Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Except replace Trains with Buses.

Hello!!! Sorry it took me so long to write up something. All I did initially was send off an email to some people so word could pass that I was at least alive. So anyways, I can blab when I write so here goes.

Travel (53 hours total, 36 hours actual travel time)

Plane Ride
At Seatac I was given a starter motor for the Tractor on the farm. That guy weighed about 30 pounds so it more than doubled my weight. My bag actually then weighed 55 pounds but the check in girl was nice enough to let me pass without paying the 50 dollar overweight fee. Or was it just my inescapable charm? Hey! stop laughing, I have some charm. Oh wait, I drool in my sleep sometimes and forget to chew before swallowing sometimes. :-)

The 20 hour plane ride was fairly uneventful. 10 hours to Italy and 10 hours to Ethiopia. Same plane but we switched pilots I think and some crew. Luckily the plane was 2/3rd empty so everyone got their own sections. I chose a window seat and thus the seat next to me was empty. Though I did sit next to an Ethiopian guy for a little while to talk. Nice guy, was moving from Minnesota to Ethiopia as he got a job there with their new central bank (poor guys, if only they new...). His wife and kids are still in the states incase this doesn't work out, but if it works out he will send for them later.

Got to Ethiopia alright, but about 1.5 hours late. Which was bad considering my connection was supposed to have already left by the time I arrived. Thank God everything was on Africa time and my connection didn't actually leave for another hour. Luckily I was asked to switch seats so some older gentleman could sit with his friend/wife. Luckily I say because then I got to sit next to a cute German gal who was teaching in Tanzania. No, she's married so don't ask! Ha! Overall I ended up about 2 hours late into Nairobi where I was picked up by a guy named Osbourne. Nice fella'! He works in the slums with HIV infected people primarily. The slums are for the dirt poor, and a majority of them are infected as HIV infected people often can't get jobs. HIV is the new leporsy. For those who don't read bible stories, Lepers (those infected with Leprosy) where shunned from cities and has their own leper colonies. African's shun HIV people because they are afraid of catching it. Yes, we know that HIV is not really contagious in the normal sense, but the terms "Poor African" and "Any kind of Education" don't go hand in hand, that and the heart still fears even if the Mind says it's okay.

Nairobi
Anywhoo, total sidetrack. So I was picked up and dropped off at the Karibou Hotel (no that's not a misspelling of the animal, it actually means the Welcome Hotel as I found out later). I bought some dinner there later for 230 shillings, (about 3.5 - 4 dollars). Roast chicken and vegetables. Attempted to stay awake as late as possible but I only made it to about 8.30 before I had to sleep. I was falling asleep standing up. Felt great and woke up around 4:30. My bus wasn't until 7 so I repacked, went downstairs and ate breakfast around 6, and shot for the bus. Oh yah, breakfast consisted of initially some tea and cornflakes. The cornflakes included a small thing of hot milk, which wasn't lumpy, but it was kind of stringy. I think it was cream, but I dunno. Then afterwards came eggs and sausage.

Bussing it Hardcore
On the bus I eventually met some Ethiopian guys in the same row as me. They were going to Kisumu (same destination as me) for some training associated with their job. I dunno what there job was, the accent was strong and I didn't understand. They were good to have on the ride as they would explain some of the things we saw. For example, the monstrously huge Tea Farm. Huuuge! In the middle all I saw was Tea all around me for as far as I could see. And I could see far. Hills upon hills of tea behind, in front, and to the side. All hand picked. I repeat, All hand picked. Much like American's Coal Towns that we had a couple decades ago, there was a large Tea Town called Kericho. Seemed faily booming, but was in the middle of this tea farm. Most probably employed by the tea people.

On the bus ride, a couple other things worthy of note. We had 3 potty stops. The one time I used the restroom was one of those "don't touch anything" experiences. There was a large tub of standing water in the restroom, and I don't know what it was for. Large as in one of those 50 gallon metal drums, full of water. Full of water in a somewhat dirty, smelly restroom. And the other thing to mention is guess what came on the radio? Deep Forest! I know only a couple people will find that awesome, but for those "not in the know" Deep Forest is one of those music styles that most people look at you funny for listening too. It's Indeginous' people's chants remixed. In some cases it's african, or asian or islander or pygmy. Their chants have been recored and then remixed with some modern music/beats/tunes laced in. It's fabulous. I was so happy to hear it on the radio, you have no idea.

Oh, and on the bus ride, I found out how bad the roads where, and how fast the bus drivers still drove. The last half of it was the worst. My butt continually swing danced with the bus seat. In fact, my bum had moves that I didn't know existed. Once my Jolly Bum even caught air. After that one pothole I heard a lot of seatbelts click together. hehe. Naturally I didn't connect mine as the bus was swaying a lot at that point and wanted a quick escape if needed. John Kruegar picked me up at the bus station and said that driving on these roads requires skiing technique as you have to maneuver on the road to avoid potholes like skiers have to maneuver on the snow.

Pictures Available
http://picasaweb.google.com/JollyJohnD/20071118KenyaTravelAndMiwaniFarm

There are a couple other pictures available on my Picasa site that I haven't wrote about yet. But will soon. Note that a number of those pictures were taken for Westside specifically, but I think I put in enough context so it will make sense to non-Westside people.