Back so soon?
I thought I’d try to be a little more consistent with my writing, in order to not alienate the five people I’ve gotten back to reading again. And by reading again, I mean they’ve read two blogs over the last two and half months…real fanatics. ☺

Life in Nairobi is now life as normal. Not too exciting in terms of lions and hundreds of thousands of animals – but it’s exciting in other ways. I’ve joined UNEP at an exciting time, so there’s lots of cool stuff going on. Unfortunately, it’s still the UN – so every decision has to be approved by ten people and can take up to ten days…but I guess I’ll get used to that at some point. The most stressful/exciting/unpredictable part of my day, is without a doubt the commute. A solid hour long drive (or more) consists of no roads with lines in the middle, not a single curb, lots of potholes, donkey carts, people walking in the streets, cows grazing next to veggie stands on the side of the road, mercedes benzes, lots of bike riders, billboards for coke, pimped out land cruisers - we've got it all!!! And I see it all on my way to and from work.

I’m working on website designs and special events. It’s a nice mix of things to keep everything fresh and new. I’ve only been there four days so how could it not be fresh and new?

As far as life being normal in Nairobi, we went for a really nice sushi dinner the other night and the week before I went to a huge market with tiny little shops selling clothes from the states - some really nice stuff for about $5 or less, I can only assume it happened to fall off the back of a truck and these nice people are making sure it doesn't go unused.

I guess that’s about all. This season’s blogs have been LACKING and not such great writing, but alas, no one can be 100% one hundred percent of the time can they?

Upcoming highlights – wedding to go to in Mombasa on November 1, last day of work Novemeber 28, cooking a Thanksgiving meal on November 29, flying to London Dec 1, flying to Atlanta December 6 – see y’all suckas in the A!

~EKY V.

Back for real...

So, to sum up the last two months - sorry I disappeared. I got here and Phil and I had an amazing week together (the first blog) and then he left. It was a difficult time for me. Being so far away and feeling so alone made me not want to blog or keep in touch. I felt like I was on the other end of the earth. And then slowly, slowly I made my way back. Some peanut butter toast, an exploding avocado puree, and the amazing love and support of my family and friends helped me get to a good place. I got a bit bored and the freelance/be your own boss lifestyle was too much for me. I thought I needed more structure. So I gave my resume to some friends. And then I started to think, "What if I never get a job? What if I'm not good enough?" Then I a friend at the UN said they had something I was qualified for and that she had passed my resume along. Well they called. And put me through a RIGOROUS interview process that lasted over a week. And then they offered me a job for six months with great money. During the interview process, the work they made me do gave me my confidence back and also made me realize that I came here to do to the freelance thing and I came here to build PWS with Phil. And so because they offered me the job, they gave me the strength to turn it down. I didn't come here for money and I didn't come to work a 9-5. So I said no. Then they called back and asked if I would do it just for two months and that I could then still go home for Christmas and maybe we'd reevaluate things in January.

SO I SAID YES!!!! I start officially on Monday, although I'm currently already doing work for them. I'm so excited to check it out and see how it goes. It's a great position and six months would've been great except that it's more than I want to take on at this point. It would've involved either moving or buying a car, something I'm not ready for at this point. I'll work with them on this consultancy and then see how things go in the future. I'm going to work my butt off, prove myself, and see where things go from there. Phil and I will go to London Dec 1-6 and then come to Atlanta, he'll stay until Dec 15. Then I'll stay until January 16. If anyone is still reading I hope all is well. I'm posting some photos and there are also TONS of photos on facebook for those that can access it. Phil and I just spend the most AMAZING week in the Masai Mara. He's there with clients and came down to join him for our birthdays (17 and 20 of September). It was amazing. Those are the stories I should've written about, but I figured I had some explaining to do. Update me! ~EKY V

Back Again!!!

Yo pienso que yo necisito escribir en espanol, seeing as I promised in my last entry to write completely in Spanish. Unfortunately, I couldn’t give this place justice if I tried to describe my last six days solely in broken Spanish.

My emotional departure from Atlanta was complete with tears on my part, endless hugs to my parents, and a long series of waves that still put a smile on my face today. The two nine-hour flights went by relatively quickly and without much to tell. With a fake itinerary from Phil, in case they hassled me about my exit date, I nervously went through the Kenyan customs. A beautiful woman with a beautiful accent let me through without so much as a second glance.

Phil was waiting at the airport and was shocked by the “lightness” of my bags. However, upon our arrival to the cottage, as I began unpacking all my rolled-up clothing, he quickly realized that despite their deceptive weight, I had indeed brought an unfathomable amount of clothing…in his opinion (I was proud of the restraint I practiced, thanks to Nicole and Jaci and Laura).

On Sunday afternoon (I arrived Saturday night), we had a nice lunch with Phil’s dad and stepmother, Henry and Nicki. They are incredibly welcoming and very friendly. Later in the afternoon we relaxed with Ivan (Phil’s twin), Ivan’s wife Lyn, Lyn’s sister Laura, and Laura’s six-month-old son, Alistair. It was also great fun and nice to hang out with them again.

Sunday night Phil cooked us a delicious dinner and I continued to find nooks and crannies for all of my things. Monday saw us go on our first adventure. We gassed up the Land Cruiser and headed out of Nairobi for a four-hour drive to Lewa Downs, a 65,000-acre conservation area. Lewa has several houses and lodges on it, our family first met Phil when he was the manager and head guide of Wilderness Trails. We stopped on the way at a beautiful airstrip for lunch. They served us delicious sandwiches while we sat on a green lawn enjoying the sunshine. There were old, white men who looked like were straight out of the movies with there white hair, safari shorts, and safari shirts. They had their lunch, grabbed their briefcases and hopped into their little planes to fly off to their farms. I felt like I was in a movie as we barreled down the highway with African music playing past small villages, mango trees and pineapple fields.

We arrived at Lewa and everyone flocked to Phil. It’s been six years since he worked there, but his popularity hasn’t faded one bit. Lewa looked much as I remembered it and unfortunately, its beauty is indescribable. On our walk to our room, we passed monkeys and a herd of impala; we could see giraffe eating just outside our window; the food was phenomenal and the hosts were lovely. On our second day we went for a drive with Simon, a new guide at Lewa. Management wanted Phil’s opinion as to whether or not he was ready to “go it alone” with wagani (clients). So we had a great drive and saw many sites I remembered from eight and half years ago – it brought back wonderful memories and really made me miss my family. I asked Simon tons of questions, learned a lot, and Phil gave his stamp of approval.

On Tuesday evening we took a car and drove to what Phil says is one of the best views in Africa. It was stunning! The sunset wasn’t the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen (due to the clouds) but it was a nice way to end the day. On Wednesday we got up early, had a breakfast with the family (and the monkeys who stole bananas from the buffet), and went on our way. The ride home was soooo interesting. We had an anthropology lesson about the people of Africa and more specifically the tribes in Kenya. It led into general Kenyan history and the drive went by quickly.

We’ll continue to visit friends for the next few days and have driving lessons until Monday. Phil heads off on safari and I attempt to get settled all these thousands of miles from home. I’m looking forward to reaching out to contacts and seeking work again. I just hope it’s successful, I know it will take time, but I’m ready to get the ball rolling.

Please email or comment on the blog and let me know about life. Have a great weekend! ~EKY V.

Lake Titicaca: Buses, Boats, and enough papas to last a lifetime

In order to get the most out of my last weekend in Peru, my friend Karina and I decided I´d go out in style with a trip to Lake Titicaca. Two of her friends, Laura and Julia (twins) joined us, along with Kim, a former student at our school during our primero semana.

The Lake was absolutely beautiful! We had two crystal clear days with full sunshine, a cool breeze, and not a cloud in the sky. The lake is the highest navigable lake in the world and thus you´re literally in the mountaintops, you just happen to be on water. You´re reminded of this when you spot all the snow capped mountains surrounding the lake. Here´s a “quick” recap of our weekend:

Karina and I did some research, got the best deal on bus tickets and we all took off on Friday night on the 10 pm overnight bus trip. While the seats reclined and were as wide as first class plane seats, I was still unable to really get any sleep. My faithful Tylenol PM let me down in the moment of truth and I arrived in Puno un poco grumpy and very tired.

We were all excited to arrive, but we hadn´t done any further planning, all we knew was that we wanted to spend the night on an island, and we wanted nothing to do with Puno, cause there´s nothing there. So before the bus even came to a complete stop, some Peruvian man in a track suit was in our face about taking his company´s tour and staying with a family. We politely told said “Peruvian Dude” that it was 4:30 in the morning, we were hungry, tired, and wanted some time to chat. “sure, sure, of course.” He proceeded to sit at the next table over (we were inside at this point, he followed us from the bus to the terminal to the upstairs “foodcourt”).

Then another “Peruvian dude”, who also happened to be in a track suit, cooed up to our table and offered us a better price. Everything he said sounded better, so we began the process of going with him. Then Peruano hombre numero uno pops back up again and suddenly he can offer us the trip for 50 soles (13 less than hombre numero dos). Some Spanish smack talk obviously occurs between the two competing salesmen dressed like they´re headed to aerobics class, but being the poor travellers we are, we go with the cheaper price. So then we go through ALL the details and begin to make some for real plans. Then he says, okay, so it´s only going to cost 275 soles, I do the quick math, uhhh no, that´s 55 per person. Then Julia, the best Spanish speaker of us all, goes into asking him if he´s a liar and letting him know we´d lost trust in him. I wanted to take the easy route and just punch the guy in the face, but my fellow travellers talked me out of it. We finally ditched the idiot and decided to go it on our own. We´d take to the docks and make our own plans….

It couldn´t have worked out better! While we paid the same price the sleezy guy was offering, we knew all of it was going to the families of the island. So we got on a boat with about seven other random travellers and we all entrusted our lives to the folks who said they could house us for the night.

We took an hour ride to the Uros Islands. These are the floating reed islands. The people live their entire lives on the islands and it seems to me they rely solely on fish and money from tourists. We explored for a little bit and then boarded the boat to head to Amantani, our second island of the day and resting spot for the night. We arrived two hours later and their well organized system saw us get escorted to a home ready to take in the five of us. It was a small two story home with a little courtyard and an outhouse. We had lunch: potatoes with cheese and a side of potatoes. Then we all met in the square and a girl of 10 years old showed us to the top of the island. It was no easy walk but well worth it. We arrived and had a 360 view of the lake and a prime seat to watch the sunset. It was clearly the thing to do because all the other tourists were there as well. I met a guy from CARE who lives in Atlanta and more than likely used to order four cheese ravioli bolognese from me at Figo. I was reassured that other people were entrusting their lives to the folks of the island.

We hiked back down in the dark to our house, NOT easy with no lights, and while I wasn´t looking forward to it, I was totally ready to have my front teeth reinstalled by a Peruvian dentist if it came to that. Dinner was potato soup and an omelette ontop of rice. Lo and behold! The omelettes had potatoes in them!! This put us into hysterics, we couldn’t escape the papas. We even had to smuggle to lunchtime potatoes out of the house because they too closely resembled giant maggots to be eaten.

All in all, at the house, we were a scene from Charlie and Chocolate Factory. Karina ate from her bed and changed on the side of her bed. She became “abuello joe” for the night. On Sunday we took the boat to the island of Tekille and had another gorgeous hike to the top of the mountain that made up the island. I had the best meal I´ve had in Peru, a pitabread sort of thing with an egg and cheese on the inside. I was in heaven…it´s the little things. Then we headed back to Puno, hopped on a bus, and after seeing three high class movies (Even Almighty, Terminator vs. Alien, and Littleman), we arrived safely in Cusco. I´m outta here on Saturday, inshallah. So maybe there will be one final entry for all those Spanish speakers out there. Otherwise, check back with me in July when I move to Kenya. –EKY V.

Uhhh, yes it´s been three weeks

Seeing as I only have eight days remaining in Peru, I figured I should add another blog. Unfortunately, I´ve sort of lost the "blogging" spirit so it´ll likely be short and sweet for once (or perhaps NORMAL by everyone else´s standards).

I spent last week in Taray, a TINY town in the Sacred Valley. I think there may be 100 residents there, and that would be pushing it. Myself and eight other students stayed in a house owned by the school. We had all our meals there and took classes with our teachers in the mornings. In the afternoons we went on various excursions around Taray. Taray is a 20 minute walk to Pisac, a reasonable sized town, with internet, shops, and cold beer. We´d walk to Pisac almost everyday for one reason or another. It is a beautiful walk down a dirt road along a river with gorgeous mountains surrounding you on all sides.

The house was great, complete with a pool (although the water was WAY too cold to swim in), a pool table, a pingpong table, and some great hammocks. Our excursions included a trip to some nearby saltmines, the ruins at Pisac (which I had already seen but were once again beautiful), and a pretty much Emmakate Young guided tour to a waterfall. We had great fun at the house and all became pretty close given the circumstances. OH!! One afternoon included a game between a Peruvian teacher (40 years old probably) and me against two Dutch boys who were convinced I couldn´t play. Despite the hinderance of the altitude, Rudolfo and I easily put away the orange-boys, won beer for the night, and I once again showed a third-world country that women can play futbal. It was GREAT!

We got back and I decided not to temp fate and remain with Carrolla at my former homestay. She´s VERY nice, lets me practice Spanish, feeds me decent enough food, has a semi-decent shower (despite a horrible stench that sometimes make me gag while brushing my teeth), and the house is safe. So I stayed with her and it´s been great.

Tonight I´ll take an overnight bus to Lake Titicaca with four other girls I know (two I know, two are friends of one of them). For the seventh week in a row (more or less) I still have a horrible cold and a stuffy week. And for the first time I´ve given in to antibiotics. One of my travel buddies for tonight is a doctor and she took me to the pharmacy to get a z-pack. Hopefully I´ll be better in a few days, otherwise, I´ll try to get to a doctor next week before I return as an uninsured nomad to Atlanta for a month or two.

Tomorrow night we´ll all spend the night on a man made island of floating reeds, I think, or atleast we´ll visit one. The island we´re staying on doesn´t have hotels, so you basically get off the bus tomorrow morning and families are waiting there to take you in for a small fee. It should be fun.

Next week will include some frantic shopping for presents for my immediate family (sorry everyone else, I´m broke :)), 20 hours of one-on-one classes, and a few dinners with friends.

I thought about writing this whole thing in Spanish. It wouldn´t have been this detailed, but I could´ve done it. Read up on your Spanish cause an all espanol blog is in your near future. :) Love to everyone. - EKY V.

Photo attempt...no promises

Cusco view from hostal; Cusco main square; Laura, Emmakate and Mandy almost there; our group at Machu Picchu; myself and two new friends atop Wayna Picchu - the mountain behind Machu Picchu; the Sun Gate; Machu Picchu once the clouds lifted.

I´ve posted some photos on facebook, but I´ll see if I can manage to get a few on here. -EKY V.

Life around Cusco

So to fill in a few blanks about the last few weeks, Cusco is wonderful!! Just like people said I´d like Cape Town and they were correct, people told me I´d like Cusco and I love it! IT´s much bigger than I imagined, but it´s still just a city pearched in the mountains. There are thousands of houses stacked on top of each other, all with red tile roofs. There are 360 degrees of mountains surrounding you and some snow capped peaks off in the distance. Most people don´t speak English, a little bit, but I´ve been able to use broken Spanish and French with a twist to get by just fine...really well actually.

The train ride back from Aguas Calientes after the Machu Pichu hike was BEAUTIFUL!! You rode through the sacred valley following the river the whole way back. The ride was very comfortable and enjoyable, even a few complimentary snacks and drinks. At one point some VERY loud music began playing. Laura and I were in the very last row and actually faced backwards out a huge window at the back of the train. I turned around upon hearing the music and there was a man in FULL costume, complete with a scary mask and hat, dancing up and down the aisles with a fake little llama, or "llamita" if you will. This routine went on for a good ten minutes, including a moment when he reached us at the back and made a strange noise on behalf of his llamita into Laura´s ear. We had a good laugh and settled into our seats once the music was over. Until... more loud music...a fashion show!! These Peruvians are ALL about the mid-ride entertainment.

Another fun story, we planned to take a public bus up to Pisac, another town nearby, known for it´s beautiful ruins and great twice-a-week market. We went to where the hotel people told us to catch the bus, much the bus under the underpass of the highway in Lima, I assumed we´d say Pisac a few times and people would point and eventually a bus with Pisac written on it, or a man yelling Pisac from it´s doorway would appear. No such luck. At one point we got into a really nice van and the guy was going to take us up, but said we had to wait for two more people, we left. Prior to this moment, after much questioning and furrowed brows, peopled pointed to this scary, dodgey looking blue doorway. As if we were going to go through some doorway into a building to catch a bus to Pisac??!!!?? Upon realizing what they meant I think my exact words were, ¨No way! Yeah right! We´re not going in there!" After getting out of the nice van, we decided that we might as well just look into the doorway, low and behold it led into a gravel parking lot and like the joy of seeing the McDonald´s arches at 4 am we found a huge, nice giant bus with individual seats waiting to take folks to Pisac. Luckily we were some of the last people to get seats and we took off relatively quickly. The market was great, I did some comparative pricing and will go back, and the ruins were beautiful! We took another public bus home after dark and arrived safely at our hostal.

Most restaurants in Cusco are Pizzarias. It´s not real pizza though, sometimes there is no sauce and sometimes it´s almost ketchup. But we´re had some good meals. The rest is chicken and rice. On Friday night, we treated ourselves to a nice Italian restaurant and I actually had a CHICKEN CESAR SALAD. It was incredible to have vegetables. Since it was a nice place I risked having the local produce and was totally fine.

We met our family yesterday, and by family I mean a 55 year old woman and her 27 year old son that she hides in his room. "Carrola" is nice enough, but the 50 minute WALK TO CLASS is not so nice. Laura and I will split the cost of cabs for the week, but next week things will change. I just don´t want to have to deal with walking 50 minutes or paying for a cab about three or four times a day. So I´ve created an INCREDIBLE solution!!

Next week, at no extra charge, I will take Spanish classes in the Sacred Valley. It´s absolutely beautiful and will be nice to be away from the city for a little while. Then when I return I´ll move in with a family closer to the school so I can walk and get some exercise. Then my third weekend I´ll go to Lake Titicaca for the weekend and my last weekend, I fly back to the ATL!!

I have my first class this afternoon! I´m very excited! Then we have a welcome dinner tonight and lecture about a Inca ruin nearby that we hike to last week. Another night we have salsa lessons, cooking lessons, I think they´re showing "Frida", and some other activities as well.

Okay, I´m getting overrun by other students. Adios! -EKY V.