Maybe once a month is more realistic :)

There is a certain smell that comes with developing nations. It’s not rotting garbage or sewage or anything terrible. It’s just a constant smell that is common to Morocco, Peru and Kenya (I can’t comment on other developing nations). In the mornings, it’s a bit crisp with an undertone of dust. It makes you feel like the day has potential, like maybe traffic won’t be that horrific. In the evenings, it’s dusty and full of exhaust – the smell, like you, is tired. I guess you could say the smell helps keep you in check, you always know of the possibilities ahead of you and the insanity behind you.

As a consultant for the UN, my day begins before dawn. I get up between 5:30 and 6:00 am, eat in the semi-dark and hop in the Toyota Corolla I’ve rented for the hour to hour and a half cross-city trek. I tried to find a map to accompany this description of my daily commute, but there wasn’t one small enough to show you all the landmarks. So bear with me and enjoy a glimpse at the global grind of a commute with a Kenyan spin on it. (I’ve taken some photos during my commute and will post at a later date)

To get out of my neighborhood, I literally play rally car driver and weave around pot holes, going both in the other lane and off the tarmac to avoid the car-swallowing holes. Once out of my ‘hood I go down Ngong road and see all the furniture makers bring out their handmade beauties to their roadside-dirt-parking lot showrooms. Between me and the “showrooms” is the dirt path meant for pedestrians or bicycles. Between the "showrooms" and by showroom I mean a dirt parking lot full of furniture - there are the mamas making grilled corn on the cob and various other goodies. When there is bad traffic, the pedestrian path is full of matatus, the pedestrians walk through the “showrooms” and the bikes fight for space on the road.

My favorite part of the drive is seeing the kids walking to school. They all have their sweaters and skirts or pants. Even with holes in their shoes or missing sleeves to sweaters, the children walking to school look ADORABLE and totally innocent and happy. Whether it’s two little boys walking arm in arm laughing with each other about god knows what or a big sister making sure her sibling doesn’t walk too close to the road, the children are the best part of my drive.

Occasionally I’ll see cows or goats grazing in any patch of grass their herder can find. And just as I’m gazing at the livestock, a pimped out land rover will cut me off and I’m reminded that I’m in a capital city.

Any slow corner or intersection is surrounded by flower sellers and paper boys who walk to your window and sell you the morning headlines. Luckily they understand that people want their product and they don’t hound your window. Unlike another stretch I go through where people know you’ll be stopped in traffic (and you always are) and they present kittens and puppies and toy cars and brooms at your window, hoping you’ll be their first purchase of the day. In actuality, I don’t see those guys until I’m on the way home, in the mornings, in that same trafficky, captive-audience stretch, they have young boys leading “blind” men and women asking for money. Just the other morning I heard a radio report about how they found a training camp to teach people how to pretend to be blind or crippled. I don’t donate.

I have to cross a highway on my way to work. It’s not too terrible, but on the way home, I have to get to the other side of the three lanes in about 200 yards so I can get to a Uturn area and get to the other direction. Not so fun when I leave after dark.

Another section is a huge dip. In the evenings, there is without a doubt a truck stuck on one side of the dip and if it’s raining, there’s a stuck truck on each side of the dip. I’m not sure if there is a single truck in Kenya that is fit to be on the roads. Each one has a driver and a “rock guy”. When the truck can’t make it up a hill, the rock guy gets out and puts rocks under the guy’s back tires to help him have friction and not fall down the hill. If this somehow miraculously works and they don’t have to repeat it, the rock guy grabs the rocks, throws them in the back of the truck and then chases after it until he can hop back in.

Another two person job is the matatu. I’ve learned that the door guy doesn’t just collect the money. He’s the one that smiles when they cut you off and he’s the one that jumps out at a crowded intersection, directs traffic with authority until his van is through the madness, and again, chases down the vehicle until he can jump in.

NO ONE respects any traffic laws. On a two-lane road, if it’s stopped or slow, people just drive in the other lane or off the road to get around everyone. If I see someone (normally ALWAYS a matatu) coming around the off road behind me, or coming down the wrong lane behind me, I get as far out of my lane as possible to block them. It’s great fun. Sometimes it work, more often than not it doesn’t cause they don’t care and go further off the road or further into another lane.

There are no four-way stops. If you come to an intersection it’s every man for himself, so good luck. The other day I was at one and everyone one was blocking everyone. Then matatus and buses started going in the wrong lane and really screwing everything up. So I bailed, luckily I knew another route.

No drive is complete without a pedestrian walking in front of you. At the afore mentioned four-way stop, people find a way to ALWAYS walk in front of my car JUST when a window has opened and I can scoot across. But alas, I cannot for if I do and if I hit someone who has so stupidly walked infront of oncoming traffic, I’ll be blamed and most likely subject to mob violence. It’s highly likely that the surrounding pedestrians will drag me out of my car and proceed to beat me. No joke.

So you don’t hit pedestrians.

There is so much more to tell about the commute alone, let alone the rest of my life in Kenya. It used to be a white-knuckled hour and half of hell twice a day. Now I enjoy the kids in the morning and being a nightmare for matatus in the evenings. Funny how things change. Someday soon I’ll tell you about “Obama Day”. It was great fun!

I’m home soon. I’m no longer a blogger, but I keep waking up in the morning, smelling the potential of the day, and thinking about ALL the amazing things I could blog about. And then the evening smell reminds me that I’m exhausted and no one still checks this blog anyway! ☺

~EKYV

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.