sometimes the internet fails in Kenya.

Day 11 (9/15)
The internet wasn’t working for this day so this is a catch up….
This morning was our first non-program day. We decided to go to Kimana again (the town with all the mamas and things being sold.) Anyway, I got some cool things (all surprises for when I get back) and then we walked around again. It is definitely more enjoyable to go mid-morning versus mid-afternoon because not all the mamas have gotten there yet and you don’t feel pressured to buy things because there aren’t 20 people putting jewelry on you, and stopping you to show you all their bracelets and necklaces and things. After that (around noon) we went to a restaurant called Club Kimana. Its basically a club and we were the only ones in there. There are cabanas outside and music playing and we were allowed to have a beer and eat our lunch. My first African beer…Tusker, named after an elephant that killed the founder of the beer; couldn’t complain, although a bottle was a ½ liter. Haha. FYI. In Kenya, the only women who drink are prostitutes, so for our group to be allowed to drink and not be looked down upon is special.
After we came back from Club Kimana, there was a goat waiting for us that we also decided to buy. This goat however is not a pet, we bought it to roast. So the askaris slaughtered it for us (yes I watched), they are masters, enough said. I won’t go into details in case some people don’t want to know. Anyway after it was dead they skinned it (expertly, again) and after dissecting all the parts (one of the askaris ate a part of the kidney, raw. We cooked the rest of it along with liver, ribs, legs) and they basically took sticks, (like roasting marshmallows), stuck it on the part, and then jammed the stick into the ground near the fire. It was actually really cool because for the bigger parts they put the sticks into a star so that it was all stretched out. We roasted some of it in our fire pit, and then the rest we had for dinner. Goat is a lot like beef, sorta.
Tomorrow I have cook crew. Only problem is that we are leaving at 7:15AM for another field lecture and breakfast is at 6:45AM. (In the states that would be approximately 11:45PM). Cook crew reports one hour before breakfast…that 5:45AM. I can’t wait.
P.S. Last night after I posted the last blog, the cat trap failed horribly. The cat went on it, (one of the askaris actually told us it was there because no one noticed) and when the string was pulled it created a cat-a-polt and just lifted the cat up about 9 feet in the air and it freaked out, tumbled around and jumped off. HAH