Day 12: Nyimbo za Utamaduni

Due to staying up until 3:00am I had Mathew knock on my door to make sure I was awake in time. I organized a few of my things and headed for pancakes! I sat down probably looking half asleep still and they brought me one pancake and coffee, my last breakfast by myself. I was just about finished and when Charles brought two more pancakes for me. I sure am going to miss this place.

I sat in the lobby and waited for Mishoki, Amos and Patrick to arrive. When they did I quickly saw that Amos wasn't there, he overslept. We made our way to the gate of Mt Kenya and half way there Patrick jumped out to go to the office so I climbed into the front seat with Mishoki. Suddenly a dirt bike with two people on it pulled up in front of us. Mishoki told me it was Amos and sure enough Amos jumped off the bike and into the van.

We arrived at the gate and waited for my classmates. There were other people there so I just hung around quietly. Amos pointed a few things out to me, different trees and plants. He asked me if I wanted to walk down and see the cape buffalo and that it wasn't dangerous because there was a herd of them and that they're only aggressive when there is a single cape buffalo. I passed and we just stood there together, leaning on the jeep and staring up the trail waiting.

He asked if he wasn't there if I would have been still standing alone. I couldn't answer that because I didn't know for sure but I did tell him that I was sad and quiet because I wish I had a few more days by myself. He asked if I was going to tell them about getting my hair and nails done. I told him I was going to make this moment more about them and tell them about my week later. None-the-less when my classmates arrived Sarah, Kate, Meghan and Isaac attacked me with a nice stinky sweaty group hug and then immediately asked about my hair and nails. They already knew.

I listened to their stories and jealously looked at their pictures. Amos then walked a group of us down to the buffalo herd where I stayed close to him. After observing Amos's combination of street smarts and wilderness smarts for the last week he gave me a sense of comfort despite the fact that he would outrun me in less then a heartbeat if there was the threat of an attack.

We returned back to the gate and I helped my classmates carry their backpacks to the van. For a final farewell the porters sang the Jambo song for us and Connie gave them their tips. I was relieved that Amos also received a tip otherwise I would have felt guilty for making him come down the mountain. He did take care of me for a week so in my opinion he deserved it. My week alone in Kenya would have been very different if it wasn't for Amos. I was very grateful for his kindness and understanding.
We all climbed into the vans. Mishoki offered me the front seat and after asking if it was okay I climbed in. I looked over at Amos who was in the front seat of the other jeep. He was yelling something in Kiswahili to someone but then he looked at me, smiled and waved. As they pulled away he gave me a thumbs up which I took to mean everything was sawa sawa.

After everyone was in the van we headed back to Bantu. I knew it was going to be different with everyone there I just didn't know what to expect. After helping unload the bags Tina and I got room 20, right next to my previous room. We went in and unpacked. Tina hopped into the shower while I went to buy us some cokes. I walked outside and there seemed to be massive confusion going on. Apparently some of the rooms weren't ready and our guide was less then pleased about it. He stood there and told me we were leaving. I wanted to cry! I wasn't ready to leave my friends at Bantu! I had to say something, I told him how they had been beyond good to me at Bantu and that I felt back if we left. I left it at that and walked back into my room to take a few breaths. I wandered back out to purchase the cokes I had originally intended to when I saw Njoroge was around. I asked him if my interruption was rude, he said if I felt strongly about it then it was okay. Njoroge joined me to get a pop and we played a round of pool. Finally word came that we were staying, I was grateful for that.

Everyone showered and then we headed into Nanyuki for atm's, cybercafe and Kenya's version of wal-mart, Nakumatt. After checking my facebook and email I headed over to the atm because there was a whole row of curio shops calling my name. My knowledge of Kiswahili impressed the merchants and seriously helped me to barter a lower price then I may have otherwise received. I also had a better idea of pricing because of my previous day at the fair. I'm not really sure what I bought, some earrings, a necklace or two, a wooden carved spoon. There could have been other things, after a while you stop paying attention and just buy what you like, the more you buy the better the "package deal" they give you. Bartering was soon becoming my favorite thing to do in Kenya. I purchased a simple three strand necklace of translucent black beads for Evling at Bantu since she had been so nice and was the first one to start talking to me as a person rather then a customer. Without that my week would have been much different there as well.

We hopped into the van and headed to Nakumatt where I felt like a natural who had lived there for some time now. I was able to tell my classmates where to locate the things they wanted and knew right where to go to find what I was looking for as well. I purchased hand sanitizer and waited in the front of the store with my classmates. I realized I only had large bills which don't always go over well when bartering so I went back in and bought an alvera for 20ksh and paid with a 1000ksh bill. I then asked if he could break my other 1000ksh bills, he said he could only break one. The supervisor overheard us and he walked me to each cashier until all of my 1000ksh bills were broken down. I still cannot believe the kindness of the Kenyans, they will always help you whenever possible.

I came back out of the store and saw the coffee shop down at the end of the strip mall. Sarah and I decided to check it out. I ordered an americano and Sarah got a dish of ice cream. We sat down at a patio table and the expressions on our faces probably made it seem like it was the greatest thing we had ever tasted. Well, the ice cream was probably one of the best ice creams I'd tasted and the americano was much needed. Meghan joined us and we all shared our treats with each other before we headed back to Bantu.

We sat down for dinner and everyone was exhausted. We were slow to make our way to the buffet and when we did we didn't take much. Well, maybe I should say they, I hadn't recently climbed a mountain. Charles came up to our table and told us because of the confusion earlier we were getting a free traditional dance performance. After dinner we headed into the lounge area. Several students celebrated their return from the mountain with a tusker (Kenyan beer).

The drumming started and we watched several dances. Again they were doing the dance that told a story of a man fighting for a wife and again I got pulled into the dance to play the wife. This time I knew the routine and I just laughed as they wrapped the shawl around me and escorted me outside.

After I returned the music played overhead rather then drumming. In came two gorillas dancing around followed by an ostrich and an elephant, it was quite comical. Suddenly a gorilla grabbed my hand and despite my objections forced me up. I looked at the gorillas shoes and knew it was Mathew. I jumped around with him for a while and then quickly took safety back in my seat.

The night when on and a group of us hung out, played games, chit-chatted and goofed off for pictures.

(Above: Me and Sarah in their gorilla costumes with Mathew and the staff member who taught me "gota") (Below: this is how a "gota" is done!)

(Above: the staff with their "vote yes" paraphernalia) (Below: Steven, me and Charles)
It was our last night at Bantu, Steven, Charles and Evling all said they would miss me very much and that visitors like me were few and far between. I was going to miss them very much as well.