Mamma in Kenya

My mother and her friend Lise was here this week and we had a good time together. The first four days we spent in Sigowet, to give them the "ultimate local experience", as I guess a travel agent would have called it. They visited our schools, neighbours, some of my colleagues as well as attended a funeral to one of my colleague's father-in-law.

Last Thursday we left Sigowet and went to Mbita, a small town by the shore of Lake Victoria. We've seen the lake many times before, but only in Kisumu where the water almost always is covered by water hyacinth, making it impossible to actually see the water. Mbita is situated just where the Kenyan gulf becomes the large body of water that Victoria is, and the water is quite clear here (not like the Norwegian water, but much less brown then Lake Baringo, for those of you who know who has been there). We stayed at Lake Victoria Safari Lodge,which is a wonderful place run by a Norwegian man who fell in love with this country a few years ago. A beautiful garden, charming huts to sleep in (where every detail has been thought through!), a nice beach, warm water - we had a great time. Yesterday we travelled to Kisumu to spend some more money on souvenirs, and this morning they flew back.

The top picture is of my mother at Chebulu, enjoying the view after a two hours walk to get there. The next two shows mamma and Lise at Rebecca's home, eating a great meal and me, mamma and some of my colleagues at Ruth's home. Number four and five is from Mbita: inside a textile shop where we spent at least an hour and a few thousand shillings, and my lunch that day: two tiny birds (vaktler in Norwegian, Alura in Luo) that tasted very much like tender chicken. Looked disgusting, tasted nice. The bottom two show me and mamma demonstrating the different ways you can ride on a boda boda, depending on how short/tight your skirt is.