To Hell in a Land Rover

Ok, well I really didn't go to Hell, but I did go to Hell's Gate National Park near Lake Naivasha down country, and it was just as exciting as the name implies! I was invited to go camping with my girlfriend Michelle and some friends from up in Northern Kenya, the Middletons. I've never actually been camping in Kenya, as the western version of camping goes (with a tent, a gas cooker, a sleeping bag and a mat that doesn't actually do much against the rocks underneath), so this was a bit of an adventure!

We loaded up two Land Rovers with provisions and drove two hours out of Nairobi towards this park known for its major geothermal activity (steam vents, energy plants and hot springs.) Once in the park, we set up camp on a bluff above a long, narrow valley that hosts herds of zebras, buffalo, warthogs (pumbas!) and even giraffe couples. I mean, literally we were feet away from the edge of a cliff!

(View from our tent)

The activities of the following two days included rock climbing lessons with the Middletons which were terrifying and addicting all at the same time. I have clinical acrophobia (I diagnosed myself) which should immediately disqualify rock climbing from any activity I would try, however, everyone else was doing it, so... The guys roped three courses, easy, medium and hard, and in the end I successfully completed the easy and medium ones with, I admit, much groaning and screaming, "Now what?!" It feels good to say, "Yah, I've rock climbed in Kenya." but I've suffered from some pretty serious aching shoulder joints since then.

(Looking like a pro - ish.)

We also hiked the volcano (extinct now, but still steaming up a storm!) and the gorge, a narrow trail carved out of soft sandstone by the random comings and goings of floods. The gorge was beautiful - stunning, really, with its rippling stone walls and hot spring waterfalls. And it provides quite a rush realizing that a flash flood could come and wipe you out at any time since there's no way out of the gorge, except the "designated trail heads." Or maybe up - if I could tap into my new found climbing skills.(Love some sandstone)

(Michelle and I)

(Graffiti in the gorge - Evan must be desperate...)


The volcano, Hobley's Volcano, is, I believe, what must have inspired Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. It's just other-worldly enough, with its steaming vents and crumbling terrain, to lend itself to science fiction, but also real enough to invite speculations of, "What if I climbed down into this cave? I wonder if it would be like that Planet Earth episode..." We didn't actually climb down into the cave, on account of the fact that that would have been supremely dangerous, but we did slip and slide around the cliffs and threw feather light pumice stones to each other. (Caleb Middleton ponders the volcano.)



Other notable events on our vacation included Caleb chasing a giraffe and Michelle and I running into a jackal on the way to the toilet one night. And so, finally getting out of Nairobi and traveling to the gate of Hell has been, ironically, quite good for my city weary soul.

(Caleb Klay vs. African wildlife)

Beads and Mommas

Finally! It's only been a year and a half, but my "irrtiyo" (multi-strand bead necklace) has been completed by Momma Nareyo! Technically all the beads were put together last year, but somehow they became a sort of "min chimbirr" (bird's nest), so I asked Momma to make them look nice - and did she ever! Thanks Momma!

(I'm also wearing my "rrimirrimo" which is the beaded headress - young, unmarried ladies put lots of sparklies on theirs, which is why mine is different from Momma's.)

Hi, I'm TaMARa (Not TAmara, as I initially believed)

This is my new roommate up in Korr, Tamara or "Tammy," as I prefer to call her, to avoid any mispronunciations! I'm so happy to finally have a friend to work with. I was the only young, single, white lady up in the area for about 6 months, and while I wasn't starting to go crazy by any means (or any crazier than usual), I was, perhaps, getting lost in my own head. When you work with teenagers in any context, and especially when those teenagers are from the bush of Kenya, you really do need someone alongside you to bring you back to reality or be on your team when your dealing with a cultural conflict. While her primary job in Korr is the assist in administration of the Tirrim Project, Tamara's been a great buddy for adventures out to "goobs" and a HUGE help with all my school work (typing up exams, grading papers...). She also has a great sense of humour, which is a necessity in our lives, and also loves obsessively reading quotes out of books aloud. I think we'll do great together.

Watch Swap

Well, the desert heat does more than damage my skin and cause me to move more slowly than I did during 6 am workouts for crew in college. Evidently the plastic they make sport watch bands out of is significantly susceptible to heat. My faithful watch band of the past year and a half has finally fatigued. For the past 2 months I've been using purple masking tape to hold bits together and even had Somo Chawle sew two broken pieces back together with something like 12 guage string, but...

So, while I've been in Nairobi one of my chores has been to get my watch band replaced. The shop I went to didn't have a pretty blue, plastic, sporty-looking band, but only had a black faux-leather thing. I asked if they had anything that looked more "youthful," or even one that matched the watch face, but nothing turned up. Even the cashier turned to where I was talking to the repairman and gave her two cents about how ugly the whole project was turning out. She then proceeded to show me her fashion watch, and suggested I buy one like hers. Well, the repair was only 500 shillings and a new sport watch was minimum 1500 shillings, so decision made.

Here's my newly repaired watch, mismatched and everything...

Euthanizing Euphemisms

"Girls usually crave for soil and calcium" (Samuel Basele commenting on females' unique mineral cravings.)

"She will kick the bush." (Ibrahim Kenyatta euthanizing euphemisms.)

"The Lord has provide us with air naturally without buying from anywhere." (Fascinating observations from Bosco Kombe.)

"We haven't seen each other for a long, but in God's grease we are together now." (Greasy grace from Jonah)

"When you die the body will remain in the dust, but the soul will go to the owner (God.)" (Never thought of it in those words... Larau Obeyle.)

"He says in a silent voice" (Eleemo Moga practicing the writing of stage directions in a drama dialogue.)

"That old man standing at the door wants to marry you since his first wife died. He promised that he will bring development to your family by buying your parents a black shiny limousine." (Jeremiah's Ilbilich's modern take on the bride price.)

"Haven't you heard about a girl in California who has three [years] and was married by a man of eighty and they really had a good relationship, until he died." (Jeremiah... again...)

Lake Turkana

(A traditional fishing raft of the Turkana tribe)

(Turkana boys holding up the gutts of a fish their dad caught.)

"The best and most exciting part" (a bit of my students' phraseology for you) of my trip to Loiyangalani was watching my students' reactions when we came over the hill of jet-black volcanic rock and had our first glimpse of Lake Turkana in Northern Kenya. Their faces said, "So that's what a lake is," "Wait, I'm confused," and "Wow," all in one expression. You can imagine that, living in a desert, these kids rarely ever see a puddle let alone somthing as expansive and stunningly colored as the aptly nicknamed "Jade Sea."

We traveled 7 hours in the back of a pickup to reach the lake where we were reportedly having a junior class Geography field trip, although I'm pretty sure it was just a vacation with an educational sounding title. (Anytime you eat meat every night and have sodas at least once a day is not your average sack-lunch day trip to the museum.) On our way we did observe the Ndoto Mountain Range, the rain shadow of those mountains, sand dunes and various igneous stones, although the geographical fact I was most interested in; why the lake is such a lovely green color, was never actually answered.

Setting our mattresses and crates of soda up at the mission base in Loiyangalani, a town on the southern tip of Lake Turkana, we went out to explore the natural springs that create the oasis in which Loiyangalani is situated. What a relief! After 7 hours in a bumpy, dusty, non-air conditioned car, I was finally able to stick my feet into a refreshing, although admittedly warmish, stream. The network of springs creates about a 4 sqaure kilometer swath of date palms and grass which I delighted in, taking way too many pictures of nondescript green.

(Exploring the Loiyangalani oasis.)

One crazy man (who told me I needed to drink the spring water to clean out my "womb") and a bean stew later and I was a new woman. That night, while the kids sat around making 6 million phone calls with the newfound network, I lay out on a bench waiting for the occassional cool lake breeze and pointing out the "man-made satellites." It's ironic how much more the kids know about downloading music and movies onto their phones than me, but they have so little idea about what satellites are and how they enable all this 21st century technology stuff!

The next day we were up early for a quick porridge breakfast (it's made with a little rough corn flour, a little milk and lots of sugar) then to the lake for water sports! We first hopped into a Turkana fishing boat, complete with beautifully carved oars, half-dead fish flopping around my feet and a dozen naked Turkana children splashing around our hull. I was so happy to be back on the water after 3 years of missing early mornings in the Newport Channel with Chapman Crew.

(Paddling around again.)

(Ismail trying his hand at rowing.)

The students flailed their oars around in desperate attempts to actually catch water and made me gasp when they would suddenly decide

to switch seats, causing our boat to rock and me to fear for my camera! In addition to rowing ourselves around the lake, Principal organized a 7 minute "Crocodile Watch" in a motorboat. Whether or not this was an intelligent thing to do in an area with no saftey regulations was kind of beside the point because I was the only one who was worried, and was therefore dragged along with the crowd. Clearly I made it out alive and wasn't all that disappointed that we saw no crocodiles.

(CROCODILES?!?!?!)

Fried catfish is a delightful mid-morning snack in my opinion! After our boating adventures we bought one of the freshly caught "mudfish," as their called in Turkana land, and had one of the local mommas fry it up for us. D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.

(Despite Gabriel's face (at left), the kids also enjoyed the fried fish.)

In the afternoon we went down to a bay near Loiyangalani for some swimming. It sounds perfectly benign, like a nice end to a sight-seeing-filled and hot day, but you have to remember the crocodiles. As the kids stepped their toes into the deceptively placid waters, I started a prayer that lasted a solid 1 1/2 hours; "Lord I can't handle a crocodile attack." I admit that I eventually decided to join the kids, figuring that I should take advantage of the only swim I'll have this year. Also, I realized that sitting in a grounded fishing boat by myself made me look lame.

Despite a constant sense of extreme danger, I had my dip in the lake, fully clothed, and actually enjoyed it! Adrenaline can really spice up a plain old swim...

(My crocodile lookout from that grounded fishing boat)

(Look Madame! I'm a porpise!)

.

Funniest Home Photos

Please watch the small boy running down the center of these three photos. His name is Juma Puma (well, the "Puma" is my nickname for him) and he is awesome at getting himself into trouble. For example...

Running off to join the big boys doing round-offs and cartwheels.

Roundhouse kick to the face.

Wipe-out. Bless his little heart.