Museums, Markets, and Monkeys!!

I have so much to tell all of you! Today was a very exciting day, and I also want to update you on my schedules so you know what is going on.

So, today I met Ada at the Guest house at 10:00 today for us to go out to town. Kiatoko (my mentor) and Kioko (the manager of the guest house) were visiting with me and telling me all about Kenya. They were even giving me suggestions for when I get married and have a honeymoon! They were telling me about all the towns and the wildlife and attractions. I will definitely have to start saving to come back here someday. It is absolutely beautiful.

James met Ada and I to give us a ride to where we wanted to go. It was very nice of him, and we were both very thankful. It saved us a lot of time. Ada and I first went to the Nairobi National Museum. It was actually very entertaining. It had African animals on display, a human skull exhibit, a room full of birds, art, and Kenya history. It was really neat to be able to get so close to a giraffe (that was once alive at least) and see how tall they are.

 These are all gourds. They were all decorated and very neat. 

 I will always think of Pumba from the Lion King.

 lovebirds do exist!!

 My grandma likes cranes, so I had to get a picture with some African cranes!

 And a flamingo because they are pink!! 

 (I am not sure why it is sideways like this... it is just a mural though)

I am not completely sure what this is. Art. Maybe just a family and the chaos about life?? I don't know.

Then, we went to a snake park. It had all the snakes of Kenya (most can be found in Kakamega apparently). It also had some turtles, tortoises, and crocodiles. The snakes were rather frightening, especially when reading the symptoms of a bite. The turtles were pretty cool though. I think turtles must be extremely patient animals. They are agonizingly slow. And as for the crocodiles, they were just lazy. Large, but lazy. After the exhibit, there were some paths around the snake park for you to follow. We found this waterfall that looked really neat, and all these hidden little paths for you to explore.

 I really like this picture. It's like they are sunbathing and saying, "Yeah, were just chillin' guys, what's up?"

 Look how big the leaves are!!

 The waterfall we found.

 Palm trees (no coconuts) 

I'm a tree-hugger :) 

After this, James picked us up again to take us to the Village Market. He took me on a bit of a detour though. We went to the Westlands (a section of Nairobi) to grab a quick bite to eat. The Westlands is an area that many Indians live. It has restaurants, stores, and clothing similar to those in India. We went to a little restaurant in one of the many malls there for some food. It was an Indian restaurant and I didn’t recognize most of the foods. I did recognize milkshake and fries!  They were both cheap so I ordered those, as did Ada and James. Oh my gosh. Let me tell you, that was the biggest plate of fries I have ever received. And they were good! I would even go to say they were some of the best fries I have had. So, if we think about it, I had the best plate of fries, in and Indian restaurant, in Kenya.  J

Then James drove us to the Village Market. We went through Rosalie heights. This is where the richest of rich live. The houses are giant, with 15 to 20 bedrooms, gates with guards out from, and some really impressive cars cruising the streets. On the corners are little flower stands for people to buy flowers that look like they are straight from a story book. They have every color of rose you could ever want, and the bouquets they create are beautiful! I would have bought a few roses, but I felt they would just be wasted. You give flowers as a gift, to have them be put in a pretty vase. And alas, I am vase-less also. But it is okay!

 Sorry about the corn in the way, but this house is huge. 

 Another big house.

An example of the flowers. This was while we were walking by a store, but it's a similar idea. Just envision more colors and roses :) 

After Rosalie, we went by the US embassy (very high security and very… American looking in a way. It kind of looked a little like some hospitals or office buildings we have. Sorry, no pictures of the Embassy. I would get in big trouble.

Then, we finally got to the Village Market. It was nothing like I thought it would be. It was like a mixture of an outdoor mall, and an indoor mall. It looked like a very upper class village if you want to connect it to the name. But it was all very expensive. It was nothing like I had expected, I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I had hoped. It was all too expensive and high class for a high school student. They had things like vases and home decoration, and very expensive clothes and jewelry. It was very, European. I guess in my opinion, when you come to Africa, who wants to buy European feeling souvenirs. I am here to buy African souvenirs!! (Below are all pictures of the village market I took from a landing on some stairs.)

Ada and I left the market, and instead decided to travel to town. On the way there, we saw the city market. We stopped there. It is a market absolutely full of produce. Any fruit, vegetable, bean, and root you could imagine! And it smelled delicious. Citrus-y at times, spicy others, and sometimes just the smell of fresh veggies. We bought some roasted peanuts and walked to a public park. And you would not believe was there!

Monkeys! Walking around! I fed the monkeys the peanuts and they loved it. I would have multiple monkeys around me at once, taking the nuts from my hands and sitting on my lap. One monkey was very smart and when another was eating from my hand, he would try to take the whole bag of peanuts! It was so neat to feed the monkeys though. Their hands are soft and they don’t bite you. They will even nibble straight from your palm. No biting whatsoever. It was one of my favorite parts of the day, and I am sure my sister will be extremely jealous. (She loves monkeys)

 They loved me right away. I had barely walked into the park and they were surrounding me!

 The monkey was trying to steal all the peanuts! I couldn't help but laugh. Silly, greedy little monkey.

 I hope you are enjoying my expressions...

Ada wasn't a fan of the monkeys. But she fed a few:)

After leaving the monkeys, we went to town to do some shopping quick, not very much, then we headed back home to icipe.

So, now that you know all about my day, I will update you on some of my plans. My trip to Kakamega was moved to Monday the 22^nd. This is fine, as it gives me a week to prepare well. I have a few little trips planned for this coming week, but I don’t want to tell you yet in case they change! I will most certainly keep you updated though. My last few  weeks here will be filled with excitement I am sure.

I am halfway through my internship, and halfway home. When I first learned I was an intern, I thought two months was so long. Now, I wish I was staying a little longer! But, at the same time, I would get so homesick! Being so far from home, has really helped me decide to stay close for college. Only 10 months left until I am graduating High School, and only a little less than a year till college! It is almost scary to admit somedays.

I hope you enjoyed my post! I will keep you all in the loop.  J