Kenya as told by Erica!

Hey all of John's fans. He thought it would be a good idea if I wrote the blog about when I visited John in Kenya from 9/5-9/20. This is gonna be a loooooong blog, just to forewarn you!

So the first place we stayed at was Serah and Ronnie's house (Ronnie worked for World Corps and brings volunteers to Wongonyi, his home village). We ate a lot of food, drank yummy chai (pretty much everyone drinks chai after meals, tea + milk, like chai is here I think) and John and Serah talked Kenyan politics. It was interesting how much Serah knew about Kenyan policies, government, etc. Made me want to be more involved in US politics...kinda. The "village" tradition is to eat as much as you want and asking for seconds is considered a compliment to the host. I was pretty happy about that, seeing as how I love seconds or thirds sometimes! Immediately I fell in love with Kenyan food...rice, chapati, stewed green gram (pojo). It was interesting to meet Serah when I first got to Kenya because she's more modern than I could have imagined a Kenyan. When I joked that she needed to teach me Swahili, she said she didn't even speak Swahili very often. I thought all Kenyans spoke Swahili all the time, practiced tribal traditions..that's not the case.

The next day John's host sister, Pyun/Kate (sp??), and her boyfriend, Brian, picked us up for our excursions all over Nairobi. First we went to the elephant/rhino orphanage. We got to see baby elephants being bottle-fed. They walked in a line following the park rangers, so cute. We went to the rhino stalls then a bunch of warthogs crashed the place. Everyone was petting the warthogs, but I kept a safe distance. Then we went to Ranger's for lunch. The patio was pretty cool because it was high up (so monkeys couldn't climb up) and we saw a huge group of baboons and other animals right off the patio. Definitely different getting to spot a bunch of wildlife at lunch. After lunch we went to the giraffe sanctuary. It's open land with fences where the giraffes can come right up to the people. The first thing I saw was an adorable, but huge, baby giraffe. It looked unreal. There was an upstairs where giraffes could stick their heads by to get food from visitors. Suzy was pretty eager for food and if she stopped getting food, she would head butt..there's even sign and it means serious business! Then we went to the Bomas, an auditorium where they showcase a group doing various tribal dances/songs/dress. All the songs/dances were all pretty interesting. Having a culture like that seems so rich and fun. For dinner we ate at Carnivore, a place with all-you-can eat meat carved off a sword. They have some exotic stuff like ostrich and alligator (I passed on the alligator, not John though). Finding that restaurant was quite the ordeal...there are 3 restaurants all connected. We had to pass through each one and figure out if it was the right place or not before we found the right one. Brian, who goes to school in Nairobi and hangs out at one of the places connected, had no idea Carnivore existed. He was pretty happy John discovered it. The thing about Kenya is that there are cats EVERYWHERE. They're all really cute and they're all obsessed with John, haha. The next day we went to Wongonyi, where John lives.

John's village is on top of one of the Taita Hills (they're HUGE, beautiful hills). I honestly can't say how I pictured his village, but I was still surprised by what I saw. Also, John's house surprised me. For some reason I didn't think he had windows and a locked door, but he does so that's good news. The things that stick out in my mind the most about Wongonyi is how beautiful and serene it is and how friendly and welcoming the people there are. Everyone greets each other and asks where each other is going, or they just give that information freely. People were surprised when I spoke what little Swahili I could and delighted when I greeted them in Taita (their tribal language), John taught me well! Kids were also surprised to see another foreigner, aside from John, and would just stare. An older person greets a kid with, "mambo" and the kid replies, "poa", which means cool. I love how Kenyan kids are taught to say that.

To walk around the village I needed hiking shoes or else I'd just tumble down everywhere. Pretty much everywhere walkable has some sort of incline. John and I hiked to/in the Bololo Forest...I think it's known for being a large indigenous forest. That place is gorgeous, really no surprise judging by everywhere else in Wongonyi. There are awesome look out points from along the hillsides; to rolling hills; Tsavo National park. Village mentality/hospitality is great! Everyone wanted us to visit and talk and that entailed sharing chai, food, etc. We met a random man on the hillside and he asked us in for chicken and chatting. They're all very generous and kind. We had dinner made by John's Wongonyi mama, Mama Judy. It was nice to see how much she cares for him, so Mama/Papa Juliano- you don't have to worry about John too much in Kenya because Mama Judy is looking out for him!

After spending Monday- Thursday in Wongonyi, we went to Voi to go on an all-day safari. On the safari, along with seeing elephants, giraffes, water buffalo..we saw lions. We were pretty close to them and they had been feeding on a small elephant...For lunch we went to the Voi Safari Lodge. The view was the best part about this place. Again, patio was raised, but the view was of Tsavo East National Park. They had a watering hole for elephants. You could also go down into this enclosed area to view the animals up close, pretty sweet. We were driving in the park from 7AM to 7PM. We stopped at a few points to see hippos, crocs, and Lugards Falls. I could go back to Lugards Falls anyday, so relaxing and beautiful. We were driving along the river with amazing sunsets. At night we stayed at a gift shop right outside the park owned by Okeno's friend (safari guide). In the morning we went to the river and one of the workers pointed out hippos and crocs hanging out, right there! He said they saw lions a little ways down the river the other day. Crazy!

We drove a few hours to Malindi on the coast to meet up with a few of John's Peace Corps friends. Then we went to Chris' village to go to One Love Island. One Love Island is a little place off the coast of Chris' village. It's rented by people for a day or so, they're the only ones on the island and food is canoed out. We swam in the Indian Ocean and the whole thing was pretty much a sandbar!

Monday we set out for Lamu, another island, but more touristy and developed. When we stepped onto the pier we saw the huge population of donkeys. They're everywhere! They all belong to someone, but until they're needed they just hang out all over the town. Lamu is a great place because we could walk through town in a half hour. Our hotel was along the waterfront, so gorgeous views were inevitable. The hotel was great because they had a baby monkey and spent some real quality time with that monkey! One of the best days at Lamu was on a dhow, an Arabic sailboat. We snorkeled, caught fish, swam and sailed on the Indian Ocean. We saw the town, went to the museums, had fresh juice all the time. Tropical living isn't too shabby! I really kicked into tourist mode here with all the shopping. John got tired of it, but he was a trooper! September is Ramadhan, a Muslim holiday that takes place for about a month. During that month fasting takes place during daylight. Lamu is predominately Muslim, as most coastal regions in Kenya are. So besides having most restaurants closed until 6:30PM, the hotel was next door to the mosque. It's a unique experience to hear the prayers, songs for an hour every night. It's a peaceful loudness. Ali Hippy is one of the attractions on Lamu. He's in Lonely Planet (guide book) and he finds tourists to bring back to his house to cook and sing for his guests. His line to John was, "Hey, I like your beard!" (which a lot of ppl say to John supposedly). The songs they sang were real cute and I couldn't believe he was a legitimate tourist attraction! I could also go back to Lamu anytime with its gorgeous sunsets, beautiful waterfront, small friendly town.

I really like how in the villages traditional Swahili dress and traditions have not changed much. I like how items in museums are still used today by Kenyans. Seems like many Kenyans value their culture and choose to preserve it. Also, when Kenyans didn't know where Illinois is, if "land of Obama" is mentioned, they know exactly where it is! There's Obama stuff everywhere...

If there's anything I forgot, I'm sure John will fill those in :) Thanks for reading!