Kenya

April 15, 2012
We are home from our travel to Kenya. We left Wednesday morning at 7am and arrived in Kisumu, Kenya at 4pm. (We had to leave the country to get new visas.) Traveling takes so long here and the roads are so bad right now. At the end of a day full of potholes (ok more like craters in the earth) our minds and bodies were stressed and done. The border was interesting. It looked like craziness but apparently everyone there knew what to do. Thankfully the people were very nice and helpful. Unfortunately, we arrived just as a couple buses full of people did. It took an hour to get out of Uganda, visas into Kenya, and vehicle insurance for Kenya. Don’t ask what it all cost!

I like Kenya. It is nice and so are the people. Kisumu is the third largest city so it was pretty big for Africa. It was clean and easy to get around too. We stayed at a hotel in the middle of town. I loved the room. So fun to be in a nice hotel and have a great shower. Our kids enjoyed the pool but it was too cold for me. The food was really good at the hotel. We had a nice supper one night at the restaurant and we ate pool side the other night as the kids swam. A huge breakfast buffet came with the room each morning. How special!

We went to the Impala Sanctuary which was the highlight for our kids. It was basically like a zoo but all the animals were rescued or sick and need a safe place to live. And the impala and zebra where roaming freely. That was pretty cool. One of the animal keepers went into the leopard and cheetah cages for us. He invited Josh and I into the cheetah cage but animals are too unpredictable for us to do that. The girls loved it. The leopard stalked Luka every time we passed his cage. He looked like he would pounce at anytime. I loved the zebra and how we could walk by them. They were scared but we did get pictures by them. By the end of our time at the park we were so sunburn. Oops. Oh well the kids enjoyed it so much it was worth the cost, time, and now the pain.

Another funny highlight was riding in a tok-tok – basically a three wheel motorcycle that has an enclosed back seat to taxi people around. They are so cute. Our family piled into one and went for a ride. It felt like we were in Disney World or something. I thought it was so much fun. Wish we had them in Uganda.

Other than that Kisumu was just another African city. The “malls” were a huge let down. But the big grocery stores were nice I guess. We got rhubarb, grapes and strawberries!

On Friday we drove part way home. Fun fact, on the way we crossed over the equator. I thought it was cool and made Josh stop for a picture. The border only too 20min. this time and now we have another three months to be in Uganda. We stayed the night in Mbale so we didn’t have the do all the potholes in one day. We had a nice Mongolian Bar-b-q (Kids ate free -- never heard of that in Uganda.) and we had a nice day swimming at the pool.

On our way home on Saturday our van broke down. Kinda a confirmation I guess cause we were told about a van for sale that was exactly what we wanted so the whole time in Kenya we were stressed over the decision. We had just gotten so many things fixed on our van and it was running better than it ever has. Did we want to put a lot of money into buying a second hand van not knowing what we would get? Josh did not know what to do. But now sitting along the road almost half way to Soroti we knew we needed to buy the other van. Our van lost its brakes, over heated and belts were all loose inside. So we called our mechanic in Soroti and he gave us a number of someone to tow us to the next town. While we waited we prayed. Next thing you know a friend from Soroti passed by and stopped. They took the kids and I to Soroti while Josh waited with the van. By the time we got home it was dark and the kids were car sick and done with it all. Poor Josh didn’t get home till 10pm. He said it was an interesting tow job with a cattle truck, rope, and no lights or brakes. We are so thankful to be home – safe and sound.

Looking forward to a week to be home and catch up. Next week I have a home school conference and we hope to get our “new” van. Thanks for your prayers! May God be with you too.