Rainy season

May has been a wet experience. Especially when driving, it's been a challenge to make it to our destination sometimes. Creativity, optimism and pure luck have been important - and most of the times we've made it. The top pictures are from the road between Mbita and Kisumu. Our car got stuck in the mud - or should I say lake, that had appeared during the last 24 hours. It's still completely unbelievable that we actually made it in the end - but not without lots of help from the locals who had made it their job for the day to escort vehicles through the waters. Our car is in the top left corner, the white one. When driving through, the water reached above the front lights. Insane.

The first of the pictures below is from the main road (!) between Nairobi and Uganda, we were on our way to Nakuru. Traffic jams on muddy roads are not recommended. The middle picture is from Ruma National Park, and thia time, we had to turn around and go back. The muddy water just got too deep for our car to handle. The last picture is from

It's time for lunch!

A couple of weeks ago, Inga and I invited all our colleagues for lunch, 35 people in total. We had prepared a lot of food, from Norway, Spain and Kenya. It became a huge success, if I may say so myself! After eating, we gave all of our guests a tshirt each, which we had been given by Norwegian friends.

More travelling

In the middle of May we had more visitors coming: Gro and Steinar. We travelled both to Kakamega rainforest with them, as well as to Nakuru and Naivasha National Parks. Biking, hiking and driving thrgough beautiful landscapes - we had a great time!

Back to normal...or not quite

The first week after my long holiday is finished. It didn't take us long to adjust back to the village life: in bed by 10 pm, shake hands at least 15 times on my way to school, spend a whole day washing clothes and house. And just as quickly as we got back to normal, things change again! This morning Inga's mother and stepfather came to visit us, and with one visit following the other, we won't be "alone" again until the middle of June! Meaning we will spend a lot of time travelling to different places of Kenya with them. And working a bit in between, of course. Our next trip will go to Kakamega rainforest tomorrow morning. Pictures will follow!

Holiday Part 2 (3?)

No news are good news, aren't they? My blog has been standing still while I've had a great time! After leaving Cape Town on the 26th I flew to Dar Es Salaam where I spent the night before traveling on to the island Pemba north of Zanzibar. Actually, I had planned to write an entire blog post about the flight from Johannesburg-Dar Es Salaam. But I don't think I will. The anger and frustration I felt at the time has gone now. Let me just say that I had an intense feeling of "I'm sick of Africa" at some point, and that my luggage took four days to reach me.

I went to Pemba with Svein Olav, another Norwegian friend who lives in Tanzania. We made plans to go to Pemba to scuba dive already in December last year, really great that we actually managed to do it! Flying to Pemba was amazing (contrary to the previously mentioned flight), a tiny plane with only 11 passenger seats, got a great view, I felt a bit like Denys Finch Hatton. Three days of diving in warm, clear water on beautiful coral reefs, it was fantastic. We saw sea turtles and schools of fish in all sizes and shapes. In between the dives (two each day) we had lunch on small islands with white beaches and no other people around. What did I do to deserve such happiness?

We left Pemba on May 1st and traveled to Morogoro where Svein Olav lives. I got to help out a couple of days at the center for mentally handicapped youth where he works, a great place it seemed. Saturday morning (yesterday) I went back to Kenya by flying from Dar-Nairobi. I considered taking the bus, but that would have taken me a loooong time and I wasn't really up for that. Tonight Ingeborg will arrive from her holiday as well, and tomorrow we'll both go back to Sigowet.

I've had a truly unbelievably great holiday, met so many nice people and seen such beautiful places. Now I'm ready for the next chapter of village life.

Wine tasting

A great Saturday: Decided to check out a "food, wine and livestyle" thing in the centre of Cape Town. Paid R50 (NOK45) without quite knowing what that would get us (us = Bernd, Justin and me, we share a dorm. Helen and Greg, you should have been there also!). We got a lot. Have tasted an unknown number of South African wines and eaten a lot af nice food, including olives, cheese, Thai food, chocolate, mustard, chili sauces, bread...And my holiday still isn't nearly over yet.

The pictures don't match the text. But I have no pictures from the wine tasting day, so I put these in instead. Paul, Leah and Fefe at Cape Town Backpackers, and view from Table Mountain, looking at the cable car.

Cape Town

After five nights in Cape Town (and luckily, five more to go) I can confirm all those "it's such a wonderful city"-statements. It truly is. Beautiful scenery (mountains! ocean!), good roads (after four months in Kenya you really know how to appreciate a good road..), friendly people and amazing food. I don't think I've had the chance to get really hungry at all this week, every time I'm about to get hungry, I eat a lot (too much!) of fantastic food, and there are so many nice places that I want to try before I leave.

And I've done a fair bit of shopping. Found an amazing bead shop, and those who know me well can easily imagine my enthusiasm when I found an entire shop (two floors!)dedicated to beads. And dirt cheap! Already bought a lot (and I really mean A LOT!), don't know how to be able to get it all back with me.

And I've done some tourist things as well: went to Cape Point on Wednesday, which is the most southwestern point of Africa (not quite the most Southern though) with three friends I met the day before. That's one of the advantages of staying in a hostel - you meet great people all the time.

Top picture: windy at Cape Point. Bottom: Still windy at Cape Point.