I can't believe I'm coming home in a week and a half! Time has absolutely flown, and it's so weird to even imagine being back in the U.S. so soon. It's finally starting to hit me though... This morning I had to say a final goodbye to my host family in Shanzu, which was harder than I ever would have imagined a few months ago. It's so weird to count down the days....
Kari's here though and we're now off on the second part of our month-long adventure! After spending a couple days on the coast near Mombasa, we took a bus down to Dar Es Salaam this morning to check out more of Tanzania. We'll spend the day exploring the city tomorrow, and then head to Zanzibar for two days of beach and relaxation. On our way back to Nairobi we're planning to stop and camp in Arusha, Tanzania for a couple nights, near Mount Kilimanjaro. It's supposed to be absolutely beautiful. Then we'll have a night or two in Nairobi before we say our final goodbyes to the people, country, region, and continent we've come to love so much... It's so hard to imagine.
Well, that's it for now... I'll be back in the U.S. in just 10 days!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Backpacking Adventure Part I
So...it's been a while. And now I'm in Rwanda. I'll start from the beginning...
I arrived back in Nairobi from Mombasa two weeks ago tired and not ready to study. I spent a night at my friend's host family's and then all of us students moved in to this guest house and conference center for three days and nights of cramming, exams and 20 pages of last-minute paper writing. By the end of the week, I was absolutely exhausted. But everything was done!
So on Friday morning I got up early, turned my papers in, met up with Joice (the house help at my first home, who finally left the family) and the two of us hopped in a matatu headed for Nakuru. I stayed with her family in the rural area of the Rift Valley for a night and two days, and it was so much fun (aside from the sheep intestines we had for dinner Friday night). Then late Saturday night I boarded the bus headed for Kampala, Uganda that my friends had caught in Nairobi. We stayed in the capital city of Uganda for 3 nights, but unfortunately the first night I spent in the bathroom of a traditional dance center with my head over the toilet. Thankfully, whatever I had only lasted about a day.
We're now in Rwanda, which is absolutely beautiful! It is such an amazing country, and it's been so interesting to learn more about its history and the genocide in '94. We spent two nights in Kigali, the capital, and then boarded a bus to Gisenyi, a city on the boarder of Congo. We talked to a couple locals and they all said Goma, the DRC's city right across the boarder from Gisenyi, has been very safe lately... so we decided to go for a little adventure. :) So Friday we crossed the border and spent the day in the Goma. (Side note to mom: YES, we were safe, YES, we knew what we were doing beforehand, and NO, we did not step anywhere outside the city or where it would not be safe. Oh, and we won't be going anywhere dangerous again, so don't worry). It was really cool to see the city after the volcano erupted in 2002 and buried most of the place in lava. We saw rocks of lava everywhere, and the city was pretty empty in terms of infrastructure cause not much has been rebuilt yet. The coolest part was walking and talking with the UN peacekeepers from India that are currently on a mission there. It made all my studies on international security really come to life.
Tomorrow we're starting our voyage back to Nairobi though, cause we need to be back by the 14th in time to pick up my friend Kari from the airport. We're planning on taking matatus to Lake Victoria tomorrow, then a ferry across to Muanza, Tanzania, and then another long bus ride back to Kenya. But once Kari arrives, Backpacking Adventure Part II begins!
So long for now... See you all in just a couple weeks!!
I arrived back in Nairobi from Mombasa two weeks ago tired and not ready to study. I spent a night at my friend's host family's and then all of us students moved in to this guest house and conference center for three days and nights of cramming, exams and 20 pages of last-minute paper writing. By the end of the week, I was absolutely exhausted. But everything was done!
So on Friday morning I got up early, turned my papers in, met up with Joice (the house help at my first home, who finally left the family) and the two of us hopped in a matatu headed for Nakuru. I stayed with her family in the rural area of the Rift Valley for a night and two days, and it was so much fun (aside from the sheep intestines we had for dinner Friday night). Then late Saturday night I boarded the bus headed for Kampala, Uganda that my friends had caught in Nairobi. We stayed in the capital city of Uganda for 3 nights, but unfortunately the first night I spent in the bathroom of a traditional dance center with my head over the toilet. Thankfully, whatever I had only lasted about a day.
We're now in Rwanda, which is absolutely beautiful! It is such an amazing country, and it's been so interesting to learn more about its history and the genocide in '94. We spent two nights in Kigali, the capital, and then boarded a bus to Gisenyi, a city on the boarder of Congo. We talked to a couple locals and they all said Goma, the DRC's city right across the boarder from Gisenyi, has been very safe lately... so we decided to go for a little adventure. :) So Friday we crossed the border and spent the day in the Goma. (Side note to mom: YES, we were safe, YES, we knew what we were doing beforehand, and NO, we did not step anywhere outside the city or where it would not be safe. Oh, and we won't be going anywhere dangerous again, so don't worry). It was really cool to see the city after the volcano erupted in 2002 and buried most of the place in lava. We saw rocks of lava everywhere, and the city was pretty empty in terms of infrastructure cause not much has been rebuilt yet. The coolest part was walking and talking with the UN peacekeepers from India that are currently on a mission there. It made all my studies on international security really come to life.
Tomorrow we're starting our voyage back to Nairobi though, cause we need to be back by the 14th in time to pick up my friend Kari from the airport. We're planning on taking matatus to Lake Victoria tomorrow, then a ferry across to Muanza, Tanzania, and then another long bus ride back to Kenya. But once Kari arrives, Backpacking Adventure Part II begins!
So long for now... See you all in just a couple weeks!!
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