The Belly Button Window Details



About Belly Button Window

The Semi-Regular Newsletter


Readership

Kenya, April 10, 2003

Bye Bye East Africa

Boo hoo! It's always time to go!

the Nation Building, Nairobi

It ain't Kansas, Toto

watch out!  Zebes!

Crowding the Zebra Crossing

good luck sabeans!

Feeding the skeeters

Its my last day in East Africa, and while I am quite ready to go home, I am going to miss the good times and fun people of this interesting land, for it has been one wild ride, with a few personal records made.

I crossed the equator three times by land and once even by sea, bringing my lifetime total to six, for I crossed it by land twice as a kid traveling with the folks through South America. Oh, and as you can tell, crossing it by air does not count.

And you can only count a river or a lake if you actually went swimming in it, which I did with the Nile River and Lake Victoria. My swim in the river makes it five of the ten longest I've splashed around in, while the jump in the lake makes it six of the ten largest I've bathed in.

Then, just by touching down in Africa, I've now been on six of the seven continents, or, if you're using Kenyan geography, five of five, for Australia and Antarctica don't seem to count here.

But this wandering was much more than random facts or figures, it was about people, and the two people who really drew me to this land: Sean and Sabeans.

Sean, my brotherly cousin, his girlfriend, and I, spent two weeks cavorting around the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, watching simba sex and running from buffaloes. Two weeks of the best times any three people can have squished into an old, loud, rough Land Rover. Surprisingly, we didn't fight once while we were together, only cursing each other in a brotherly way long after the dust of the Landie was washed from our memories.

Sabeans, my good friend from Washington DC, who is now living it up with Mark in their Baroness Blixonesque estate in Kisumu, provided a much-needed break from all that dust, hosting me twice, and giving me the chance to wash every single article of clothing I had in her big, white, American washer and dryer.

Ahhh.. As fox-hunting scientists will tell you, I do so enjoy being clean, even in the Serengeti, going so far as to rigging up a shower for Sean, Christina, and I on the shores of Ndutu Lake, using a bucket, a plastic jug, and only one liter of water per person.

And now I'm going back to the land of the super-clean, where everything is hermetically sealed for freshness and time is measured by the second. There, while I shall be at 'home', I'm going to miss the African way of life, the pole-pole speed, and the relaxation it entails.

That is until the next adventure!

Kenya, March 12, 2003

And the train Goes 'Pole-Pole'

Another slow day in Africa My pole-pole life African pole-pole life 'Pole-pole' loosely translates from Kswahili to English as 'slowly-slowly,' and nothing better can describe the African experience. At first, coming from the speedy big Western city, I chaffed at the lazy way everything is done here. Just getting a...

Continue reading "And the train Goes 'Pole-Pole'"

Kenya, March 6, 2003

Just say it.. Mombassa!

Mombasa is the Mack-Daddy Hurry up! Faster! Faster! Mombasa. The name just rolls off the tongue full of exotic connotations. Go ahead, say it slowly out-loud. See, I told you it even sounds cool. Moreover, unlike Dar, although it should have the exact same climate, it actually is cool too....

Continue reading "Just say it.. Mombassa!"

Kenya, January 26, 2003

Market Day in Kisumu

Homemade charcoal is cheap in the Kisumu market Boda Boda's Rock! And she'll wheel & deal Any style, Any Color Today is Market Day in Kisumu, where everyone from miles around heads to the Kisumu weekend market, Kenya's answer to Wal-Mart SuperCenters. It is also yet another chance to enjoy...

Continue reading "Market Day in Kisumu"

Kenya, January 25, 2003

Humping Up Mount Homa

Mt. Homa is a bitch to climb! Chilling, pre-hike Sweaty & Victorious May I introduce Homa Bay! Here in Kisumu, I am staying with my good friend from DC, Sabeans, and her husband Mark, who is an Army doctor studying malaria, and today we decided that lounging around in their...

Continue reading "Humping Up Mount Homa"

Kenya, January 19, 2003

Betting on Saffron at Ngong

I put my 50 bob on Saffron to win! May his luck hold Come on Saffron!!! The day didn't start out all that promising, when I paid 700 Ks ($10) for a taxi ride to the racecourse four hours too early, but that all changed after lunch. With a full...

Continue reading "Betting on Saffron at Ngong"

Kenya, January 18, 2003

That's Why They Call It Nairobbery!

Watch your back in Nairobbery I worry with that look she gets taken too and so did they Nairobi has a well-deserved reputation as a den of thieves and con artists, and until today, I've been quite immune to their attacks. I always walk forcefully and quickly, and even if...

Kenya, January 17, 2003

No Need for Mojo at Nairobi's 'Mad House'

I loved the 'Mad House' ladies! wild disco architecture King, energizing defenses Now I should've know the disco was going to be an adventure when the taxi driver laughed at our destination, calling the New Florida Club by the local nickname, 'Mad House', or when I realized the club was...