Nelson - Laying back for a little bit

I know I've been slacking on posting lately, especially with pictures, so instead of going back and fixing all my posts in the past, I've decided to just do a new post with lots of Pictures! Yay! So this post will take us back to Africa a little, and I'll tell a few stories as I go along.


So, first just a few more pictures from Africa. I can't help myself with these pics because the Safari that I went on was so absolutely amazing, and I don't think I gave all you justice with the few that I did upload. One of my favorite pictures is the one of the cheetahs that you can see on the left. It is what is called a "steroscopic image" If you've ever heard of or seen those "Magic eyes" it is the same idea. As you can see, there are two pictures side by side of the same cheetah. Well, if you can cross your eyes you'll see two extra images form. If you can then cross your eyes far enough, you can make those two extra images merge into one image in the center. As you look at that image, you'll see a three dimensional cheetah! Good luck!

And now one of a Lion! This is probably the best lion shot I got. I just love it do to the open plains in the background. You can just tell that the lion is truly the king of his domain. (No seinfeld pun intended. . .) While I took this picture, there were two other female lions that were just beginning a hunt! I really wanted to follow them and watch, if nothing else, from a distance, but the driver was impatient and didn't believe that we could be patient enough to watch the hunt. So he drove off looking for other animals. Needless to say, I was a little bummed, but hey, what are you gonna do?

And then finally the crew that I went on Safari with. Not a bad turn out for only 4 paying customers huh? There is the cook, the driver, the camp host, the camp guard, and then I believe just some friends of the people there. The guard that accompanied us on the safari drives was a Masaii person. The area around the park is Masaii land, and these people are very interesting indeed. First of all, they know that tourists frequent the area, and due to the way they dress, tourists take a lot of pictures of them. For that reason, if you want to take a picture you have to ask permission right away, and usually they'll ask for money in return for the picture. That way you aren't "exploiting" them in the western world when you print their image in a magazine or something of that sort. Also, every time your car stops, they'll come up to the windows and try to sell you crafts that they've made. Finally, one last thing that stood out to me was their ears. They have a tradition of piercing their ears, but they make the piercing ridiculously large! And when I say large, I mean I could literally fit my arm through the piercing. And I didn't see them wearing any jewelry in these piercings, so in a sense, what you see is their ear lobe hanging on thier shoulder with a big hole above it and the rest of their ear. Very different culture indeed! Fascinating nontheless.

Also, because I told the buzzards they were going to be famous for letting me stay in their place, here is a picture of them. This is a formal "Thank you" to the Buzzards! I couldn't have done it with out you! From left to right there is Brendan who is Lucas' brother, then Lucas, Me, Candace and Bob. And just to tell you what I go through to get pictures. . .for this picture we had the cab driver take it. First he didn't know how to take it, then he took one without a flash. I turned on the flash for him, and when he tried to take another, the batteries in my camera died. So I had to root around in my packed bag for my extra battery, switch the batteries, and have the cab driver try yet again! All this when I had a plane to catch! You guys owe me! ;)

Well, from there I'm assuming you read my post about the situation with Air New Zealand, and what not, so I'm gonna skip that whole section. . .I don't have any pics anyway. . .

So Then I went to the Mt. Somers subalpine walkway. Kind of like the Africans, the New Zealanders apparently have no surveying equipment for trail maintenence. At least that's what this Hike felt like. So here is a picture of Dominic at the top of the first hill that we ascended. The trail went straight up for about 700 meters, and we thought we were makeing extremly good time. Well, we got to the top, and wouldn't you know it, we then descended about 500 meters! The whole trail to the first hut was like this! Up and down, up and down, over slippery boulders and crossing creeks. It was painstaking work, but worth it in the end!

And then a picture of the water caves that I was talking about. Unfortunately they were quite large, so therefore it's hard to get a picture that gives them justice. But more or less, as you can see the water is quite shallow. So at this point you take off your shoes and go wading. You wade up into that canyon you see there and it continues up under rocks for a couple hundred meters! The whole time you never get deeper than knee deep. There was even one section that you had to scramble up a waterfall about 4 feet tall, and squeeze under a rock that was only 2 feet off the ground! Hence, another reason I don't have pictures. . .if I brought my camera that far, there would be no more pictures for the rest of my trip due to a wet camera! hehe!

But that doesn't mean I didn't get pictures of us swimming! Here Dominic and I were looking for the "spa pool." Anyone that reads spa pool in a book though would think they were looking for something warm. Well, that isn't the case here. We never did find the spa pool, but we found this pool, that had something shiny on the bottom of it! I'm just like a bird in the fact that I can't leave shiny things behind. So Dom and I decided to go swim here. (The pic is of Dom diving in) But I did retrieve the shiny object nonetheless. Turns out, it was a useless piece of metal. :( Oh well, maybe next time I see something shiny it'll be something worthwhile.

From there I get to a place that you haven't read at all about. The day after I did the Mt. Somers subalpine walkway, I drove a long 6 hours up to Nelson to give Kris and Bruce a proper visit. Much better than the couple hours that I spent with them a month ago! Of course, I didn't want to drive completly on my own, so I went to a backpacker in Christchurch and they have billboards with people that are looking for rides. I luckilly found someone that was heading the same direction as I was so I gave her a lift to kaikoura. Sure makes the drive go faster being able to talk with someone! Her name was Diana, and she was from Germany. So then I arrived in Nelson, and so far I'm loving it here! I'm with good friends, there seems like there is going to be a lot to do around, and being here, I have a good base to try some work here in New Zealand.

Oh, and yes, I'll throw this in here too. Before I left the U.S. all the websites about traveling said that at some point during your travels, you'll get ripped off. Well, it has happened to me, and hopefully it's the worst that will happen. Well, the night before I left to Nelson I must've left my car unlocked or they were able to jimmy the lock or something. Regardless, some people got into my car and rooted around a little. Well, I could've been totally taken as, like an idiot, I had left my passport, credit cards, and even spare car key in the car! (I'm way too used to Bozeman!) Well, they rooted through, and for some reason didn't take anything except 1000 kenya shillings! Haha! They probably thought they'd get rich with 1000 kenya shillings or something! Little do they know, that's like 15 dollars. Plus, you can't change it anywhere in NZ anyway! So take that you robbers! Who got the last laugh now! But yeah, I guess I got lucky with them not taking any cards or my passport, or my car for that matter. From now on, I'm going to check and double check that the car is locked, and carry everything with me every minute of the day! (Those travel websites always said to do this, but I haven't to this point, and haven't had problems till that day. . .)

So with all that said, I'm about to go work on getting work now. But I have a hurdle to jump before I do. Yes, even in New Zealand, you have to pay tax and all that jazz when you work. So today I'm on my way to apply for some tax number that the employers need when they hire you. I still think I'm going to try a few days of picking fruit. Apparently the apple crop was late this year and is just coming out now. Since it was late, the travellers that usually show up to do it have moved on, so apparently they are short pickers! Which means, good money! We'll see though.

So, finally I've gotten some pics up, and I've gotten you updated on where my whereabouts are! Right now I am waiting for one of my best friends to come and join me in New Zealand. Pat is coming in the middle of May, just over 5 weeks from now, and so I am trying to think of things to do until then. I'm sure I'll get a skydive in at somepoint if not more. And I wanted to do some work. Other than that, who knows. . .I might jump up to Australia while I wait for him, however I might go to Australia when he decides to leave. So, as you can probably tell, my mind is still all over the place, and the world is open to me right now! Any suggestions to where I should go? I'm listening! Also, Keep those comments coming too! I know I don't necesarilly reply to all of them, but trust me, I read every single one and love them! Love ya all!

The Mt. Somers Subalpine Walkway

Hey all! I feel terrible! I haven't been doing my part with blogging lately! Here I am writing another blog, but yet again, I've forgotten my camera at the house I'm staying at! So, once again, I can't put up pictures of my latest adventure until later!

But my latest adventure was one of Backpacking. The day after I flew in to Christchurch I hit the ground running. I jumped into Larry and headed to the Mt. Somers Subalpine walkway with Dominic. Of course, we packed our climbing gear with us because there is climbing up there. It's inevitable though, I always wonder why I do things like that once I'm a few kilometers into the hike.

Anyway, this was a three day hike, and we only got to climb two pitches, so it was a lot of extra gear, for just a little climbing, but the climbing was worth it! There was one FABULOUS pitch! 50 meters long, adequate protection, and HARD! Luckily for me, Dominic is a superb climber and he was able to lead the climb for me. All I had to do was follow. :)

Anyway, I've also noticed that the back country in New Zealand is nothing like the back country in Montana. I don't know if it's just the luck of the draw, but every hike I've been on down here has been packed! I thought this one was going to be not crowded, but as we did it, there was a group of college kids learning how to climb, and there was 2 school groups doing the hikes. New Zealand has an extensive hut system, so as we arrived at these huts, we were appalled to find them packed to the bone with tents and people! Someday, I'll find a hike out here with not many people!

But besides the people, the Hike was gorgeous! It started out on a creek bed in the middle of the forest. After walking along that for about 3 hours it broke out into the open and over some prime LOTR spots. In fact there was a little detour to the "water caves" which apparently was used in a few LOTR scenes. I didn't recognize it off hand, but I'll go back and watch the movies to see if I can pick them out. But the water caves are these gorgeous pools of water that have formed under giant rocks! They aren't really caves, per se, but boulders that have fallen into a steep canyon and gotten wedged above the creek. Very pretty indeed.

I'd like to go into much more detail about the rest of this hike too, but I feel that without pictures, I don't really know what to talk about. . .so, even though this is kind of a short post, I'm gonna call it good. Sorry!

Really quick, things are starting to get pretty exciting for me as far as the world goes, and truthfully, I'm getting ancy to travel somewhere new and exciting! We'll see if New Zealand can hold my attention much longer I guess! Keep checking back! I'll keep you all updated! And I'll try to remember my camera one of these times. . .I promise!

Once again. . .Back in Christchurch

Well, this post will probably be pretty short, but there are still a few stories to tell. First, I'd like to say, if you have been reading pretty consistently, you should scroll down and check my last two blogs, for they've been updated with pictures. However, I still need to add pictures to my safari post. I only brought a CD of pics that I burned to this Internet Cafe, and left my camera with the rest of the pics on it at the house I'm staying at. Oops! So continue to check those posts as time goes on!

So, I've arrived back in Christchurch after a grueling 3 days of travel! Well, three days local time that is. It's strange flying the other direction, west to east, for a change. The days go by incredibly fast! I got to see 3 sunrises/sunsets during my trip! So all in all, the flight back to Christchurch was for the most part run of the mill. Just long! The itinerary went something like this. . .Nairobi - Dubai - Melbourne - Auckland - Christchurch. Well, it all went fabulously from up until Auckland. Once I arrived in Auckland though, my plane came in a little late. It only gave me an hour to get to my plane to Christchurch. Well, normally, in any regular airport, an hour would be plenty of time! But in Auckland, this isn't so. As soon as you arrive, you have to go through Customs, then I had to pick up my bag, which came out of th e baggage claim nearly last! Then I had to go through Biosecurity. Since I had just been to africa, they made me unpack my bag to look at my hiking boots. Then they took my tent into some back room to look at it to make sure that no seeds or grasses were caught in it. Well, after I picked up my tent, they were kind enough to have unpacked it for me, and never repack it! Aren't biosecurity people nice? Anyway, after that, I had to make it to the domestic terminal which is about a 15 minute walk from the International terminal. Or you can catch a shuttle that makes the round every 20 minutes. So of course, its a gamble on what to do. Start walking or wait for the shuttle. If the shuttle just left, I'd walk, but if the shuttle was right there it only takes five minutes for the drive. So I waited for the shuttle, and sure enough, it took about 15 minutes to show up. So then, I showed up to check into my domestic flight literally 5 minutes before it was supposed to fly. Sure enough, they had closed check in for that flight. Oh well, I say, I'll just have them put me on the next one. . .WRONG! Turns out, my ticket was some non-transferrable, non-refundable, non-changable ticket in any sort of way. They said that I had to just buy another ticket altogether! And I asked if that money that was spent for the first one was thrown in the trash. The guy said "yep!" Argh! So, I'm publicly saying it now! Don't fly Air New Zealand! They don't like working with their customers! So, I ended up buying the cheapest flight out of Auckland to Christchurch for about twice of what it should've cost me. Plus I had a 7 hour layover waiting for it to fly. By this time, I'm exhausted from travelling so long, so I go over to a couch to lay down and rest. After closing my eyes for about 5 minutes a lady comes over and says I can't sleep there! "Too many people miss their planes when the sleep here!" I say "My plane doesn't leave for 7 hours! I won't miss it!" She says "That's a long time! Too bad though, you can't sleep here!"

So by that time, I was down in the dumps. I hated life, and couldn't believe I was back in New Zealand instead of Flying home or something. So yeah, there you have it. I finally made it to Christchurch at about 10:30 at night last night, and thankfully Dominic was there to pick me up in Larry! It was the first good thing that happened to me all day! So I got a good night's rest, and now, I'm going to try to figure out what is on the schedule for the next few months! The only thing I know I'm gonna do is go visit Kris and Bruce!

Well, that's all for now. Just a story of traveling so I'm not going to post any pics on this post. Miss you all!

Nairobi - Back from the Safari!

Well, good news everyone! I haven't been eaten by a lion! But seriously folks. . .The Masaii Mara was a FABULOUS national park with every animal you could think of! Actually I couldn't help thinking of me personally being in a children's Alphabet book. In Africa I've seen, Alligators, Baboons, Cheetah, Donkeys, Elephant, Fish, Girraffe, Hyenas and Hippo's, Impala's, Jackals, Kangaroos (there is a kangaroo on my hat) and Lions! I could maybe keep going to Zebra, but I was having a hard time at M. Ostrich, water buffalo, and wildebeest need to be included too though. Yeah. So it is like a zoo out there except for the ones in the cages. Instead of animals being in cages, the people are in the cage of the car. And it is phenomenol because the animals are accustomed to the cars, so you can literally drive up within 6 feet of these amazing creatures and snap pictures! And pictures is what I did snap! I have 100's of them! Not all of them good, but I did get some phenomenol ones too! However, I'm on slow internet now, so It'll take ages to upload the ones I want to. For that reason, keep checking back with this post and the one before it. . .I will upload the pictures once I arrive in New Zealand again. I know I can get fast Internet there!

So, I went on a three day, two night safari. The Safari consisted of driving about 6 hours to the Natl. Park from Nairobi. And the roads were TERRIBLE! Dirt or worse pretty much the entire way there. And to make it worse, the company I was with was SO dull! (Sorry guys, but is was true.) I was with one guy from the Ukraine that was the best to talk to, however he just couldn't keep a conversation going for the life of him. Then there were two French people. The guy (christoph) couldn't speak English but for a little bit. And the girl, (georgiana) spent all her time talking with the guy. . .in french. So, not being able to converse with them, the Ukraininan (Andriy) and I kind of sat and stared at each other for three days! Actually, it wasn't THAT bad, but I could've had a little more lively company. But as far as what was included, They brought our own cook along, we had our own driver, and while we all were expecting to stay in tents, they gave us nice little bungalows with beds! So all in all, it was an absolutely fabulous experience! I really hope to come back some day and do it all again!

So the Safari isn't the only adventure that I had over this weekend. Shopping in itself is an exhausting task. It all comes down to bartering. And I think I have gotten it figured out slightly. It's tough, because going into a shop, the keepers follow you around telling you "a good price" for every little thing you might have the slightest interest in. So, you try not to be interested in anything! But then, once you find something you like, you need to think what the max you'll pay for it is. Then, they will tell you some exorbitant price that they want. What I did is just told them my max price right up front. . .and didn't budge for the life of me. For example, I bought a chess board today. Nicely carved and everything. He asked for 16,000 shillings. I said 5,200. . .period. He kept trying to get me to come up, and he even brought the manager over who tried to bargain anything! My hat, my shoes, my glasses. Nope! 5,200! "Come on, 5,500!" Nope. . .5,200. I'm leaving. It went on for like fifteen minutes. But finally, grumbiling, he gave in to 5,200. I was happy because this is the max I'd pay. And he may not have been happy, but he sold it to me anyway! I don't know. Hopefully I got a good deal! You always second guess yourself.

So it's off to New Zealand again tomorrow. I've been thinking really hard about what my plans will be while I'm down there, so be sure to keep up with this blog. I have a feeling, things might be moving quickly! ;) Once again, I miss you all!

And P.S. My grandma (on my mom's side) is turning 80 on the first of April! I just want to send her an "On the World Wide Web" HAPPY BIRTHDAY! So, Grandma, if you're keeping up with these. . .Happy B-day!

Till next time!

Nairobi - Enjoying the Mountains and Coreolis effect

Hello All! It seems like an eternity since my last post. Even though it has only been a little more than a week! I love blogging!

Well, I just got off of Mt. Kenya yesterday, and the trip was anything but boring! Everyday was full of Adventure! And of course, Mt. Kenya was full of firsts for me. In fact, one of the most impressive things was the pure elevation that I encountered. (And of course this van that we encountered on the drive there) Here is a day by day account of what we did.

Day 1 - The park gate. This is where we were able to drive to. We spent our first night by the car. This night was spent at 10,000 ft! At this campsite you could immediatly tell that we were in a national park. There were monkeys all over the place, one of which stole Lucas' apples! We had to chase it around to get it to drop one. After it had taken a bite of course! Other than that, this day wasn't too exciting, for it consisted mostly of driving and packing.

Day 2 - The gruelling hike to the MCK hut. MCK stands for Mountain Club of Kenya. Luckilly, since Lucas is an MCK member, we were able to take advantage of their hut. This Hut is where we stayed for the next 5 nights. The Hike went up this beautiful valley and ended at over 13,000 feet! Actually 13,779 feet! More or less, it was at the base of the technical climbing of Mt. Kenya, and it was higher than I had ever been before. (My previous record was 12,799 ft. . .The top of Granite Peak. The highest peak in Montana.) So after carrying 60 lbs. packs for five hours, we were exhausted! (60 lbs from climbing gear, camping gear, clothes, food for a week, and no porters.)

Day 3 - Rest, kind of. On this day we thought we'd just explore the immediate area around the MCK hut. We ended up hiking to a Tarn (a lake formed by a glacier) and then to the Glacier above the Tarn. What we ended up doing was hiking all the way up to Arthurs Seat at 15,308 ft! At this point I was very worried if I'd get any type of Altitude Sickness, but thankfully for the entire week I felt nothing if not just a little more tired than usual. But no coughing or dizziness occured!

Day 4 - My new Personal Record! On this day we hiked the Peak Circuit which is about a 12 km loop around the technical peaks. The circuit also goes on top of the third highest peak in the area called Pt. Lenana. We woke up at 3 in the morning so that we could see the sun rise from Pt. Lenana. Before the sun rose was probably the best hiking I have ever done! The moon was at 3rd quarter, so at 3 in the morning it was directly over head. The night was clear and we could walk completly by moonlight. Considering Mt. Kenya is so close to the Equator, I was able to see the southern cross at the same time as the big dipper! (The north star would've been visible, however the mountain was blocking it.) And three and a half hours later, we were just below Pt. Lenana watching the sun rise over the African Plains. We could see for miles and miles. Apparently from this spot you can sometimes even see Mt. Kilimanjaro, however it was just a little too hazy for us to see that far. Then an hour later I was standing at 16,354 feet! It was beautiful, albeit cold and windy! There are only two other peaks higher than this in the Mt. Kenya area. Both require 7 hours of technical climbing with a night spent at a tin shack on the top of the mountain at 17,000 feet. By this time, my partner had decided that he didn't want to attempt that climb for it was a little demanding for him. (I have no doubt in my mind that I could make it some other day!) After watching the Sun rise, we continued our hike for the next 8 hours around the main peaks. It was very gruelling, but the views were worth it!

Day 5 - Another Rest day of sorts. We were exhausted from the peak circuit from the day before, so we slept in a bit. Afterwards we decided to try and climb some rocks just in the back of the Hut area. So we pulled out our gear, and headed up. Well the rock quality was very crummy, so we just decided to top rope a fun little tower. Well, when I was on Rappel, I set my hand on a boulder about the size of my chest. It teetered and tottered, and finally toppled. Sure enough Lucas was standing just below me. . ."ROCK!" I yell. . ."ROCK! ROCK!" Lucas looks up in the nick of time and lunges out of the way of this massive boulder falling at him from 50 feet up. The rock thankfully missed him, however on impact, it shattered and a shard flew out and nicked him in the arm. Well, I guess these are the inherent risks of Rock Climbing, and it definatley gives you a reality check when something like that happens. Needless to say, we called it a day, and decided to stop climbing the crummy rock.

Day 6 - Another Epic Day. Today was planned for the climb of Pt. John. Pt. John is that spire you see off to the right of the main peaks. (Shown in Picture on Left) It is probably the most impressive feature on the mountain. Well, we woke up at 6 in the morning so we could be to the base of it by 9. Hopefully to the top by noon and down by 2 when the clouds always came in and covered the peaks. Well we came to the base of it, about 100 yards from where we were to rope up. I sat down to crack my back and take a quick breather, as did Lucas. After a minute or two, I said "Well. . ." (As anyone that hikes with me knows, when I say "well" it means I'm ready to go. . .) So, I stand up, turn my back to Lucas to put on my pack, and when I turn back towards Lucas, I see him laying face down on the ground. "Hmm. . ." I'm thinking. "What's he doing?" So I call out his name a few times. . .No answer. I walk over to him and touch him on the shoulder calling his name. . .No answer. For about 45 seconds he is just out! And finally he comes to. But he is completely disoriented, slurring his speech, and shivering. So my resemblences of First aid come to my aid, and I try to think of what to do. I end up determining that he pure and simple fainted, didn't hit anything when he fell, so I got him to some sunlight and started instucting him to put on Layers. He had on everything he had, and was still shivering. So, we got him some food and water, and finally, he started to come to. By this time, we decided that Pt. John was definately out of the question, and the best thing to do was to go back to the hut and rest. So, I took all his gear, and we started the long and arduous task of descending to the hut. And for the first half, he was stumbling every step of the way. I even had to catch him as he fell twice. It was a very interesting experience, and frankly, I hope I never have to be put in that position again. However it also makes me realize that the mountains are no joke, and things like that can and will happen. So as the boyscouts say. . .Be prepared! I feel I was ready to perform any other type of Rescue that could've ensued, such as CPR, so as far as that goes, I guess I'm kind of happy with how I performed in such a situation.

Day 7 - We decided to head out one day early due to the Massive headache Lucas had and the event of the previous day. So, for that reason, the very top of Mt. Kenya will have to wait for another day! So, we hiked out with about 45 lbs. packs in just over 3 hours. We then drove out and considering we were so close to the equator, we drove to it. And there was a guy there demonstrating this wonderful bit of Physics known as the Coreolis Effect! And it was phenomenol! Here's the set up. He had a juice jug filled with water. On top of that, he set an empty bowl. The bowl had a hole in the bottom about the size of a pea. When he filled the bowl, the water would drain out the hole into the juice jug. Then he floated a peice of straw ontop of the water in the bowl. Sure enough, we walked 20 meters north of the equator, and the straw rotated clockwise (like the water in a toilet bowl goes down clockwise in the northern hemisphere) We then walked 20 meters south of the equator and the straw rotated counter clockwise. We then walked directly onto the equator, and sure enough, the peice of straw didn't rotate at all! Looks like this guy Coreolis wasn't lying after all!

So here I am, back at Lucas' house typing away and waiting for my Safari to begin a couple days from now. Can't wait to tell you all about the wonderful animals I am going to see! Till next time!

Oh, and by the way, you'll notice that the hat I am wearing is a different one than I have been wearing for the past few months. This is because I was walking down a street in Nairobi, and a vendor LOVED my hat. So we bartered my hat for one of his wood carvings. But after all was said and done, I missed my hat quite a bit. Luckilly Lucas had a stack of extra hats and he gave me the new one! So there you have it. Now Big Sky Aikido will be forever advertised in Nairobi!

Also, I'd like to post more pictures of this trip too, however my Internet is on a Modem, so the pictures upload rather slowly. Maybe I can get some more up later!

Nairobi - Things are settling down

Well, the past few days have been really exciting indeed, but finally things are settling down here in Africa as I get accustomed to the surrounding around me. Africa is a little like being in first grade again actually. The ground rules are as follows. First, don't stay out after dark. Most things happen then so always be where you are staying or inside a guarded building after about 7 at night. Secondly, don't talk to strangers. Third, always lock your car doors. Even when you are riding in the car. Most problems occur due to car jackings. Fourth, don't advertise the fact that you are an American. I say I'm from Montana, and that it is near Canada. Thanks Colter for that wonderful bit of advice! And fifth, Make friends fast!

No, actually it really isn't that bad here. You DO have to be careful though. But it is not like I can't go out in the day or anything. I have found a problem though. It's funny here because they use the U.S. dollar more than they use the Kenya Shilling! But, all the ATM's are dispensing Shillings, and I'm more or less out of my "extra" U.S. money that I've been carrying around with me for the last 3 months! I just find it odd that they use U.S. dollars I guess. Also, I just found out not 10 seconds ago that on a computer keyboard in Kenya, they have switched the " key with the @ key. So, if I'm tying to quote something, and I accitdently say @ for some reason, you now know why.

Anyway, Since I last wrote, I have had a roller coaster of emotions. When you land in a foreign country and the first thing you hear is how all the accomidation and plans that you had when getting here have (probably) fallen through, you get worried. So for that, I need to give a formal @thank you@ (hehe) to Gilles, for taking me in this last week or so and introducing me to some very cool people. First he brought me to a meeting of the "Mountain Club of Kenya." Here I got the opportunity to meet a person by the name of Lucas. Lucas and I have now fixed the Mt. Kilimanjaro part of my trip, and instead of climbing Kilimanjaro, I'm making the best of it, and I will give my all at attempting to climb Mt. Kenya. In fact, Mt. Kenya is a much, much, much more difficult climb. It has an elevation of 17, some feet. And instead of being merely a hike to the top, technical climbing is actually required. In fact, 17 pitches of technical climbing is involved. Luckily though, it is only 5.4 climbing (VERY easy, although you still want ropes). So, the plan now is to leave on Wednesday and spend a week on the Mountain. Complete with Acclimitazation days, and training on lower rock walls to see if we can still climb well at altitude. I think both Lucas and I have good heads on our shoulders so we won't let "peak envy" get to us. I will happily give up the peak if weather turns bad or otherwise.

Since the last post, I was able to join Gilles on a trip to the North Eastern part of Kenya. We went to a small out of the way place called “Garrisa.” And wow, as a tourist, I can definitely say that I was able to get off the beaten track here! Garrisa is where the Nomads live. It is a little settlement that is officially in Kenya, but it has Somali influence all around it. In fact, it should be considered to be a part of Somalia entirely. I stayed in a very nice hotel that was located half a degree of latitude away from the equator! And to add to that, I was only approximately 100 miles south of where the U.S. has bombed Somalia. (I’m not exactly up to date on my current events though, so I don’t know if it was the U.S’s only bombing, or one of many. Anyway, from this hotel we drove about 100 km northeast and got to the middle of a desert. In this desert there is a VERY small Nomad settlement of about 100 people total. They gave us a tour of their area, and showed how things work there. They have a pump that is pumping what little water they have from 120 meters under the ground! The biggest problem they face though is if the pump breaks down. The pump was given to them by an outside agency trying to help. But they never helped in teaching people how to use it. So, if it breaks down the Nomads are SOL. That is why Gilles took a trip out there. He was seeing what can be done to fix this problem. And if I haven’t mentioned this yet, Gilles works for USAID, which is part of the U.S. Government. Well, considering I had the strangest feelings running through my head every step of the way, I was very quiet during the stay there, and tried to just take it all in. Part of taking it in included seeing wild Baboons, Shoats, Camels, and some awesome looking buzzards that have a six foot wingspan. Actually the wildlife here is AMAZING! But more of that later.

Actually, I feel this post is getting awfully long and possibly a little boring to read. So with that said, I’m going to just tell you briefly that I also got to go climbing with Luke in the Rift Valley. The Rift Valley is the Valley that is being created as the East Horn of Africa is moving away from the rest of the Continent. But yeah, it’s a cool site, and I also saw some Giraffes that were about a mile away! But I saw them nonetheless. So with that said, keep the emails and comments coming! You have no idea how much it makes me smile thinking of all you at home! Also, with all that said, I believe my next post will be in a little more than a week, when I have hopefully conquered Mt. Kenya! Wish me luck! Love you all!