Raining Sweat

I know it’s been awhile. Sorry guys. So update. This past weekend I went into Kisumu for a much needed vacation. Kisumu is the 3rd largest city in Kenya. It’s located near Lake Victoria and has the humidity to prove it. I was literally raining sweat the whole 2 days there. Lets just say, even with it’s freezing cold temps, I think I prefer Litein. But it was fun to get away. I left Liten around 7am and took 2 matatus to get to Kisumu but I finally made it around 9:30. After arriving at the matatu station, I was put onto a borda borda. I might be spelling it wrong, But it’s a bicycle with a large cushioned seat on the back of the bicycle. The passenger sits on the cushioned seat and has to try really hard not to fall. Every time the driver would go around a curve, my butt checks would clench from fear. When I got to the hotel, I met up with 5 other volunteers from the surrounding area. We took a tuk tuk ( a covered, three wheeled motorbike sort of thing.) and went to the large super market. Now why did we go to a super market? Because inside this very special super market is a taste of America. They have American peanut butter, American cereals and American candy, among other things. And behind this very special super market is a restaurant that has Pizza, chicken nuggets, milk shakes and real ice cubes. It was a Peace Corp Volunteers heaven. And for my chosen meal in heaven…I ate pizza and it was SO good.…although they didn’t have just plain pepperoni. LOL. I know, pizza in Kenya? True! The bigger cities are pretty westernized in that they have a large selection of food. We never went but I heard they had Chinese.



But don’t worry we didn’t spend our whole time at the super market, we loaded up into a tuk tuk again and went to see a small masaai market where they sell all of the touristy souvenirs. Of course I bought some things but I had to bargain my butt off. They would bring you over to their stall and tell you, since you are their first customer, they will give you a good price….most of the time this is a lie. So you have to be firm and set your own price which should be WAY under. Then you both start to bargain. It’s exhausting but in end, if you were successful, very rewarding. After the market, we took another tuk tuk to the movie theater. It felt so weird sitting in a movie theater in Kenya, but oh so nice. It was like being back home. I even ought popcorn to go along with my movie. The movie was 350 shillings….which is $4. I think it’s impossible to go to a movie for $4 in America. After the movie, we went to a really cute little restaurant called the laughing Buddha and had fresh made pita bread with hummus and afterwards a sizzling brownie. Imagine a brownie on a HOT plate, with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Then to finish it off, the waiter pours a large amount of chocolate sauce all over it. As the chocolate hit’s the plate, it starts to sizzle. I was so eager to eat it, I forgot that it was hot and scorched the roof of my mouth. But it was so worth it. LOL The next morning, we decided to just walk around since we didn’t have time to go out onto the lake to look for hippos( we are saving that for another time)We went to the market and then to the park where we played card games until the street kids go to be too much. Im not sure about the smaller communities but in the larger cities the street kids are known for sniffing glue. It helps suppress their hunger. But they love to harass the muzungus, or anybody who looks like they have money. We finally got rid of them and continued exploring. Mid afternoon, we met up with two other volunteers for lunch. The one thing weird about eating lunch are all th musings. U live out in a community for 2 months where you are the only muzungu around and all of a sudden, you are surrounded by them. I caught myself staring a couple of time. Once lunch was finished…yes it was pizza again with a REAL smoothie, we said our goodbyes.

My trip to Kisumu from Litein was nothing compared to my trip going home. Close your eyes and imagine a 14 seat bus with 19 people cramped inside. Every body part is touching someone else and you have NO personal space what so ever. Now add to it the humidity from the lake. Everyone is sweating, literally dripping sweat. Now you have what my trip back home was like for 3 hours. I finally arrive at 7pm and not having the energy to eat, went to bed. This was my first time traveling around Kenya alone. Even with the cramped matatus, Im excited for my next adventure.