The Long Way Around

I am traveling again.  Just can’t seem to stay in one place for very long lately. That’s okay.  I like to move.  I always see interesting things and have great adventures.  This trip was no exception.  First of all, I started the trip yesterday going the totally opposite direction from where I actually wanted to end up.  Various reasons, mostly to do with road conditions and shopping.  So instead of the normal 200 km in 5 hours trip, I went 500 km in 2 days.  I left the village about midday and travelled though the desert to hit the main tarmac road and then to Nanyuki at the foot of Mt Kenya for the night.  It took me about 4 ½ hours driving.   

Along the way I passed Bayo mountain which was especially beautiful and mysterious in the intense midday light.  It looks so much like some sort of crashed spaceship from a million years ago.  I even see inscriptions on it that look like stylized alien heads to me.  Haha.  Fun to let my imagination run wild as I drive for hours at a time.  Yesterday I also saw a couple female ostriches as I drove by Bayo which added to the mystery.  So cool. 

Then in a town called Timau not far from Nanyuki, I got a kick out of the motorbike guy carrying a sofa on the back of his bike.  This is done a lot in Kenya.  So crazy.  One time my daughter and I even saw another person actually sitting in the sofa that was being carried on the back of a motorcycle being driven by another person.  Crazy. Crazy.  Yesterday’s sofa on the motorbike was just a sofa.  With one person driving and no other passengers.  Very mundane.  Haha.

In Nanyuki I managed to get all my needed errands done by 7 just as it was getting dark, except find a place to stay for the night!! All my Airbnb requests were going unanswered saying host had 24 hours to answer – which as I needed a place within the hour, wasn’t much help to me!  I finally gave up on that route and did google search for a hotel.  The one I liked ended up being completely booked, but the manager gave me a number of a person who booked homestays.  Networking, I love it.  Best way to survive.  I found her and in the end went to California!!  Haha.  That was the name of the apartment building I stayed in.  A very lovely one bedroom place. 

Waking up in the morning, I had the most amazing view of Mt Kenya.  So pretty.  And so clear.  The mountain followed me out of town for a long way on the next leg of my journey.  So cool to see it in all its majesty. 

Another 3 ½ hour drive brought me finally to our home in Maralal.  The amazing part of this drive was that it has rained on this side of the country.  So weird to see it so green when I had left the village dry and brown still struggling with drought conditions.  I arrived home to green grass and trees all in bloom.  So vibrant and growing.  Colder too.  The higher altitude here definitely makes a difference.  Still hoping that it will rain soon in the village.  It usually starts raining further south and then moves north.  So the fact there is rain here, gives me hope it will continue north to water the desert a bit. 

I’m ultimately on my way to USA for a couple months.  Fly next week from Nairobi so here in Maralal to pack my cold weather clothes and get prepared.  Next time I post, should be from Wisconsin.  I’m looking forward to the autumn colors.  I do miss the distinct 4 seasons of the Northern hemisphere.  The short days long nights will be weird.  Here on the equator, I have equinox all year round!!  12 hour days.  12 hour nights.  Speaking of which, it is quite late here.  Time to sleep.  Busy day packing tomorrow.  More adventures to come….