8:20 Mostly writing this from the perspective of the next morning since I didn't really get a chance to type much during the night. We left off when I was waiting to be picked up from the church by Wambui and her brother which eventually happened as mass was letting out, haha. Her brother Kim was really cool, studying management/marketing while working.
10:51 Got sidetracked mid-entry above so will continue with the what happened soon. For now though I'm waiting at the Intercontinental Hotel to start a drive to Naivasha. 10 minutes he said... 40 minutes ago, no, I'm not impatient. Nooope. Ahem. Anywho, as to how we got here. After begin picked up we drove back to their house and had some nice conversation in the car, seems like Black Friday is a thing here now even though Thanksgiving isn't, what a world. We got to their house where they...
Monday 7:36 Kept getting distracted by people talking to me and things and probably won't be able to sum up everything before breakfast in 2o minutes. So, so, we got to their house and I was introduced to their mom and dad who seemed like nice people though didn't get much chance to talk to them. While waiting for someone to pick us up they were watching the 7 o clock news which apparently commands the most expensive advertising block, not bad. We also had a grilled corn on the cob though it was a bit different from what I'd had before with bigger kernels and it was slightly charred giving it an almost popcorny flavor. They also were eating it with their hands by sort of pushing the kernels out, which seemed to work since it was relatively dry, I tried it but couldn't manage it very well so just used my teeth. Eventually someone came to pick us up and we headed to Brew Pub Bistro which is seemingly a nice bar in those there parts that brews their own stuff. We picked up Wambui's friend Joy (different Joy) on out way there.
Once there the place was pretty nice, relatively fancy/upscale but not a crazy amount. One of their friends was there already waiting with two giant pitchers. I'll admit so far beer is still beer to me, haha, and have yet to really be wowed by any, even Tusker which my uncle affirms is the best in the world. Anywho, we chatted there for a while, though it was a but tricky to hear sometimes due to that obnoxious tendency places have to BLAST loud music. At some point a bunch more of their friends arrived, seemingly students though I'll be honest, I didn't really catch how they knew each other. They disappeared for a while as we talked some more but eventually came back.
3:54 On my way to Nanyuki for the night. About an hour and a half left out of 3 and a half. This time my previous writing got sidetracked by breakfast. I have to say on this long drive the amount of random speed bumps would infuriate me if I were driving long distances. Anyhow, trying to catch up now that most people are waking up and getting ready for work or still sleeping leaving few distractions (last two hours were probably better for that but it was hot and it made me lethargic and not motivated). Back to Brew Pub Bistro, after their friends got back things got a bit more active, people started to dance a bit even though there was no good place around the tables, really. At some point I pretty much shut down due to sleep deficit / still adjusting and even trying to dance was futile though it did energize me briefly. I felt bad for because it was still early and I wanted to enjoy myself more but I was just dying. Eventually at like 12:11 we headed back and 12:32 reached the glorious bed and collapsed. It was beautiful.
The next morning I think I woke up before everyone around 7? And just spent some time idling until at some point Wambui appeared and offered to make breakfast while I showered. The shower used a basin of hot water + more normal shower of cold and I kind of improvised, hopefully not making too big a mess. After that I had the breakfast she made along with some ginger tea, it was an omelet with like tomato and onion and... Banana! It worked surprisingly well I have to say. Her mom woke up at some point and I got to say good bye, I feel a bit bad because I hadn't expected to be hosted and didn't have anything to really give thanks with. Anywho by then our ride had arrived and we first dropped Wambui at Strathmore University where it took a bit because some military looking police were conducting some drills and weren't letting people in. After that I was driven to the Intercontinental where I'd started a previous entry from. After a very long 10 minutes, it turned out they'd been having a businessy breakfast with someone associated with the Secretary General of the UN. We picked up Joy (the same one I met my first night here) and went to pick up Emi, a lecturer and pretty interesting person, before we headed to Naivasha. The drive was relatively uneventful and took around one and a half hours, but I would also layer find out some people refuse to go with Luis and took the slower bus because they're really scared when he's driving. I'd actually planned to use that drive to finish up a post but someone distracted me the whole way, cough. We arrived at SOPA lodge.
The nominal reason so many people were going to Naivasha (a nice lake) was because a group of law students was doing like a retreat to finish reviewing / editing / polishing an edition of a law journal and it was srsbsns for them. For me it was a chance to see a nice lake and some animals. After arriving we had some lunch, it was a buffet with a bunch of stuff but mostly Indian-y curries at least what I ate. After that they had meetings and groups to work and I just walked around for a whole looking at things, saw some zebras, some antelope like things, monkeys and the lake. I'd hoped to see giraffes since there were a couple on the drive in from the gate but I guess they were hiding. There wasn't thaaat much to see within the lodge area so after a while I went back to my room, which was very fancy seeming in a little cottage alongside other guests. Basically guests were housed in a line of cottages with 4 rooms to a cottage. There I took a nice hot shower since I felt sticky, and and took a one hour nap about until 7:30 to get ready for dinner. By this point it was dark so I did what we were told to do and called the lobby to send some guard to escort me to the lounge for dinner because hippos.
Vicious creatures they are if you get between them and water. I waited and waited. Heard someone outside my door but it was someone cleaning rooms who put in a second request to have someone pick me up (or as they say here pick me, the up doesn't exist). At almost 8 I got frustrated and started carefully walking to the lobby and luckily met up with a guard (not the one they sent for me if they ever did) and made it without being attacked. Dinner was not too dissimilar a buffet form lunch and after that went back to my room since it was dark and that's the downsides of nature tourism, well that and dangerous hippos preventing movement anyway. Decided to go to bed early to try and catch the sunrise.
Woke up at 6 and then by the time I walked to the lake I'd missed it, should have gotten up like 20 mins before. Aaah, failed chance. Still took some pics I am the early morning light and went back, idled a bit then went for breakfast at 8 like had been planned and beat everyone there but like 3 people from the group by around 30 minutes. After breakfast Luis, Emi, Joy and I went to Crescent Island which is near the lodge, and is a kind of a peninsula. It was actually very scenic and much nicer than the area within the lodge. Getting in was a bit funny because of course my uncle knew the owner of the land and he made up an excuse about how we were going to see her to avoid paying some entrance fee (which isn't even to her but to the owner of the farm that blocks access to her land, it's a bit weird). Because of this Er ended up taking to her for a bit, sweet older lady who reminisced about the olden days of Kenya and how now things were so bad. It was interesting after to hear Emi and Joy discuss how many of the things she said were settler privilege. I'd go more into detail but this is why having to catch up so much in one post is a terrible idea.
We got back to the lodge, had a quick lunch and heard about a possible shooting incident at Strathmore so Luis was getting tons of calls (as a reminder he's the dean of the law school). No one knew anything lots of worry, etc, but in the end (last I knew before heading out) it was a terrorism response drill that none of the faculty seemed to know about that may or may not have used live rounds. Seems pretty absurd since everyone was panicked, parents were calling and no one knew anything... Luis was pretty upset (rightfully). I guess it was related to the drill we'd encountered the day before dropping Wambui off. After all that finally got into my ride to Nanyuki to do something? I should know my itinerary better. That's the ride I'm on. 10 mins away as of 5:17. Things during this drive: speed bumps everywhere, random downpours, lots of scenery that could almost be anywhere except for that traditional African tree that to me feels... Primordial?, snippets of random towns and villages showing how poor Kenya is (or at least not very urbanized) might talk more about this later, how good cellphone service is that I almost never hit a dead zone even in the most random places, how long I've been writing a aaah I need a break.
