I loved day 3!! After sleeping at least until the sun woke up I felt well rested for the day! I got ready with Tina quickly and we went out for breakfast. A quick "Jambo" to the previously intimidating security was returned with a huge smile, a "Jambo" and a "Good Morning!" The friendliness in Kenya put an extra bounce in my step this morning.
Breakfast was wonderful, it didn't contain the small confusion and hesitance that the first day did. I felt like a regular now and knew just what I wanted to eat at the buffet and where to get it. Time was running out for packing before I finished my coffee and we joked that I should just run out and hide it but I just asked the "gent" at the door if I could take my coffee to my room and he said, "of course."
After the workout of packing everything up again I was struggling to get my suitcase and duffle up the ramp. Suddenly I felt my duffle that I had been dragging behind me pick up. The kind security guard was helping me!!
After checking in at the reception Tina and I had time to run and take a picture by our favorite tree in the guest house gardens. We ran over and asked the same security guard if we could hop the ledge and take a picture by the tree which he said was okay. Then Tina asked if he could take the picture and he did. It was adorable, he was hesitant because the sun was shining behind us, then another guy showed up and was trying to help him by blocking the sun a little with his hand. He finally pushed down the button and asked if it took. We laughed and said we didn't know but when we checked they pictures had turned out nicely. The intimidating security guard with a uniform similar to our military answered our questions about the tree with a smile. It was in the banana tree family but you couldn't eat the bananas from it. After a few "asante sana's" we ran back to the van and started our journey to the Mount Kenya Highlands.
On the way we drove by a coffee farm. I raced to get my camera and thought I had missed it. I had a few pictures but didn't take the time to absorb the view of the farm. In my excitement I started sharing my vast knowledge of coffee farms with my classmates, whom I think were somewhat interested. None-the-less my instructor, Connie, asked me what else I knew and I was happy to share. Before I knew it we were driving past more coffee farms and I was taking more pictures and absorbing the view.
The farm passed and things calmed down when all of the sudden we passed another farm where farmers were actually picking the coffee cherries!! Again I jumped out of my seat ecstatically but I couldn't get a picture in time. Luckily, I believe Kate did. No more then five minutes later I saw coffee farmers laying the beans out in the sun and again I stuttered with excitement as I told everyone what they were doing.
I love Kenya.
I love Kenya.
Moments later my mood changed when I got confused and flustered at the curio shop. I ended up paying more then I should have and it made me feel a little sick. I knew it was my first time bartering and it didn't really go as I was told so I just used my frustration as bartering fuel for the next stop, the Karatina Market.
The Karatina Market was a large open space full of foods unfamiliar to me and a lot of people staring at us. It must look funny though, a stream of white faces perusing through a rural market in Kenya. I found a store with the bracelets I had been looking for. I had been told they were made of giraffe tail, elephant hair and grass, they looked like plastic. I didn't really care, they were cool looking. I bartered my way down to two for 500ksh and two other classmates purchased the same as well. As I walked out of the store and veered right a lady was trying to sway me to go to her store on the left. I told her that my group was heading that way and I needed to stick with them.
"One minute! One minute!" She exclaimed.
I said no thank you and moved along with my group. The lady at the next shop was trying to sell me some plates. I knew I wanted to get a few dishes as souvenirs for my friends and she offered me a deal on three so I took them. I found comfort in the fact that I could see Gishuru pacing outside the store making sure everything was okay and that maybe we were getting fair prices.
After looking at some spears and drums we all started heading back to the van. I was at the tail end of the line when suddenly the lady who wanted me to spend a minute at her store was following me and showing me her batiks. Why was this lady so insistent that I buy something from her? I have no idea but she followed me for the equivalent of two blocks showing me different batiks and having me help her hold them up so I could see better. My classmates up ahead were laughing at the situation and I was laughing as well as I said, "no thank you" with each step I took.
We headed across the street to a restaurant for lunch. Just like everywhere else we ate soup first. No more then three bites into the meal I felt my temperature sky rocket. This is it, I thought, the "travelers you-know-what" had found me. I excused myself and went to the bathroom. False alarm!! I was relieved but still a bit nervous. We finished our lunch and headed down to the van.
A kid came running up to us and was asking for money. All of the sudden, out of no where a guy came out swinging a club. At first I didn't know what was going on but I soon realized the guy with the club was chasing the kid away from us. We climbed onto the van and an argument of some sort was going on on the other side between two men, the guy with the club, our driver and our guide. I'm not sure if they were actually arguing but it sure sounded like it. The kid was still asking us for money through the window up until we finally drove off.
Excitement again!! We were driving by another coffee farm! Whoa! We were making a u-turn! Whoa!
Gishuru talked to us about the coffee process but I guess I was just too excited to pay attention. I ran around taking far more pictures of the coffee trees then is really necessary. I was actually a little surprised as to how small the cherries were considering Kenya has the largest coffee bean in the world, thats right, the world.
We were getting out to hug the coffee trees!!!!!
Well, okay, I was getting out to hug a coffee tree, everyone else was just getting out to laugh at me.
After another short drive we arrived at our camp with it's resident baboons. I wasn't really sure I was ready to only let a piece of vinyl separate me from Kenya at night but I didn't really have a choice. After a lesson on tent pitching we got into tent groups and made camp. I was tenting with Meghan, Tina and Kate. It was Kate's first night sleeping in a tent, ever.
We were sitting around the table having coffee when we decided to go take pictures of the baboons close by. Animals make me nervous so I hung in the back of the group but the next thing I knew we were on a hike with a guide looking for elephants. Why when someone tells you if you see something to back away and then immediately you want to go searching for it is beyond me. None-the-less, there we were searching for elephants.
After about a hour the guide said the elephants must have gone to sleep because we couldn't find them. "Hakuna Matata" was my reply, and the first time I said anything in Kiswahili during conversation.
Dinner was ready for us right when we got back to camp. We ate and then sat around the campfire. I sat next to Sarah and we searched for the big dipper in the sky, which eventually we found just upside down. We played Zumi Zumi, lead by the amazing Josey. After a lot of giggles I finally headed for bed. I didn't sleep very well but I got in a good rest anyways.
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