kenya just can't getting old. today there was an earthquake.

Day 22 (9/26)
This morning at 6:30 there was an earthquake! My first earthquake…that I remember anyway in KENYA! http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009maa2.php
Don’t worry, what we felt was not 5.3, I was laying in bed and pretty much awake listening to the birds and monkeys and bugs. Well then all of a sudden the ground started to tremble for about a second, and then it shook a little harder for another second or 2 and then it was over. At first I (seriously) thought it was a train, but then I had to think about how trains are miles and miles away. So I ruled that out. Then I immediately was like, oh damn, earthquake…then I thought about what could land on me and while I’m in my mosquito net I’m more or less completely safe. It was pretty exciting though!

Today was a non-program day. I touched Tanzania.
Anyway, we left camp around 8:30 this morning and drove to Loitoktok, which is more or less the next town over, even closer to the base of Kili. On the way over we could see Kili so clearly and it really never gets old. To make it even better, Harrison was our driver and he has little short cuts to get away from the dusty/pot-hole ridden road. Which by the way I swear gets exponentially worse as the weeks go on.

The first activity of the day was hiking through some farmland (which apparently is normal, and farmers don’t really care if you are on their land) and then down into a gorge, and that was when we touched Tanzania. Then we walked along a dry riverbed with huge boulders and gravel and the beautifully lush trees making the whole riverbed look like a tunnel. We hiked a little way down the riverbed and had lunch. After that we hiked back up out of the gorge, which I then realized how incredibly steep the entire climb was. But it was a lot of fun.

Oh ya..we had armed guards from KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service), as in they had AK47’s and one had to be in the front of the group, and one had to be behind us, basically because there can be buffalo and snakes and things that wouldn’t be too much fun to run into by ourselves.

After the hike, we went to the local AIDS/HIV testing and counseling facility. We met with some people who were AIDS positive and they told us their stories. And then they showed us around, it basically was like a 3-4 roomed clinic where they do in-house blood tests to test people and give them information on it. They also have a support group that does bead work and makes clothing and things like that, and they have a shop they sell it at. I got some great things. But it’s all a surprise so I can’t go into detail.

The Loitoktok market was next, it’s a lot like the Kimana market but at least twice the size and people are about half as pushy. I think it’s basically because there are a lot fewer Mama’s that surround you, and usually everyone is very nice. And I think I’ve been getting a lot more comfortable with using the Swahili that I know and understanding basic things has also gotten a lot easier. We met this one man who wanted us to teach him English (even though he was completely fluent) and he would teach us Swahili.

Haha and at one point when someone in my small group was buying tea, an older Mama grabbed me and pulled me over to her shop to look at her tea, and she was speaking in Swahili and we were all laughing just because she was so old and adorable . Then, out of nowhere a man grabbed the Mama and (in Swahili) told her not to bother me. It was only after he asked if I remembered him that I found out that he was one of our KWS guards that hiked with us (he was wearing different clothing so I didn’t even recognize him). It was hilarious. His name was Adam and he saved me from the crazy Mama.

I feel like the drive back is always 10x dustier and 20x longer.