So here I am. I find myself some weeks out of work. After TCO, I went to New Zealand to come back on a different visa to work and travel in Australia.
The time in NZ was great. I went to a horse farm outside of Christchurch and rode for 5 days. The rest of the guests... were 10 year old girls. And they were much better riders than me. But I improved so much! The first day we were going up a huge hill and my stirrup came loose. We started trotting and I wasn't skilled enough to keep my balance and went over. I landed on my side on the high side of the hill, so it wasn't that bad but I still bruised my spine.
I was so sore.
The rest of the week progressed and I can honestly say I am no longer afraid I will get thrown off a horse, again. I can't wait until I get a job here and can start riding Elvis, the amazing horse I began dressage lessons on in Centennial Park. Maybe for my birthday I will indulge in an Elvis lesson.
So, meanwhile, I came back here and have been aching for a purpose. I finally connected with some amazing people who work for StreetTV. They took a chance on me and I got to shoot the Hope Street Markets for them on the Sony Z-1 Camera. It felt amazing to be back out there and getting an active say in what was produced. The only drawback? They can't pay me. So I am literally a starving artist.
I am so thankful for all my friends here in Sydney. They have really been lifesavers! Julie and Mark and Jo are the greatest for letting me stay with them, rent free. I only hope someday I could even come close to repaying them for their kindness and hospitality.
Going to a National Team (Women's AND Men's) game tonight at the Sydney Football Stadium. It should be great fun!
In the meantime, if you know of anybody in the Sydney area who needs a devoted, passionate, motivated individual to work in production give them my name!
It's Been A Long While...
So, here starts my life in Sydney. I arrived and headed straight to work the next day. So much for catching up on jetlag!
We have been working on a project called the WotNext music tour. Basically, it takes Kram from Spiderbait (Black Betty remix a few years back) and Geoff Young from TCO, inserts them into a VW Kombi from the 70's and they travel around Australia finding undiscovered musical talent. Then, we have showcase events where there are bands from the area and they play. Where TCO comes in is we shoot the event and upload it to the wotnext website (think YouTube for music) and people can vote. The winner is decided based on votes and downloads.
Eh, voila! That is wotnext. Apart from that we are doing some work for the FFA (Football Federation Australia) shooting a documentary from turning 1 non-football fan into one. Lachlan, the 6'5" barrister is the non-fan, accompanied by Con and Leon, 2 boys from Liverpool and Amy, the chiquita that has connections to the fan section.
Lachlan got to meet David Beckham briefly when he came to Sydney. He stood up in the middle of the press conference and just asked Becks his question. Then, we went to the Sydney FC - LA Galaxy game and got to shoot. I took stills, which hopefully will be in The Australian (USA Today equivalent newspaper) on Monday. The game was great, though LA lost 5-3, at least we got to see an incredible Beckham free-kick. It is even more insane when you see it in person. There is no way a goalie could stop the bend.
Up next for work is putting together something for Myer, the department store, Purina and MakePovertyHistory in Africa.
So, picking up from where I left off the stories in Africa...
So, after Jinja, Uganda (you have to say it like that. One can't just say Jinja, you have to put in the locator, it has a nice ring to it) we headed off to the waterfalls in Uganda. We saw our first hippos and crocs on the way to the falls. We took the boat and then hiked up to the top of the falls to look down at the raging water. Insane! And it was about a million degrees out, which is always pleasant. After that we headed to our first game drive. I will never forget the first time I saw a giraffe in the wild. It was pretty far away, but I was still in awe of the size and grace of it. Little did I know, we were about to see a few hundred more.
We pretty much saw every type of wildlife possible, except the big cats. We were just hoping for some elephants when we were driving back to catch the ferry. Just off the side of the road on my side of the ferry was a herd of them! We stopped and took some photos. It was insane to think that we had to have a guide with an AK-47 just to scare them off in case they attacked us. I am pretty sure that if the elephant wanted to cause us pain, nothing could stop it.
After that, we went to catch the night ferry across the river. We had to wait while the ferry loaded up on the other side of the river. There were some hippos nearby but as long as they were in the water we weren't worried. A few minutes passed and then I realize that Stuart had been saying something. I realized he had been standing watching the hippos and said, Hippo, out-of-water. Hippo, out-of-water! Little did we know one of them had crept close to the bus and our safety. Luckily we got back into the bus and caught the ferry away from Africa's most dangerous animal!
The next day we were about to embark on one of the longest drives of the trip. Pretty much 15 hours in a crappy bus to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Oy!
Nothing I say can describe what it feels like to be in a car that long, doing nothing but dozing and looking out the window. Looking back on it, I can't believe I survived Africa without my ipod, seeing as how it died in Greece. But somehow I managed. We arrived in Kampala, a freaking bustling metropolis and headed to our hotel, Jeliza.
Oh, Jeliza.
We get there and go to our rooms. Not the best hotel ever, but by African standards it was alright. We immediately took a nap and got showered up before eating dinner at the hotel. We got there and ordered, and I think took the girl by surprise. 10 people ordering food was probably the most business they had had in a long time. So, I order spaghetti bolognaise. Who knew it was going to take... an hour and 15 minutes. And I was one of the first. Literally, another hour goes by and maybe 1 person's food comes. All in all, it took 3 hours for the meal to complete. Absolutely laughable. And, the best part was all of our food came out with plastic wrap on it, as if it had been cooked somewhere else and they had just brought it to us.
The next day, we realized we no longer had running water in our room. And, our light bulb was not working in our room. Christine asked the reception if she could fix the light and what was the concierge's response? "Do you really need a light?" Yes! It is Africa! And we need to SEE in our HOTEL ROOM!
So, we got it fixed, sort of. And the water still was not working. The next day we had several options to go around and see the sights of Kampala. The idea of getting into another cramped car that stunk and waiting in traffic all day did not appeal to me. So, instead I proposed we go to the mall. Karen and Bob accompanied me, and we ended up having a great day! I bought a canvas map of Africa, we got pedicures, we checked internet, we ate Japanese food. It was an incredibly relaxing day. Then, we headed back to Jeliza, the now infamous hotel.
Whenever you take a taxi in Africa, you have to build in the time it takes to fill up for gas. Every time. Why? Because there is so much theft of cars that nobody ever fills up their tank more than the bare, BARE minimum. I'm talking, they put in 1 liter. And then they stop and fill up. 20,000 Ugandan shillings is about $15 US. That would last them about 2 weeks. But instead, they put in 1,000 shillings. Just when you think you aren't going to have to stop for gas, the taxi driver pulls in to the station and you wait.
So, we finally get back to Jeliza, which is by now the bane of our existence. We find out, there is still no water. And what is worse, the construction on the place continues. Jackhammers starting at 7am. Dust everywhere. And, the water had to be brought in by truck. But, the truck pulled in before our bus pulled out. So we wait. So Africa. By this time I wanted to shoot someone. Karen asked the concierge biyatch if she could have a bucket of water to bathe with. The lady was like, I will help you. We can work together. Oh. My. Jeliza then became adopted as a swear word. For the rest of the trip, whenever things went poorly we would say, Jeliza!
After that, we went out in Kampala seeing as how it is the safest of the African cities we would go to. The night life left a little something to the imagination. We basically had a few expensive drinks (even expensive for Western standards) and danced around. I am going to be in somebody's graduation video as the white girl dancing around. Then we left and went back to the... place we were staying. The next day we were heading out. Thank GOD. I am sure when we left nobody ever wanted to return.
We have been working on a project called the WotNext music tour. Basically, it takes Kram from Spiderbait (Black Betty remix a few years back) and Geoff Young from TCO, inserts them into a VW Kombi from the 70's and they travel around Australia finding undiscovered musical talent. Then, we have showcase events where there are bands from the area and they play. Where TCO comes in is we shoot the event and upload it to the wotnext website (think YouTube for music) and people can vote. The winner is decided based on votes and downloads.
Eh, voila! That is wotnext. Apart from that we are doing some work for the FFA (Football Federation Australia) shooting a documentary from turning 1 non-football fan into one. Lachlan, the 6'5" barrister is the non-fan, accompanied by Con and Leon, 2 boys from Liverpool and Amy, the chiquita that has connections to the fan section.
Lachlan got to meet David Beckham briefly when he came to Sydney. He stood up in the middle of the press conference and just asked Becks his question. Then, we went to the Sydney FC - LA Galaxy game and got to shoot. I took stills, which hopefully will be in The Australian (USA Today equivalent newspaper) on Monday. The game was great, though LA lost 5-3, at least we got to see an incredible Beckham free-kick. It is even more insane when you see it in person. There is no way a goalie could stop the bend.
Up next for work is putting together something for Myer, the department store, Purina and MakePovertyHistory in Africa.
So, picking up from where I left off the stories in Africa...
So, after Jinja, Uganda (you have to say it like that. One can't just say Jinja, you have to put in the locator, it has a nice ring to it) we headed off to the waterfalls in Uganda. We saw our first hippos and crocs on the way to the falls. We took the boat and then hiked up to the top of the falls to look down at the raging water. Insane! And it was about a million degrees out, which is always pleasant. After that we headed to our first game drive. I will never forget the first time I saw a giraffe in the wild. It was pretty far away, but I was still in awe of the size and grace of it. Little did I know, we were about to see a few hundred more.
We pretty much saw every type of wildlife possible, except the big cats. We were just hoping for some elephants when we were driving back to catch the ferry. Just off the side of the road on my side of the ferry was a herd of them! We stopped and took some photos. It was insane to think that we had to have a guide with an AK-47 just to scare them off in case they attacked us. I am pretty sure that if the elephant wanted to cause us pain, nothing could stop it.
After that, we went to catch the night ferry across the river. We had to wait while the ferry loaded up on the other side of the river. There were some hippos nearby but as long as they were in the water we weren't worried. A few minutes passed and then I realize that Stuart had been saying something. I realized he had been standing watching the hippos and said, Hippo, out-of-water. Hippo, out-of-water! Little did we know one of them had crept close to the bus and our safety. Luckily we got back into the bus and caught the ferry away from Africa's most dangerous animal!
The next day we were about to embark on one of the longest drives of the trip. Pretty much 15 hours in a crappy bus to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Oy!
Nothing I say can describe what it feels like to be in a car that long, doing nothing but dozing and looking out the window. Looking back on it, I can't believe I survived Africa without my ipod, seeing as how it died in Greece. But somehow I managed. We arrived in Kampala, a freaking bustling metropolis and headed to our hotel, Jeliza.
Oh, Jeliza.
We get there and go to our rooms. Not the best hotel ever, but by African standards it was alright. We immediately took a nap and got showered up before eating dinner at the hotel. We got there and ordered, and I think took the girl by surprise. 10 people ordering food was probably the most business they had had in a long time. So, I order spaghetti bolognaise. Who knew it was going to take... an hour and 15 minutes. And I was one of the first. Literally, another hour goes by and maybe 1 person's food comes. All in all, it took 3 hours for the meal to complete. Absolutely laughable. And, the best part was all of our food came out with plastic wrap on it, as if it had been cooked somewhere else and they had just brought it to us.
The next day, we realized we no longer had running water in our room. And, our light bulb was not working in our room. Christine asked the reception if she could fix the light and what was the concierge's response? "Do you really need a light?" Yes! It is Africa! And we need to SEE in our HOTEL ROOM!
So, we got it fixed, sort of. And the water still was not working. The next day we had several options to go around and see the sights of Kampala. The idea of getting into another cramped car that stunk and waiting in traffic all day did not appeal to me. So, instead I proposed we go to the mall. Karen and Bob accompanied me, and we ended up having a great day! I bought a canvas map of Africa, we got pedicures, we checked internet, we ate Japanese food. It was an incredibly relaxing day. Then, we headed back to Jeliza, the now infamous hotel.
Whenever you take a taxi in Africa, you have to build in the time it takes to fill up for gas. Every time. Why? Because there is so much theft of cars that nobody ever fills up their tank more than the bare, BARE minimum. I'm talking, they put in 1 liter. And then they stop and fill up. 20,000 Ugandan shillings is about $15 US. That would last them about 2 weeks. But instead, they put in 1,000 shillings. Just when you think you aren't going to have to stop for gas, the taxi driver pulls in to the station and you wait.
So, we finally get back to Jeliza, which is by now the bane of our existence. We find out, there is still no water. And what is worse, the construction on the place continues. Jackhammers starting at 7am. Dust everywhere. And, the water had to be brought in by truck. But, the truck pulled in before our bus pulled out. So we wait. So Africa. By this time I wanted to shoot someone. Karen asked the concierge biyatch if she could have a bucket of water to bathe with. The lady was like, I will help you. We can work together. Oh. My. Jeliza then became adopted as a swear word. For the rest of the trip, whenever things went poorly we would say, Jeliza!
After that, we went out in Kampala seeing as how it is the safest of the African cities we would go to. The night life left a little something to the imagination. We basically had a few expensive drinks (even expensive for Western standards) and danced around. I am going to be in somebody's graduation video as the white girl dancing around. Then we left and went back to the... place we were staying. The next day we were heading out. Thank GOD. I am sure when we left nobody ever wanted to return.
Jinja, Uganda. Who Knew?
So, after our favorite trip to Lake Vicky in Kisumu we headed off to Jinja, Uganda. The border crossing was a mess. After we walked through no-man's land, we piled 10 of us and all our luggage into the small minivan. It was so cramped. I jumped in to the front seat with Alphonce and our driver in the hopes of a little extra leg room.
After 50 meters of chaotic driving in streets full of bicycles, we approached a man on a bike carrying another man on the back. After being in a third world country for some time and driving in Egypt as well, I was nervous when we approached the bike. I gasped but it was too late as we heard the sick crunch of something under our tires. I froze for a moment and then asked Alphonce if I should open the door. I was terrified that a bloody body would be smushed under the wheel, but as I opened it I saw only bike frame. The man luckily had escaped from the tire, but he was still in bad shape. We drove him to the hospital and then waited at the police station, aka a big hut in the middle of the town.
The man turned out to have only a broken leg and our driver was prosecuted. Thank god that was the extent of the damage.
After we switched vans, we finally made it to our hotel, the Paradise on the Nile. It was in Jinja, apparently the adrenaline capitol of Africa. The next day we planned to sort out what activities we were going to do. I was after the horseback riding, of course, and river rafting. The only problem was, the rafting was Class V rapids, and though I have a lot of experience rafting, I have never seen a V.
So, the next day we sort out horseback riding. Only a ride on the back of a motorbike, a walk down to the river, a boat ride, a walk across an island, another boat ride (this boat was sinking) another 10 minute walk and we were at the stables. Ay carumba, Africa. But we showed up and the Brits working there put me on a horse named Dramatic. She was great from the start. The only forseeable problem on the ride would be another horse that was a stallion possibly wanting to mount her. Just my luck.
So we go along, no worries and then stop when our guides horse began acting up. Lo and behold, the stallion gets too close and starts sniffing my poor Dramatic. She started freaking out and I managed to kick her up and go into a nearby field while Christine got her horse under control. After that, I was able to go one on one with the local guide for a few canters. It was amazing. At one point, Dramatic saw a small stick in the road and we jumped! The rest of the ride was great, a few more exciting moments of running up hills and then it was back to the commute across the river.
In the afternoon we all decided to go quad biking (aka 4-wheeling) in the same area. It then decided to rain like hell after we had gotten on our bikes. The mud was everywhere, which promised to be great fun, but then it started hailing. We went back to the house to wait out the storm and 30 minutes later we emerged. The quad biking was going to be excellent, everything was soaking wet. Things started out great. We were tearing up the roads and spinning our tires. After a few hours, we really felt comfortable on our bikes. And then disaster hit.
I ran into a crop of turnips.
But it was okay. A few seconds and I was back on my way.
And then disaster hit again.
Stuart ran into a thatch of bushes.
But he was okay.
And that is where the evening ended. Oh, I almost forgot. Then we went to watch Christine nigh bungee jump, and then we crowded 9 people into a Toyota Corolla for a few minutes to the other side of town and back to Paradise.
After 50 meters of chaotic driving in streets full of bicycles, we approached a man on a bike carrying another man on the back. After being in a third world country for some time and driving in Egypt as well, I was nervous when we approached the bike. I gasped but it was too late as we heard the sick crunch of something under our tires. I froze for a moment and then asked Alphonce if I should open the door. I was terrified that a bloody body would be smushed under the wheel, but as I opened it I saw only bike frame. The man luckily had escaped from the tire, but he was still in bad shape. We drove him to the hospital and then waited at the police station, aka a big hut in the middle of the town.
The man turned out to have only a broken leg and our driver was prosecuted. Thank god that was the extent of the damage.
After we switched vans, we finally made it to our hotel, the Paradise on the Nile. It was in Jinja, apparently the adrenaline capitol of Africa. The next day we planned to sort out what activities we were going to do. I was after the horseback riding, of course, and river rafting. The only problem was, the rafting was Class V rapids, and though I have a lot of experience rafting, I have never seen a V.
So, the next day we sort out horseback riding. Only a ride on the back of a motorbike, a walk down to the river, a boat ride, a walk across an island, another boat ride (this boat was sinking) another 10 minute walk and we were at the stables. Ay carumba, Africa. But we showed up and the Brits working there put me on a horse named Dramatic. She was great from the start. The only forseeable problem on the ride would be another horse that was a stallion possibly wanting to mount her. Just my luck.
So we go along, no worries and then stop when our guides horse began acting up. Lo and behold, the stallion gets too close and starts sniffing my poor Dramatic. She started freaking out and I managed to kick her up and go into a nearby field while Christine got her horse under control. After that, I was able to go one on one with the local guide for a few canters. It was amazing. At one point, Dramatic saw a small stick in the road and we jumped! The rest of the ride was great, a few more exciting moments of running up hills and then it was back to the commute across the river.
In the afternoon we all decided to go quad biking (aka 4-wheeling) in the same area. It then decided to rain like hell after we had gotten on our bikes. The mud was everywhere, which promised to be great fun, but then it started hailing. We went back to the house to wait out the storm and 30 minutes later we emerged. The quad biking was going to be excellent, everything was soaking wet. Things started out great. We were tearing up the roads and spinning our tires. After a few hours, we really felt comfortable on our bikes. And then disaster hit.
I ran into a crop of turnips.
But it was okay. A few seconds and I was back on my way.
And then disaster hit again.
Stuart ran into a thatch of bushes.
But he was okay.
And that is where the evening ended. Oh, I almost forgot. Then we went to watch Christine nigh bungee jump, and then we crowded 9 people into a Toyota Corolla for a few minutes to the other side of town and back to Paradise.
Out of Africa
Sung to the tune of Toto's Africa...
Its gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
So sorry I have not blogged during my entire tour of Africa. Internet was patchy if non-existent in most places. I have seen some crazy things and I enjoyed my time here, though I may have grumbled along the way. I have plenty of stories that I journaled about which will make it on the blog in the coming weeks.
The highlights include:
Carla's horseback ride in Jinja, Uganda
The time we hit a man with a bus in Uganda
Bumpy roads numbered 67, 78 and 436.
The first time I saw a giraffe (or 15 of them)
My encounter with a leopard
An inquisitive-hostile-bush pig meets Carla's tent
Class 5 Rafting
Hearing a lion roar from 5 miles away
The first time I heard Toto's Africa playing
Negotiating the Nairobi markets
As I said, there are too many stories to name now but rest assured, my faithfuls, there is some good material coming. And without further ado, I will dive in to number one entitled, For Stress Free Writing...
For Stress Free Writing, Use Crown Pens
I flew into Kenya from Addis Ababa, and before that from Rome. The Rome adventure included the Italians as previously mentioned. I met a really cool Canadian woman who helped me to unwind. So then after negotiating a taxi price I made it to the hotel. It was in a quiet part of town near the University. I met the group comprised of 2 Missourians, a family of 3 Chinese Canadians, another Chinese man who lives in Canada, 2 Brits in their 20's and Alphonce our Tanzanian guide.
We had the opening meeting and got the trip sorted out. Our plan for the next day was to get up early to catch a bus to Kisumu, the 3rd largest city in Kenya. Never heard of it? Neither had I. So we get to the bus station via one stinky taxi ride. The bus rolls up. It is a coach bus with all the windows blacked out. As I ascended the steps in the bus I almost gagged from the smell. The body odor was horrendous not to mention the fact that there were 50 people and absolutely no air movement to speak of. I sat down and got the whole seat to myself. We took off and after a few minutes the gentle rocking lulled me to sleep.
Wa-bam. Wham. I jolted awake. It seems we had left the immediate outskirts of Nairobi and were on the "highway." I looked down the aisle and almost screamed as we swerved to miss an oncoming bus. It seems that though Kenya was a British colony and they are supposed to drive on the left side, all the drivers are tempted over to the right. The oncoming traffic wants to drive on their right. We want to drive on our right. Why don't they simply change sides of the road? That would prevent things like the last minute swerve from happening. But no, that would be logical. More logical would be to pave roads. But that is an entire other blog entry.
So we continue on like this for 5 more hours. Seriously, 5 more. We stop at a small gas station to eat lunch. Lunch choices were either a sketchy looking buffet (no thanks, the bus stinks enough) or the supermarket. I was excited with the prospect of eating some Kenyan snacks. I chose carefully a box of cream cookies. For about 35 cents, you can't be wrong.
But I was.
Since the selection in the store was limited to cookies or bread, I thought I chose wisely and safely. The cookies were the grossest sweet I have ever eaten. Manufactured sugar covered in sugar. You know that feeling you get on your teeth when you eat something so sugary that they start to hurt? Yeah. Exactly.
That was my lunch. We get back in the bus. The stink has intensified in the afternoon heat. I forgot to mention the noise. Apparently the bus driver thinks we like the talk radio on really really loudly. Two African woman discussing... who should paint a house. For 2 hours. On full blast. Nobody was enjoying it.
Another 4 more hours and we roll in to Kisumu. It was a booming metropolis. No, I'm just kidding. Another stinky taxi ride and we are at the New Victoria Hotel, right on Lake Victoria. It was simple to say the least. But at least it was quiet and had a bathroom. If you compare the alternative to camping, the NVH was a palace. After showering we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was mostly Indian food which turned out to be good. The next day we planned to go out on Lake Victoria and take a boat ride to an island with a crazy monkey population.
The next day emerges. We ride the boat that looks like it would have been condemned in the United States around 30 years ago. But it has a GAP sticker on it (the tour company) so it must be relatively safe, right? We head out and spot a hippo on the way. It was about 200 meters away from us and we were trying really hard to get pictures of it. Eluded. Then they started telling us about this crazy plant called Hyacinth that is taking over the Lake Vicky as we affectionately called her. The Hyacinth apparently was blocking the way to the island. So after a few hours on the boat, we turn around and go to this small island that has a fishing colony. It was interesting to see. Every tree we saw our local guide identified and then told us the genus and species name. Who knows if he was right. After a few more hours we headed back to Kisumu town and our lovely hotel.
That concludes day 2. And right before bed we got a lovely visit from Alfred the gecko hanging out in our room. It was an adventure trying to get him out of our room but some creative towel throwing encouraged his departure.
Its gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had
So sorry I have not blogged during my entire tour of Africa. Internet was patchy if non-existent in most places. I have seen some crazy things and I enjoyed my time here, though I may have grumbled along the way. I have plenty of stories that I journaled about which will make it on the blog in the coming weeks.
The highlights include:
Carla's horseback ride in Jinja, Uganda
The time we hit a man with a bus in Uganda
Bumpy roads numbered 67, 78 and 436.
The first time I saw a giraffe (or 15 of them)
My encounter with a leopard
An inquisitive-hostile-bush pig meets Carla's tent
Class 5 Rafting
Hearing a lion roar from 5 miles away
The first time I heard Toto's Africa playing
Negotiating the Nairobi markets
As I said, there are too many stories to name now but rest assured, my faithfuls, there is some good material coming. And without further ado, I will dive in to number one entitled, For Stress Free Writing...
For Stress Free Writing, Use Crown Pens
I flew into Kenya from Addis Ababa, and before that from Rome. The Rome adventure included the Italians as previously mentioned. I met a really cool Canadian woman who helped me to unwind. So then after negotiating a taxi price I made it to the hotel. It was in a quiet part of town near the University. I met the group comprised of 2 Missourians, a family of 3 Chinese Canadians, another Chinese man who lives in Canada, 2 Brits in their 20's and Alphonce our Tanzanian guide.
We had the opening meeting and got the trip sorted out. Our plan for the next day was to get up early to catch a bus to Kisumu, the 3rd largest city in Kenya. Never heard of it? Neither had I. So we get to the bus station via one stinky taxi ride. The bus rolls up. It is a coach bus with all the windows blacked out. As I ascended the steps in the bus I almost gagged from the smell. The body odor was horrendous not to mention the fact that there were 50 people and absolutely no air movement to speak of. I sat down and got the whole seat to myself. We took off and after a few minutes the gentle rocking lulled me to sleep.
Wa-bam. Wham. I jolted awake. It seems we had left the immediate outskirts of Nairobi and were on the "highway." I looked down the aisle and almost screamed as we swerved to miss an oncoming bus. It seems that though Kenya was a British colony and they are supposed to drive on the left side, all the drivers are tempted over to the right. The oncoming traffic wants to drive on their right. We want to drive on our right. Why don't they simply change sides of the road? That would prevent things like the last minute swerve from happening. But no, that would be logical. More logical would be to pave roads. But that is an entire other blog entry.
So we continue on like this for 5 more hours. Seriously, 5 more. We stop at a small gas station to eat lunch. Lunch choices were either a sketchy looking buffet (no thanks, the bus stinks enough) or the supermarket. I was excited with the prospect of eating some Kenyan snacks. I chose carefully a box of cream cookies. For about 35 cents, you can't be wrong.
But I was.
Since the selection in the store was limited to cookies or bread, I thought I chose wisely and safely. The cookies were the grossest sweet I have ever eaten. Manufactured sugar covered in sugar. You know that feeling you get on your teeth when you eat something so sugary that they start to hurt? Yeah. Exactly.
That was my lunch. We get back in the bus. The stink has intensified in the afternoon heat. I forgot to mention the noise. Apparently the bus driver thinks we like the talk radio on really really loudly. Two African woman discussing... who should paint a house. For 2 hours. On full blast. Nobody was enjoying it.
Another 4 more hours and we roll in to Kisumu. It was a booming metropolis. No, I'm just kidding. Another stinky taxi ride and we are at the New Victoria Hotel, right on Lake Victoria. It was simple to say the least. But at least it was quiet and had a bathroom. If you compare the alternative to camping, the NVH was a palace. After showering we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was mostly Indian food which turned out to be good. The next day we planned to go out on Lake Victoria and take a boat ride to an island with a crazy monkey population.
The next day emerges. We ride the boat that looks like it would have been condemned in the United States around 30 years ago. But it has a GAP sticker on it (the tour company) so it must be relatively safe, right? We head out and spot a hippo on the way. It was about 200 meters away from us and we were trying really hard to get pictures of it. Eluded. Then they started telling us about this crazy plant called Hyacinth that is taking over the Lake Vicky as we affectionately called her. The Hyacinth apparently was blocking the way to the island. So after a few hours on the boat, we turn around and go to this small island that has a fishing colony. It was interesting to see. Every tree we saw our local guide identified and then told us the genus and species name. Who knows if he was right. After a few more hours we headed back to Kisumu town and our lovely hotel.
That concludes day 2. And right before bed we got a lovely visit from Alfred the gecko hanging out in our room. It was an adventure trying to get him out of our room but some creative towel throwing encouraged his departure.
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