Last Days of Freedom

So I've been avoiding the blog because I really don't want to admit that summer is coming to an end.... but it is :( Next week I start teaching half-days of summer school for two weeks, and then there's a week of inservice and work-days, and then all the kiddos come on the 23rd. I'm ready to be back in a routine, and I am ready to have the fun of teaching... but not quite ready for the stress that I know will come with it.
Anyway, just to catch you up on life stuff, I was in a bit of a post-Africa funk for a while. It was hard to come back to "normal" life after that amazing trip. Luckily, I got to go spend a week down at the parents' house and play with the Vermont Frostman crew. Since then I've just been enjoying the perks of living in a Colorado mountain town (although I would be really happy if I didn't have to share it with all the stupid tourists). I got to see my first Estes Park bear just across the road from my house (he was little and very cute!). A long-time friend (and life guru) from California stopped by for a visit and it was wonderful to see him. I also drove down to Colorado Springs for an unofficial reunion with my CC-Masters crew. Most of all, i've finally had time to hang out with my friends here and have enjoyed hikes, lunches, shopping trips, and dinners. Here's a picture of some of the gals on a hike that we did recently to some lakes up in RMNP.

In other life news, I'm also car shopping since Cujo is 10 years old and I REALLY want a new car. I'm 99% sure that I'll be getting a 2011 Subaru Impreza hatchback. I'll have to wait until I get my extra $$ from teaching summer school to pay off the final portion of the Africa trip before I bite into the new-car-loan debt... but the 2011's haven't hit the dealerships yet anyway, so I think (hope) I'll have time to find my perfect car before the snow gets here.
Anyway, today I'm off to get my hair cut, play some putt putt golf, and enjoy a summer concert in the park. Gotta enjoy these last days as much as possible :)

Trip Report Part VII (Nairobi, getting home, and memories...)

Sorry it's taken me a few days to get this last post done. I had a great weekend hanging out with friends, hiking, and especially watching the Estes Park fireworks show. Fantastic!! :) So anyway, here's the wrap-up of the Africa trip:

I'm putting the pictures link here, since this is a longer (and not-as exciting) post, and there aren't many pictures for these last couple of days.
Sunday (6/20) we had to say goodbye to the Masai Mara and head back to Nairobi. It was nice to see a herd of elephants, some zebra, buffalo, and wildebeests come to the road to say goodbye to us (apparently the cheetah didn't get the memo that we were leaving). We drove back through the Great Rift Valley, but the light was pretty flat, so the pictures aren't nearly as impressive as the valley itself is. We were all pretty worn out at this point, so there was a lot of van-napping. We also shared pet-pictures (Ben and Kathryn have two kitties and Tim and Susan have two bunnies!) and exchanged email addresses and such. Benjamin took us on a shortcut back to Nairobi which took us through the rich suburbs. It was really bizarre, after all the poverty we had seen, to be driving through this gated community of mansions and gardens (and I found it funny that the road was as full of pot holes there as anywhere else!) Ben and Kathryn were staying at a different hotel outside of the city center, so we dropped them off first and then headed back to the Stanley. I have forgotten in the last posts to tell about how now, whenever I hit my head, I'll think of Ben... as (being 6'4") he hit his head on Jesus or something else multiple times per day. I suppose it sounds awful to say that after the first several times, we just laughed, but he never really seemed to be bothered :) Anyway, I have to say it was kind of depressing to say goodbye to new friends and drive back into all that traffic and pollution and know that my time in the wild of Africa was over. It's a very good thing that I had my Jessica and Jordan with me, because I knew that WE would still get to have fun for these last couple of days. We had decided to share a room these last couple nights, so we checked back into the Stanley, and said goodbye and a HUGE thank-you to Benjamin (who was very excited to get back home to his friends and family to spend his tip-money on a big beer party). Then we also said goodbye to Tim and Susan (who were flying out the next day), and headed up to our room. It was actually a really nice, big room (the pictures of Nairobi are from our balcony), and while it took us over a day to figure out how to turn the lights on and off the way we wanted to (thanks Jordan, you're so smart!) we were glad to be able to relax.
I was really torn between taking a nap, and heading out to explore the city with Jess and Jordan, but when the concierge told us that the Masai market probably wouldn't be open the next day, we all decided that we wanted to give it a shot. Now I have to say that the people at the hotel had many suggestions of things for us to do in Nairobi, but going to this market was not one of them, and in fact we got the overall impression that they really did NOT suggest that we go. I am guessing that this is because the "suggested" activities were all things like museums and parks... things where you had to pay admission and thus were "safe" for tourists... but Jordan felt pretty confident that we would be just fine, so off we went. First we stopped at the Nairobi version of a fast-food place. Very surreal to be ordering a burger and fries while on a trip to Africa (even more of an experience to be the only white people in the restaurant...and probably on the whole city block) Honestly the food wasn't that great (especially as their version of ketchup is a watered-down sweet and sour sauce), but it was an interesting experience. So then we walked a few more blocks to the market. Basically this was just a big fenced-in city block with somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred little booths (by booths, I mean blankets on the ground and sometimes a table, rarely an actual booth) that sold all kinds of things from jewelry to bead work to t-shirts to woodwork. I don't know if this market was reserved only for people of the Masai tribes, but many of the people sitting at their booths were dressed in the traditional Masai garb (although plenty of others weren't). As we headed towards the square, we were SWARMED by men. If I hadn't been with Jessica and Jordan, I would have been absolutely terrified, and even with them, I was pretty a little scared and definitely uncomfortable. I didn't exactly feel threatened physically... no one tried to actually grab me in any way, but they all wanted to shake hands, and there was absolutely NO personal space. We were kind of herded into the square, and then it took a while for Jordan to get most of the men to disperse. Apparently, these are the salesmen of the whole market, and while we never did figure out how it all worked, it seemed to be kind of like a furniture store, where the next salesman in line got to pounce on the next person in the door. So we were assigned a few men to help us, and we began to walk around the market. These guys were this bizarre combination of really pushy and really nice and helpful. They were dressed in regular clothing, and often seemed to talk down to the individual booth runners, but no one seemed to protest to this. I still would like to know how the whole thing works. Anyway! They wanted us to pick out anything that we might like and call it a "maybe" and then they would carry our "maybes" around while we looked at other things. Jordan said that this was very different from the markets in Nigeria (where you deal with each booth individually), but we adapted and found some things that we loved. Jordan and Jessica had been on the hunt for some rugs for their home in Nigeria, but we didn't have any luck. We did find some artwork, cloth, and jewelry that we liked, and after some interesting bargaining (thank you again Jordan!) we called it a day. I don't know that I exactly "liked" the market, there were more children begging and a good portion of the people working the booths seemed to be unhappy... but as it was late in the day perhaps they just wanted to go home. Either way, it was part of the experience, and I'm really thankful that I was there with Jessica and Jordan so that I was able to have that experience since I know I would never have done it alone. Oh... I also found out after the fact that my personal shopper/assistant, Issac, had offered to pay Jordan 200 cows to marry me. Now I don't really know if that is a good offer or not, but thank the lord for my friend who did NOT sell me at the market :)
So back at the room, we decided that we were really worn out and deserved a day of relaxation, so we went up to the spa and booked massages for the next day. Then it was back to the room for some long showers, catch-up-on-email time, watching tv, and order room-service time! It felt so good to just hang out with friends, look at safari pictures, and of course, watch some football (soccer) on TV :) We all crashed relatively early.
Monday (6/21) we were all planning to sleep in, but after a week of waking up early... yup... I woke up early. As we hadn't figured out how to turn on/off individual lights yet, and I wasn't up for showering in the dark, I decided to look at safari pictures instead, which I did until I got sleepy again. Eventually we all got up and had a big breakfast and then went up to lounge around by the pool. Unfortunately it got cloudy, but we still enjoyed just being lazy and not being on a schedule. After a while Jessica and I went and poked around the shops in/near the hotel, but didn't find anything good. Eventually it was time for our massages (which were heavenly) and then some nap-time. My tummy hadn't been feeling very well that morning, and wasn't any better by the evening, so Jordan and Jessica went to the Thai restaurant in the hotel (apparently very good) while I hung out in the room and watched a movie. While it was certainly no fun not to feel good, I was so glad that if I had to not feel good, it was when there was nothing better we had to do! We spent the rest of the evening just talking and watching TV... with a little bit of re-packing.
Tuesday (6/22) we had scheduled a late checkout time, so we weren't in any hurry to get up and showered. I went to breakfast with Jess and Jordan, but my tummy still wasn't interested in having food in it, so I headed back up to the room to finish packing. We checked out around noon, but the safari company wasn't picking us up until 2:30ish so we stashed our luggage at the front desk and headed back up to the pool area. We came back down around 2:00 and waited in the lobby until we were picked up. I had decided to go to the airport with Jess and Jordan even though their flight left like 4 hours before mine just to make sure I got there in plenty of time, so while I sat and read a book, they checked in and then we said our goodbyes. I think it helped the goodbye not be too sad since I knew I would see them again really soon as they are back in the states for a bit now... otherwise I think I would have been in tears. What amazing friends they are :)
So to keep a very long and boring part of this story relativly short, I had a very long but uneventful trip back to the states. Once my flight was posted, I checked in and spent a couple of hours wandering around the Nairobi airport, shopping and people-watching. Then I went through security at the gate and eventually got on another very big plane for another very long flight. I was a little worried about eating, so I picked at the food, but luckily my tummy seemed ok with the stuff I chose. Unfortunately, I think the dry airplane-air and overall tiredness of my body gave into the airplane germs and by the time we got to Amsterdam I felt like complete crap. Luckily after some exploring, I found a quite lounge-type area with lounge-chair type seats and was able to sleep for a couple of hours. Then I wandered around, got something to munch, and got on another big plane. I watched a couple of movies, napped some more, and coughed and sneezed a lot (sorry other people on the plane... although I always covered my mouth!). Eventually we got to JFK... which was a nightmare. Whatever idiot designs and/or runs that place should be shot. Although the immigration guy who checked me in did make me laugh by saying he would much rather teach 22 4th graders than do his job (I said me too!!) So eventually I got on yet another plane, and after sitting on the runway for an hour, we actually took off (the pilot said that most airlines predict this with JFK and thus it was built into our flight plan and we shouldn't be very late... which is just sad). Back in good old DIA, I found my mommy and my luggage and we headed back to my aunt's house. Mums really wanted me to spend the night there, but I was awake, feeling yucky, and REALLY wanting my own bed, so I rolled down all the windows and enjoyed driving home in the moonlight and fresh mountain air. It was nice to be home... although I think I will always miss Africa. It was certainly the trip of a lifetime and I am so very glad that I went. I'm so thankful that I went with friends (and met new friends!) and I certainly gained a new side to my perspective on life. There are still a lot of things that I feel like I need in my life, need to have, or need to accomplish... but sometimes it's good to remember, as they say in Kenya (and they really do say it!!) Hakuna Matata!! (no worries!)

Trip Report Part VI (Ballooning and Safari on the Masai Mara)

So Saturday (6/19) started ass-early. The wake up knock (no phone in the tent) came at 4:40 and we were all in the lobby by 5:10 (by saying that we were there, I mean in a physical sense, not mentally). We got in the Land Rover of the balloon company (I have to say it, definitely more comfortable than Jesus) and drove for about 20-30 minutes out to the balloon site. It was neat to be driving through the Mara at night, we were all on watch for "eyes in the dark" but all we saw were some huge bunnies. When we got there, the driver told us to stay between the car and the balloon "just in case" which we were all quite willing to do! It was a little creepy to be out in the middle of the African grassland with nothing but a car between us and the lions! We watched as the crews blew up the three HUGE balloons, first with fans, and then heated the air with the huge burners. We met our captain - Milton - from New Zealand who told us that we shouldn't smoke and to stay inside the balloon (pretty basic eh?). Then we all climbed in. It held 16 people, plus the pilot... and it was great because the 7 of us were all together on one side. The other guy on our side (Mike) was just along for the ride as his dad was a balloon pilot (not Milton) and so he got to go along whenever there was an open spot. We started by sitting down inside the balloon basket while Milton fired the burners (it took me about 5 minutes not to flinch every time he fired it) and got us up in the air. Then we were up and floating! Having never ridden in a hot air balloon before, I wasn't really sure what to expect, but "floating" is about all I can say. Other than the ground moving below you, you don't feel any movement at all. The air was chilly, so it was actually nice to have the burners fire every once in a while... kind of like being by a campfire! So the VERY first animal we saw once airborne was a lone lion with a kill. She was barely 300 yards from the launch site (yikes!) guarding her breakfast. Gave me chills!! From there we chased a small (relatively speaking) herd of wildebeests and zebras. Oh, I forgot to say that we named every wildebeest Forrest. Then we could say "Run Forrest!! Run!" it was very funny :) And then for a while we just floated over Africa and watched the sun rise. I have to say that I was a lot more interested in just soaking everything in than taking pictures. This was the most amazing experience of my life! I've seen the sun rise in a lot of places, but there was something about the light in Africa that was different... impossible to describe, but unforgettable. As the light grew, we were able to see further, and the most noticeable thing was the SWARMS of wildebeests that covered the Mara. Milton said that there were already more here this year than all of last year, and that more were coming. He pointed out (in the distance) where the wildebeest migrate from Tanzania across the Mara river. We felt very lucky that they had come early just to see us!! :) The other neat thing was to see their trails through the grass. It looked very much like some alien toddler had scribbled all over the ground :) We also saw a herd of elephants, several hyenas, giraffes, gazelles, and other animals. We passed over several small creeks (do they call them creeks in Africa?) and it was really neat to look over the side of the basket and see the reflection of the balloon float across the water. I also loved watching the other balloons (there were two others that took the same flight-path as us, and another one that we saw way in the distance). Milton was great about turning the balloon every couple of minutes so we were all able to see in all different directions. He also took several pictures of us with a camera that was hanging above/outside of the basket. Near the end of the flight we flew over a small forest where Milton said a rhino lived, but we didn't see him. Flying over the forest was very cool though :) The only really scary part of the flight was the landing. We sat back down in the basket and held onto some ropes. We hit the ground HARD, and Milton said "hang on! We're not done yet!" and then there was a couple more rough bounces before we felt like we were dragged and then slowly tipped over. By that time we were all in fits of laughter (Ben's fault... although I'm sure he'd blame it on me) and after an upside-down picture, we climbed out and then on top of the basket for a "we survived!" picture with the balloon crew. All-in-all the flight probably lasted just over an hour. It was one of the best hours of my life so far :)
So then we hopped back in the Land Rover for a quick drive up to the champagne tree. There we found a full service champagne breakfast waiting for us! There was quiche, sausages, croissants, fruit, yogurt, cereal, and of course lots of champagne! Nothing like getting tipsy before 9am ;) We sat across from another English couple on their honeymoon who were a lot of fun. The husband did a great rhino impression :) I also was in stitches over a discussion that included Tim's annual religious holiday (whenever he needs a day off work) called the Feast of Saint Fuckit. (Again, even funnier in an English accent!!) We also saw our first lilac-breasted-roller bird -- we ended up seeing a ton of them, but I never got a good picture.... but they are very cool!! So after a lot of good food, champagne, and laughter, we jumped back in the comfy land rover and headed back to the lodge. Our driver this time was Eric, and he was in no hurry, so we got a fantastic, meandering drive back to the lodge. The first thing we came across was a big bunch (flock?) of vultures picking the bones of an old kill. They are really ugly birds, but in a neat way! Next we saw a secretary bird (I will not repeat the joke about secretarial duties and eating worms... I'm sure you can work it out for yourself!) Soon after we recovered from our laughter, we came across our first lion couple! We named them David and Victoria (as in Beckham... being on a football kick) and enjoyed watching them snooze in the sun. This was the first male lion (like adult-with-a-mane lion) that we had found and he was SO handsome. After we left the sleepy couple, we found another lion not 5 minutes later! Eric (named after our driver) was snoozing in the shade and couldn't have cared less that we were oogling over him. He reminded me a lot of my Fat Kitty :) We left Eric to his cat nap and continued on to the lodge. We saw one sad young wildebeest that had been separated from his herd. :( He ran along the car (run Forrest!) for a long time, but finally veered off into the grass. We all think he definitely went and found his family and did NOT get eaten by a lion. Oh! This was also the start of our battle (which continued on the afternoon drive too) with the worlds biggest grasshoppers. There are probably millions of them in the grass and if they are jumping at the wrong time they get sucked into the car. Of course they aren't dangerous at all, but it is pretty freaky to have a grasshopper that is as big as your hand land somewhere on you!! Thank god for Ben, the grasshopper wrangler, who fearlessly wrestled the buggars, pinned them down, and threw them back outside :) We had the best time on the ride back to the lodge laughing and enjoying the sun and the incredible experience of being in that amazing place. The only bad part was the incredible number of bruises incurred from standing up/out the roof for 99% of the drive.
So once we got back to the lodge, we all headed straight for some nap-time. We had the chance to visit a local Masai village, but honestly we were just to exhausted from the late night before and the early morning. Jessica and I met up for a late lunch (Jordan wasn't feeling great, so he kept sleeping) and enjoyed some REALLY yummy sesame-covered ribs and a little sun-by-the-pool-time. Then it was time to meet up with Benjamin for the afternoon cheetah-hunt! As a cheetah was the only animal that we hadn't seen yet, we were all willing to do whatever it took to find one. We started off crossing a small creek/gully and drove along side it for a good 45-55 minutes. Other than some roller-birds, we didn't see any other animals, so Benjamin started looking for a place to re-cross the creek/gully. Every crossing we came upon was in REALLY bad shape, and after a while we ran into another van that was back-tracking as all the other crossings were worse. So we found the least-worse one, held our breath and crossed our fingers and toes, and....... we got stuck. Now I have to say that Benjamin drove over some pretty incredible roads for the whole time that we were in Jesus (which, by the way, was only front-wheel drive). He had an amazing handle of the vehicle, and as unsafe as the roads and other drivers were, he was very safety-conscious and really made the ride as smooth as possible. But... none the less... we were VERY stuck. So... we all got out (kind of nervously) and tried pushing the van, but we were REALLY stuck. So the other van that had crossed ahead of us went to get help, and we all were posted on lion-watch. It probably wasn't more than 15 minutes before a Land Rover came along and hooked up a wench to Jesus. Our safari boys were actually in testosterone heaven as they got to help rock and push Jesus back onto the road :) The official story is, of course, that Ben lifted the van with one hand while Jordan and Tim fought of 49 lions. Ahhh, those manly men :) Anyway! We were unstuck and (thankfully) uneaten and off to look for a cheetah. We never did see one (guess I'll just have to go back again!) but we were treated to some amazing sunlight-through-the-clouds breathtaking moments. We did find one group of vans that said they had seen a cheetah way off in the distance, but by the time we got there we didn't see anything. So we headed towards another group of vans and found three wonderful lions. On one side of our car (literally like 2 feet away) was a really lovely female, and on the other side of the car (about 10 feet away) was Fabio and Loleta... a couple in love :) According to Benjamin, if they are at the beginning of their courtship, they mate every 5 minutes or so and don't stop to eat! Well apparently these two were at the beginning of their courtship because we saw them go through the mating routine three times in about 20 minutes. We also had to hold in our laughter when Ben, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't watching this all happen on TV, yelled "YEAH!!" after Fabio finished "the deed." Fabio gave us quite a stare (which was intimidating to say the least). I was going back and forth between watching them and watching the really lovely kitty on the other side. I got a great shot of her yawning, and Jess got a great shot of her calling. I can't describe how incredible it is to hear and see a lion call.... it was so beautiful! Since it was getting late, we had to leave the happy couple to their baby-lion-making. (FYI - the game wardens in each park make sure that all the safari vehicles are out of the park by like 6 or 7pm... unless you have special permission I suppose) On our way back to the lodge, we saw several herds (wildebeests, zebra, buffalo, elephants, etc.) and some sleepy hyenas (it was neat to see them up-close as we had only seen them from the balloon).
I have to admit when we got back to the lodge, I was pooped! So I was a little annoyed when we went to the restaurant and were re-directed again. This time it was apparently a Masai holiday, so we were going to join in the festivities. We had quite a hike (ok... it was a ways, but not that far) to a big outdoor area. I am guessing that this is somewhat close to the Masai village that we didn't visit that afternoon. Anyway, they had a huge bbq pit, rows of clay pots that were being heated over a strip of hot coals, and a big bonfire. There were also Masai dancers dancing and singing around the guests. It took a little while for me to get un-grumpified, but eventually (after eating some incredibly good beef and naam - my new favorite kind of bread) I enjoyed the native dancing and of course the good conversation with our safari crew :) As tired as we all were, we went to the bar and had one last toast to Africa as we were headed back to Nairobi and our separate lives the next day :( It was heavenly to go back to my "tent" and crawl into my huge cozy bed (I forgot to mention that the turn-down service here included a hot-water-bottle in your bed!) and fall asleep. It is hard to have a favorite, since every day in Africa was such a unique experience... but if I had to pick... this was my favorite day. Click this link to see pictures!