Kisumu

Our evening in Kakamega consisted of Jack taking me to the limit of the town where she had seen graffiti on our way into town. It was the first time we had seen graffiti at all during our trip, so she got a little excited... There's actually no graffiti in East Africa. If there's painted lettering on a wall, it's always the name of the store it's on. After taking the obligatory pictures, we wandered around and stumbled upon a tiny little bar. It was the size of its two tables, with wraparound banquets. Maybe 5 men and a women bar tender. Perfect. We sat and had a beer, and surprisingly enough, we weren't being starred at, we weren't being mocked... They obviously noticed our presence, acknowledged it, and moved on. It was perfect. We almost felt like we blended in... Almost.

Planning for the next day, there's a tiny mention in lonely planet about a town called Khayega, which had bull fighting events every Saturday morning, but only from 7am to 8am, and with specific location. Since the hike we wanted to do was close enough to this location, we thought, of course we want to see bull fighting! Not surprisingly, we didn't get to see it... We got up at 6am. Were out waiting for the bus by 630am. It didn't fill up until 725am (remember, if there's an empty seat, it doesn't leave). Anywho, we got there in time for the last little bit only to be told in very, very broken English that it was every second Saturday, and that we were more then welcomed to returned the following Saturday. Personal invitation received! I guess that experience will have to be for another time.

Mototaxi to Kakamega Forest Reserve, meet our awesome guide Nancy and off we go! It was our first female guide, and I loved it. Girls are chattier in nature, so we got to exchange experiences and information throughout. She was my favourite part! She told us about her family, she takes care of her sister's 2 kids since she died in "the violence of 2007" as Nancy put it. I was clueless but Jack answered "oh, the election riots, I'm so sorry". She's so smart. Elections here are scheduled for next year, I'll make sure to miss those ones.

The walk was fantastic of course! Anything with nature makes me feel at piece with the world. We set out at 9am and were done by 3pm. Saw black and white colobus monkeys, red tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, a hornbill which is an awkward looking huge bird, and plenty of beautiful birds and butterflies. Nancy was very knowledgeable on the plants and trees around, so she told us all about the medicinal plants found in the forest... Including bark from a certain tree that if you boil in water and drink it three times a day you cure prostate cancer in 2 weeks... I don't know about that one. I feel like the pharmaceutical companies would have exploited that a long time ago...

Done with our walk and done with Kakamega, we hoped on a minibus to Kisimu, the 3rd largest town in Kenya. Our lonely planet, which I'm really starting to dislike, described it as a town that "doesn't feel as large as it is". It definitely feels as big as it is. It feels bigger. We found a place to stay (expensive FYI, and no cheaper option) that's close to the water front, but that streets all around it are deserted. And it's supposed to be the downtown. I guess we'll see if it picks up tomorrow, although it will be Sunday so I doubt it. There was a shit ton of people in the area where our bus dropped us off, but apparently lonely planet believes in taking you away from the locals and towards empty streets with fancy shops... Boy oh boy. We still managed to find a spot to have a drink on the upper deck of a restaurant along the shores of Lake Victoria. The sound of crashing waves and the breeze of open water are some of the best feelings!

Side note - coca cola is amazing. I blame my parents for this addiction. But seriously, after a hot, sticky and sweaty day, nothing feels better then a cold coke. Sugar for energy, coffee to wake me up from the sleepiness of the heat, cools you right down. This was my ode to coke. That is all.Read more