11:13, Wednesday, 10 August, 2011

Driving out of the Mara at 6:30 in the morning, I couldn’t decide if it felt more like we had just gotten there or like we had lived there our whole lives. Time is one of life’s great mysteries that I will never understand. All I knew was a melancholy, precarious emotional perch that I wasn’t sure how to handle.

We met Benson in Narok for breakfast. We wanted to say goodbye since the unexpected arrival of his baby boy. He was glowing with his newfound fatherhood, explaining how he had been so afraid of dropping the tiny bundle the first time he held him. The baby’s name is in Maa, and means “blessing”. Benson is going to be a great dad.

I rode with Janie and Zach to Nairobi. It was so nice to see them both again! Janie and I are alike in so many ways; she is in love with life. We had good conversations on books and dozed in and out, sometimes closing our eyes merely to escape watching the matatus and other cars whizzing around the Hilux. The landscape changed dramatically. Nairobi was bursting with people and colorful flowers. The color was nice, but it was a hard realization that I was leaving the simple life I love. I’m not looking forward to adjusting back to a life filled with unnecessary things.

However, there were definitely some perks. We stayed in Steph’s ridiculously nice house. She hurt her back and kindly gave her house to us while away. If you remember, Steph has five dogs, and I couldn’t stay away from them. Lotti (sp), Dingo, Dasha (sp), Arkon (sp), and Trout were all so happy to see us. Every chance I got I went outside to shower them with love. Lotti and Dasha are beyond sweet; Dingo is an absolute attention hog. When he wasn’t off chasing monkeys, he was growling away the others, wiggling his whole body to block your path and demanding you lavish him with pets. Arkon and Trout were mostly kept separate due to their strict training; I met Patrick, the guy about my age who is taking care of them. He and Consilatta (sp), Steph’s housekeeper (I could not get used to having someone make my bed and do the dishes for me...weird), are wonderful people. I enjoyed the brief contact we had.

Janie and Adrianna stayed in the guesthouse where Lia and I had slept our first two nights in Kenya; Lia and I slept in Ollie’s enormous room. We rejoiced over a rediscovery of flush toilets, and had way too much fun in those bunkbeds. Lia was on top and would purposefully move around so that I shook all over the place, then I’d retaliate by pounding on my newfound pseudoceiling. Sometimes we swear we’re still twelve years old.

I woke up from a nap to a warthog on its knees grazing in the yard. Then we headed to a restaurant! Poor Dave had to explain to the guy waiting on us that we had been in the bush for the past two months. We were so excited over the food! Everyone agreed that it’s a good thing Janie and I weren’t put in the same camp the way we annihilated an entire pizza, panini, and some calamari all on our own. Together we’re a force to be reckoned with. After eating we went shopping for breakfast and snacks at Nakumatt. WE GOT ICE CREAM! We spent at least fifteen minutes settling on what type to get, wide-eyed as though we had never seen the stuff before. We ended up with caramel almond- delicious.

Back at Steph’s, we hunted through the DVD’s to find The Lion King. Ollie has the sing-along version...even better! It was powerful watching it in Africa. I got so many shivers. The hyenas are mistreated though; I hadn’t noticed it to the extent it’s apparent. At least the female is dominant. That counts for a morsel of accuracy I suppose. We ate our ice cream and cried over Mufasa’s death, laughed at Pumba and Timon, re-fell in love with Rafiki. Plus, we correctly identified all of the antelope species. There are hartebeest at the beginning!!!

Tuesday morning I took a tip from Janie and went for a run. It was fun to experience running in a new environment; Nairobi is really a pretty place considering. I love the red dirt and endless hills. Gee whiz though, I missed the clean air! The contrast was amazing, and definitely made breathing harder. I saw a guy riding the most beautiful horse while leading another, passed smiling women dressed in colorful vitengi (traditional African dress). One of them told me I was “rocking the morning.” :) Two boys ran in jeans and long-sleeved shirts, workers were out fixing the streets, and I found a beautiful seminary just before it was time to turn around.

Returning to Steph’s, I took my first hot shower since June 13^th.