Safari Ants, Summit Sunrises, and Bean Dip Battles: A Peace Corps Summer in Kenya

July 9, 2003

Happy belated 4th of July. I went to a party put on by the DCM (Deputy Chief of Mission) a.k.a. assistant Ambassador. We were to have had a celebration that included not only PCVs but all other Americans in Kenya; embassy personnel, American business people, etc. But, after saying all was ok, the embassy at the last minute pulled the plug on the gathering due to security concerns. So, to not disappoint us volunteers who live for this kind of party where you can eat hot dogs and hamburgers, drink American beer, etc. the DCM decided to host just us volunteers and other Peace Corps staff.

The afternoon started with free wine, beer and soft drinks. My body was in shock at the nice wine, which came in a pretty glass bottle. The wine I’ve been drinking, when I can get it, is either homemade out of a bucket or lovely boxed wine from Nairobi. I could buy bottled wine in Nairobi but it would take ¼ of my living allowance. We then moved on to appetizers, which consisted of Frito’s and oven baked 5-layer bean dip, I thought I could control myself - after all I had just spent 3 weeks in America eating normal American foods. No. Me and everyone else attacked this dip and made the most frightening sounds you’ve ever heard humans make while eating 5-layered bean dip.

Side salads and the main course were up next. There was green salad, potato salad, coleslaw and burgers, hot dogs and sausages. Of course we had Heinz catsup and pretty yellow mustard - even had hot dog relish. For dessert there were several different kinds of brownies and cookies, all freshly baked. True to every other good 'ole American bash full of drunk people on the 4th of July, we had fireworks! A couple of Marines who were there (not sure if they were for protection or simply to provide the fireworks and bravado) brought fireworks. Bottle rockets were handed out to seemingly the most drunk people and away they went, in every direction but up. Me and 2 others were the only ones who seemed the least bit concerned about it all and stayed well clear of the rest of the mob.

Thankfully no accidents happened but I think the DCM was worried about how his landscaping would suffer if we stayed at it much longer. So, we were soon ushered out the gate and many made their way back to one of several hotels us PCVs stay at. Me and Elizabeth got a ride to Machakos as we didn’t want to spend money for a room when her place is only an hour outside of Nairobi. En route we stopped at a supermarket to pick up some food. Now, you never want to shop while you’re hungry or drunk, and certainly not both. I controlled myself really well. I ended up buying 4 potatoes (raw) and a block of cheddar cheese. Yeah, can’t tell you what I was thinking. I also bought several VCDs from the multitude of hawkers that hang around outside.

I just recently figured out how to play VCDs on my laptop. A VCD or video compact disc is how they pirate DVDs. The DVD player doesn’t recognize the file and therefore won’t play it, not directly anyway, you have to go through the back door. The quality can be pretty bad but I only spent $3 on each one. I was very excited to be able to watch them. I bought Anger Management, Bruce Almighty, X-Men 2, Charlie’s Angels 2, Daddy Daycare and Lord of the Rings 2. I’ve watched several already and the only problem I encountered was with LOTR 2. There were small skips in it from time to time so you’d end up missing several seconds every couple of minutes. Luckily I’d seen the movie before and knew what parts I was missing. X-Men 2 was virtually flawless - it only cut off the credits which was no great loss. I hope to swap VCDs with some other volunteers who also have them so I can watch a variety without having to shell out money to buy new ones all the time.

Change of subject. Not coming in to Nairobi to work until my NGO fully pays up the rent arrears on my house in Nunguni. I’m only here today for a few hours to take care of email and errands. Maybe I’ll even pick something up to go with my potatoes and cheese! Next update I hope to put up a new page with photos of some of my women’s group’s products and other unique things from JCI. I’ll give price details and ask that if anyone is interested in buying something, to send me an email and I can work up the final price with shipping. I think I’ll have to accept checks written to me and my mom can bank them. Once they’ve cleared I can use the money for shipping and to pay the women. I’m still working on a website for JCI but they have a multitude of things to do and pay for before we can hope to launch it so who knows when or if, it will be launched.

Alright, I’m typing this at home in Nunguni right now on the 8th. It’s getting dark and therefore approaching MOVIE TIME! Think I’ll watch Charlie’s Angels 2. I could use a good laugh. Until next time.

August 9, 2003

I happen to be in Nairobi and as it's a Saturday so thought I'd do a real quick update. I'm very excited as on Monday the 11th, I'm picking up May, Lily and Bill (friends from Seattle) from the airport. They'll spend 2 weeks here in Kenya. We'll have several days in Nunguni then we'll climb Mt. Kenya and then soak up the sites and luxury of the Masai Mara on a safari. I'm really hoping the weather improves before they get here. Typically July is the coldest month in Kenya. Well, it started out cold and then warmed up to above average temps. Now, in August, when it's supposed to be really warming up, it's freezing. Nairobi has recorded its lowest temps ever - around 8 degrees C or 46 degrees F.

Nunguni has been very cold as it's at an even higher elevation than Nairobi. There are some days when Nunguni is literally lost in the clouds. You can't see more than 30 ft. in front of you as the fog and mist is so thick. Then again it might just burn off by late afternoon and we'll have warm sun and blue skies. It seems that the weather patterns all over the world are a little out of whack this year. It will hopefully still be the wildebeest migration in the Mara when we're there. I'm excited to go on another safari and am looking forward to spending 3 nights at our tented camp. It's going to be several steps up from the budget accommodations I've had while on other safaris. It's always nice to play tourist too.

I've been with JCI this past week but haven't gotten much accomplished. Peace Corps is all about peaks and valleys in terms of work and accomplishments. I'm definitely in a valley with them right now. Speaking of Peace Corps, I've been in email contact with a few other countries that I'm hoping to transfer to for a third year. I haven't yet decided that that is what my post-Kenya plans are, it's just one of my options. Anyway, the countries that are interested are: Guinea, Niger and Senegal. I requested a transfer to a French-speaking country. Was kind of hoping for a positive response from one of the Eastern Caribbean Islands, but oh well. If anyone has ever been to one of the three countries I've mentioned, drop me an email and let me know your thoughts. Have explored employment in Peace Corps but there are no overseas positions open - at least not that I want to apply for (I could go to Jordan but that's not so high on my list right now). Alright, it's getting late and I need to make it back to where I'm staying before dark. I have a couple greetings to make and no time to send separate emails so I'll do it here. First, a big pole (sorry) to Len as I completely missed his birthday last month. Sorry Len and Happy Belated Birthday. Also, a congrats goes out to Lisa and Dave for their newest addition to their family - baby Markus (Oli). Ok, really gotta go now. Until next time!

September 13, 2003

Well, I said goodbye to my Seattle friends, May, Lily and Bill, on the 25th of August. We had a wonderful adventure together. First stop was the offices of JCI where we spent the night, not at the office but at Isabel’s and Gikonyo’s home just next door. Saw lots of monkeys frolicking about within the Showground, where their home and office are (the people, not the monkeys). Had a power outage that afternoon and then the water quit on us - karibu Kenya (welcome to Kenya).

The next morning we set off for Nunguni via matatu (Nissan mini-bus). En route we saw several giraffe grazing out in the grasslands that dominate the area between Nairobi and Nunguni. It was a market day in Nunguni so after we got the vehicle to drop us and all our crap, literally at the doorstep to my house, we set off to go buy veggies for our upcoming meals. My biggest fear for when I got these visitors was that my propane gas canister for my 2-burner stove would get finished. It’s lasted well over a year whereas my first one only lasted 4 months so I knew it would go any day but hoped that day would have come long before they arrived. Well, sure enough, as I was cooking our dinner that first night my gas got finished. Luckily I have a one burner backup cooker but it’s very loud and you can’t control the heat so well on it. We made due.

I started my guests off right away on learning how to weave with sisal. They were so engrossed in it that they didn’t realize how quickly the time was flying by. I had to force them to quit and go to bed at midnight. The next couple of days I showed them around the area. I took them down into the valley where my first house was and we had lunch with Mrs. Meka and her family. The climb back up to Nunguni gave us good training for our upcoming hike up Mt. Kenya. At the end of their stay I had the gang go to my group’s meeting wherein they proudly displayed their nearly completed weaving projects. The ladies got a kick out of seeing Bill weave as it’s traditionally a woman’s thing - men carve, women weave. Sorry Bill. I must say, I was very happy with my students - they did me proud.

Next on our agenda was the Mt. Kenya climb. We left Nunguni and dropped bags off at a hotel in Nairobi where we’d be staying after the climb. Got caught up in a small riot at the bus stage in city center (Nairobi) - it was over before it started but it was still a tense couple of moments. Got a smaller matatu (Peugeot station wagon) to take us up to Nanyuki, near the Western gate of Mt. Kenya. Nanyuki incidentally is smack on the equator. Well, en route our vehicle got into an accident. The car was smashed up but luckily we were all ok - just some bruises and a scratch or two. Again, karibu Kenya.

It had been a rough start to the day and I just wanted to get us to where we were going, and I was worried it might start raining soon and it would be dark in a few hours too. So, after taking all our bags out of the smashed Peugeot we huddled around with others that were involved either in our accident or the others (our vehicle hit another who had stopped to gawk at a really bad accident that had just occurred). I went back to the road right away and started flagging down any vehicle I could see that had a sympathetic driver and plenty of room for us and our stuff. The ex-pat community here sticks together so I knew I wouldn’t have much trouble finding a lift. Sure enough, no less than 5 minutes later we had a ride from a British guy up the road to the next major junction whereby we’d be able to catch another matatu the rest of the way.

Made it to Nanyuki after renting out the entire Nissan matatu (well worth the extra money as you can control the speed of the driver) and checked into a hotel for the night. We started out the next morning on our climb. We had only been hiking 30 minutes or so when the rain started. Kenya was really letting me down. It rarely if ever rains in August! No, seriously Bill, it never rains in August. Well, it continued to rain the rest of the day and throughout the night. It was dry for most of our hike the next day but as soon as we got to camp it started in earnest and didn’t let up. We were going to start out for the summit that next morning at 3 a.m. so we dried out our boots by the charcoal fire and prayed that it wouldn’t be raining at 3 a.m.

We got lucky, no rain for the summit push and it was even clear for us at the top, which we reached in time for the sunrise. We were descending via a different route so made our way down to our new camp by 10 a.m. Hoped it wasn’t going to keep raining as we wanted to explore a bit, but no, fog and misty rain stayed with us that day and throughout the night. It only added to the sense that we were camped on the moon - our surroundings were barren and grey. I think our altitude at that camp was just under 14,000 ft. (The summit, actually the only one of three Mt. Kenya summits that unskilled climbers can reach, is about 16,500 ft.). The next day’s hike down was pleasant and dry but it rained as soon as we got the tents up, guess that’s a blessing. It was dry for us the last day out as well, thankfully, as the mud "road" would have been even more of a challenge during a downpour. That last day’s hike was through a giant bamboo forest which was incredible. There are many elephants, kudu and buffalo in the area but we only managed to see evidence of their previous meals.

We again rented out an entire vehicle for our trip back to Nairobi and got dropped off right at our hotel. No time to rest as we needed to do some souvenir shopping. Had a nice pizza dinner and then it was off to bed as we were pooped. Got up very early the next morning and were picked up for our safari just after breakfast. The drive to the Masai Mara took about 5 hours. Unfortunately it was cloudy and raining so the view of the rift valley was obscured completely. Arrived at our luxury tented camp (permanent stone floors, en suite toilet and hot water shower) in time for lunch. Had 5 game drives over the course of the next 4 days. Mostly, it seemed as if we were always eating. We had grand buffet breakfasts, lunches and dinners. The game drives were amazing. We timed ourselves well as we caught the wildebeest migration perfectly - guess the unexpected August rain did us some good after all. Hundreds of thousands of zebra and wildebeest were grazing on the Mara’s new grass. Word has it that the wildebeest are too stupid to find their way to and fro on this migration so they tag along with the zebra. We weren’t able to see the migration crossing the river and getting snapped at by crocodiles, but we did see some other amazing things.

Saw a couple prides of lion and got up close and personal with one pride’s male. He walked up to our rear bumper (thought he’d jump up on the vehicle and feast on us) but all he wanted to do was claim us females for his pride. He sprayed our taillight with urine to mark us and then wandered off. All attempts to get Bill out of the van and put his mark over the lion’s was to no avail - some excuse about being dehydrated. Ended up seeing all the Big Five (lion, buffalo, elephant, leopard, and rhino). I was most excited about the rhino as I had yet to see any here in Kenya. There are only 14 black rhino (no white rhino) in all of the Mara and Serengeti so it was rare indeed for us to see not only one, but a family of three, baby included!

As it was the migration, the predators had plenty of food to satisfy them so we saw many kills - not the actual hunt and kill, just the eating. As all good things must come to an end, so too did our safari. We arrived back in Nairobi around 3 p.m. and had just enough time for some repacking and a quick dinner before I packed them off into a taxi for the airport. Personally, I crashed just after saying goodbye to them. I had the next day free to get some laundry done (well worth the money I paid) and to do some email. The next 3 days I had a Peace Corps Close of Service (COS) conference with all of those volunteers that arrived with me back in October of 2001. We’ve lost 9 out of 35 since our arrival. As luck would have it the Peace Corps was forced to put us up in one of the 5-star hotels instead of at a conference center miles outside of the city (last group got food poisoning - long story).

The buffet food fest continued and culminated with an all-you-can-eat game meat night at the Carnivore restaurant. I ate my fair share of impala, hartebeest, zebra, crocodile, eland, ostrich, and more normal fare like pork ribs - more meat than I’ve eaten in the past 2 years. Surprisingly didn’t get sick. I was actually already on medication from an intestinal infection (developed I think while on the safari which makes twice now that I’ve gotten sick after eating food on a Mara safari!). During our conference we got tips on how best to wrap up our projects and how to say goodbye to our local friends and communities. We also got advice on how to make the transition back to the U.S. a bit easier. A lot of it too was paperwork, paperwork, and the promise of yet more paperwork to come before we’re officially out of the Peace Corps.

My fun didn’t stop with the end of the conference as I had to work with JCI for the next week and thus remain in Nairobi. Should have really stayed the following week too but I was about to go nuts from being in Nairobi so long so I escaped to Nunguni for a week. I’ve just now gotten back into Nairobi and will only stay for just under a week. I’m making progress on the website so hope to only work on that this week and then escape back to Nunguni for the next 2 weeks. Once the website is up and running (still not sure if we’ll be able to accept online purchases or will have to take orders via email), I’ll post the URL here and ask for feedback.

Two afternoons ago I was sitting in my house with Mrs. Meka. We were on my couch weaving and talking when she pointed at my wall and exclaimed "biting things". She meant that there were hordes of safari ants streaming in through my window and onto my wall. Safari ants are brutal biters - they also usually wait until they’re far up your leg to start biting. I jumped up and grabbed for my bug spray with a groan as I knew both cans were on vapors. Managed to stop their entrance and eventually killed them off with bug powder. Went outside to see where they were coming from and to my horror saw millions of them along the base of my house and many making a beeline for my windows. Must be the migration. Now, my windows have never shut completely and I have air vents that are open to the world so plenty of access points for critters such as these. While standing looking at the spectacle, both Mrs. Meka and I were attacked so were hopping up and down slapping at our calves and feet. My only recourse was to rush into town and buy some bug spray or stronger powder to further deter the army.

I did just that and thankfully they changed course a bit and no longer seemed interested in coming in my house. My neighbors and Mrs. Meka both warned me that safari ants coming into your house are bad enough, but it’s a living hell if it happens at night. You can’t see their advance until you’re covered and screaming from the bites. Hey Lily and Bill, you guys should be saying a prayer of thanks that this didn’t happen when you were sleeping in my sitting room - especially Lily, sleeping on the floor! Actually, it’s a wonder it didn’t happen then as we seemed to be plagued by unfortunate incidents throughout that visit. Not to say the visit was doomed. All the mishaps only served to make the bright moments even brighter.

Ah, puts me in mind of when Karin, Becky and Peter from Seattle visited me in Nunguni last year. Becky and I were standing outside my choo when we noticed ants crawling on our boots. We both had pants on and sturdy shoes but the damn safari ants got through our defenses. They of course only started biting when they reached mid-thigh. We ran back to my house and promptly striped off our pants and pried off the ants who were holding on with their pincers for dear life. Yes, that’s right, we had ants in our pants. It’s happened to me since but I won’t go into that story now.

Wow, this may just be the longest update yet - rivals my Christmas novel! Sorry, but so much happened in this past month and I’m not known for being brief :o)