality is sometimes funny. Like the last movie I got from there...people in the movie got up and down and walked in front of the camera during the movie, one the movie was in German, with German subtitles, and Swahili spoken was in English subtitles or something like that. I have always enjoy the DVD experience itself, rather than the movie that is on it. It is hilarious!
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