What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. (Unless, of course, it comes out of a Maasai's jerrycan. In which case, all bets are off)

Yesterday at the center, a Maasai man paid us an unexpected visit. Last time three stopped by. It's always a special occasion and people usually take a quick break from their various tasks and gather around them as everybody laughs and fails to really communicate. They like to randomly show up from time to time and socialize and then take off again. Let me just say: I really think they are awesome. They have what look like hand fashioned sandals, beaded anklets on both legs and they are usually quite tall and always smiling. They carry leather belts and a couple of other things that they create for income.

This time, the Maasai knew a bit of Swahili which is apparently rare. He shook my hand and talked excitedly in Maasai and then talked to some others. A bit later I noticed he was still around and Peris was attempting conversation with him. I moved in and studied him a little. Peris was looking amused and I asked her what he was saying. "He's mixing Maasai and Swahili" she explained, "he's carrying medicine in this jerrycan".

Of course I asked a ton of questions about so-called medicine and she explained it's traditional Maasai herbal medicine made from trees. I asked if I could look at it. Before I knew what was happening, I had a little amount in the lid of my travel mug and was experiencing the most intense bitter flavor. Turns out he was selling it and Peris told me that taking that little was not going to have any benefit. She told me it would cure my stomach (which was basically better due to the antibiotics I had just finished).

I decided to buy half a cup which was 20 shillings (about 25 cents). We had kept him so long without buying anything and I was also a little curious about what I would feel like if I took some. I got distracted and left the cup on my desk. Later in the morning when it was time for tea, my colleague Rose pointed out the medicine was still there. "You have not taken it?" she asked me. I told her I was going to and a few minutes later I mustered up some courage. Peris told me the best approach would be to not breathe and get it over with fast. I totally failed at that. It was the most bitter, intense, bitter BITTER BITTER thing I have ever tasted. The bitterness saturated my tongue in such a way that I felt like my entire tongue was flavored like it and even when I desperately gulped tea after a couple small chugs I couldn't get the flavor off of my tongue. It took me about three rounds of gagging and chugging tea before I could get it all down. After finishing, I drank about two cups of tea and my mouth and tongue still tasted like I had literally just finished the medicine. I tried chewing gum. 10 minutes later, no change.

After maybe 15-20 minutes I felt like I was on top of the world. I felt alert, I felt like I was thinking clearly, I felt like I wanted to run a marathon. One hour after that, I went to the latrine and had pseudo diarrhea. When I came back I realized my stomach hurt, quite intensely. Then, I felt like I had suddenly been hit by a truck. I laid my head on my desk and wanted to sleep for a week. When people came in the office I would tell them I really felt lousy and they would each tell me, "that's the Maasai medicine, you will feel like that for a couple of days, and then you will be better than before". Wonderful that nobody felt like warning me of that before I drank it.

I went through waves of feeling nauseous and feeling marginally okay for the rest of the day. Today I have a headache (I'm blaming it on the sugarcane I chewed for my very first time) and feel like a hot air balloon and a bit tired even after sleeping in. I don't regret drinking that god-awful stuff but don't plan to do it again anytime soon.

When I bought the medicine, I asked Peris to try to write down whatever he said the names of each ingredient were. She wrote down using phonetics what she thought he might be saying. He mentioned 7 names and I was able (in a little of a "just what have i gotten myself into?!?!" moment) to research online and identify a scholarly paper listing some traditional Kenya, Maasai medicines and their scientific names and uses found after collecting legit, massive research and conducting interviews. After pretending to say the words Peris had written and scanning the list, I could match 5 of the names with what she had written. For those interested, the Maasai and scientific names are as follows:

1. llodua, maesa lanceolata (tree): flu, anti-malarial, stomachache, backache, arthritis, antihelmenthic

2. olkokola, Rhamnus staddo A. Rich (tree): strength, nutrient supplement, flu/cold

3. olorien, olea europaea L. (tree): anti-malarial, pneumonia

4. olkioriti, Acacia Nilotica (L) Wiild. ex Delile (tree): appetite enhancer, digestion enhancer, strength/nutrient supplement, painful joints/arthritis, stomachache

5. ormukutan, Albizia anthelmintica Brongn. (tree): anti-malarial, antihelminthic, stomachache, backache, if one is suspected to have malaria- will induce vomiting and diarrhea, induces bile release from the gall bladder

Today late in the afternoon Shiro and I rode our bikes to the butchery so I could buy meat for Jack. She is so fun to hang out with. Her English is really, very good and we often exchange facial expressions without saying anything from across the room. I found out recently that she is a year ahead in school for her age and she still performs really well. She's also a chocoholic so how could I not love her? Today when she was hanging out in my room she said nonchalantly, "if thieves come, you could just go up there (points to top bunk bed with an open ceiling piece above it), and climb inside." I looked and laughed. "Or", I said, "I would just hide under the bed since I wouldn't have time to do that. Hopefully Jack would protect me." "You need to train him to be fierce" she told me. I said I don't think I'll have a problem with that.

Jack is getting big and feisty. I am worried I am going to have my work (even more seriously) cut out for me. Tried to train him on "sit" today with tiny pieces of ginger cookie (he's my puppy so he naturally loves ginger) for about 45 minutes. It felt like 3 hours and I am still not sure he really got the message. I want to train him in Swahili too, eventually. He whines less when I put him out for the night and is getting heavier to pick up.

Found out that the nun living with me will almost surely be staying another 6 weeks. I am trying to be at peace with that. Haven't succeeded yet. She literally refuses to try English but I can tell she knows some. She's in the bathroom almost every time I am on my way to go there. Instead of saying my name, which I asked her if she knows, she either stabs me with a finger or snaps loudly as if I were a dog. When I am rushing around somewhere she will just stand in my path or the hallway, and there is no getting around her, she's no tiny lady. Oh well, things should be interesting. I will say I had fun hammering nails and sawing wood with her the day we had our practical on constructing seed flats.

Looking forward to getting up and making whole wheat pancakes and Irish soda bread while everyone is at church. I think I might also cook eggs and throw in some cilantro we bought from the center. Does anyone know if "fermented milk" could serve the same purpose as buttermilk for the soda bread? My internet is painfully slow for searching at the moment.

More snake sightings at the center. Got a picture of one that was in the compost pile. Didn't see the other one. Tonight there was a really distinct, new smell in our "compound". I asked Peris if she smelled something. She told me it was probably families burning tiles to repel snakes from entering their homes. Apparently it really works and supposedly works for Safari Ants too. Maybe the cat that hangs around whining and begging all the time is actually good for something other than biting people. Wow just realized the smell is getting stronger from the smoke. It smells like burning dust.

On a completely different note, I have become quite the pro at harvesting lettuce seed. It's a bit tedious, but I find the act deeply meditative and I think it is somehow feeding my soul. I was meant to be a seed harvester.

"you look like a WILD woman"

Quite possibly one of my favorite things anyone has ever said about me in my life. Peris smiled and told me that while we stood next to a bed of lettuce that had gone to seed and we were discussing the time for seed harvesting. In the moment, I just took it as a really touching compliment. After about a minute, I realized thanks to her mischievous smile, that she was referring to the "hair experiment" my Tanzanian nun roommate tried on me last night. Let's just say in my experience nuns should stick with religion and not migrate into the "saloons" for work.

Things I experienced today.... Learning how and when to harvest lettuce seed,

how to establish 5 types of nurseries (ack can i name them all? permanent, swiss, common, seed flat and polytube. hot damn!),

breathing and sweeping and scrubbing more rat poop and urine than I ever wanted to encounter in my life while vigorously doing a total overhaul/deep cleaning of our seed bank,

attacking weevils,

learning that Ni Ni likes kidney beans,

harvesting lemongrass to help with the odor problem in the seed bank,

watering my sunflower seedlings, makhemia lutea tree sprouts and hibiscus cuttings which frankly may have already died for all I know,

practicing diagonal offset planting of onion seedlings in our double dug bed,

companion planting with mexican marigolds and kale with the onions in addition to black nightshade (these 4 were all in the same small bed),

witnessing a new and strikingly gorgeous bird (small with a charcoal bottom and bright blue and red on top),

learning bananas take forever in the solar dehydrator even on a day when you can get a sunburn, seeing one of our field staff that has been living in a community not so close by,

riding home in a car while confusing the rat pee on my clothes with the stench of giant, male pig from the addition to the center earlier in the day via the back of the van,

teaching the kids knock knock jokes at home after dinner -what a riot,

washing Jack with my tea tree and lavender dog shampoo (way to go small town Kenyan grocery store!),

learning that the best way to deal with weevil eggs all over a collection of seeds is to plant the suckers right away,

discovering lavender chamomile tea and really really liking it,

feeling old from being sore from my 40 minute yoga session day before yesterday,

preparing to meet with PELUM (Participatory Ecological Land Use Management association) tomorrow morning, or this morning technically speaking,

internet chatting with three friends and my sister,

suddenly loving the taste of cooked cabbage when a couple of weeks ago I never wanted to see it again. ever.

hand washing some towels, still nostalgic about hand washing and love the arm workout,

witnessing bumblebees the size of a quarter buzzing around overhead,

eating stale peanuts for lunch,

learning that I adore the smell of local, Kenyan sunflower seeds,

a hug with one of my favorite women at the center.

seeing a glorious, fluorescent red dragonfly as I dipped a watering can in the trench several times.

finally knowing by heart the 3:2:1 ratio for seeds and what the heck it means,

joking about how to say "biointensive" in Swahili and I can't even remember it now,

noticing i need more sleep!

hugs to all!

painting thousands of words

Dried parsley and amaranth freshly harvest. The next day we put lemongrass in the dehydrator and today made tea out of it! Still working on drying mangoes but people tend to eat them from the tree before we can collect them for drying : /

Rex, Karanja, Me, Jack and Shiro at a field we like to walk to on the weekends.

A bunch of kids were playing football but left the game when we arrived and really wanted to be in pictures.

A few of the girls from the slums who followed us the entire way to the field.

Our American, free lance writer friend Jill and I the day we both planted Loquat trees at G-BIACK. She's going to write a fabulous book about contrasting agriculture approaches within a global scope.

Either a black mamba or a cobra, depending on who you ask.

Sunflower forest! It was so so big, the picture doesn't capture it well.

Organic banana forest. It was magical.

If I never see or smell or hear a factory again in my life after living here, I wouldn't mind.

Me and a newly constructed seed bank near completion at Thika River.

The Saturday I took Jack (left) and Ni Ni (right) home (before she came back to live at G-BIACK). Every girl's dream to take puppies home in a cookie box!

A small group of our students showing off their tie dye designs they learned to make earlier that day.

I love "capacity building Mondays" I taught a class for the staff on making guacamole. So fun and yummy!

One portion of the seed bank, pre-renovation. Heading there in minutes to replace the plastic containers with really nice glass jars that I found donors for!

Threshing sunhem seed pods. The dried pods are the most FANTASTIC little percussion instruments! I even walk by them in the garden while they are still on the stem and shake them and hope nobody is watching

"Why do you value DOGS more than people?"

Ouch. This was one of the questions the young girls (ages 14-30, mostly teenagers and one 40 year old) finally asked me after about a half an hour of me begging them to ask have a question and answer session about life in the U.S. Part of the initial trouble may have been the language barrier, but they are also a bit afraid of me (or were) and were by far the hardest crowd to "teach" that I'd ever encountered. There were about 10 too many occasions when I could hear crickets. I had been asked to take over the weekly "business skills" class about 30 minutes before the class was supposed to start this morning. Peris was tied up with training the Tanzanian nun, Samuel was giving a spontaneous visitor a tour and the field staff were all out doing a baseline survey.

So my answer to the question was: I don't value dogs more than people. I think they are equal. They rebutted, "but you feed the dogs and some of us are hungry". This is the point when I began to feel a little resentment. I explained. The puppies are young, they need me and you all don't need me because you are already here at G-BIACK learning how to support yourselves. "but they have their mother" they argued. "Yes, but nobody feeds her either." Next question...

Once I broke the 27 girls up into groups of roughly 5, and gave them time to come up with questions they opened up a tiiiiiiny bit. Some of the questions were: are there tribes in your country? which tribe are you from? are there deserts? what is your staple food? does your country have poor people? do you have orphans in your country? how old are you (i was really tickled that they all seemed genuinely SHOCKED to learn my age and thought i was a few years younger. YES!!!). Then I would visit the groups since they seemed too shy to shout out their questions and by this time the background buzz in the training hall had reached a really comfortable level.

They asked if I have a boyfriend, do they have Christianity in my country, what religion am I, do I have brothers and sisters, can I sing them a song? I asked what they do with their free time and they told me they sing and dance. I asked what type of music and they said rhythms. Which I think is spelled "riddim" here. Or something like that. One girl quietly asked me "do you receive?" over and over. "DO you receive?" After what felt like 10 minutes I somehow heard the word "blood" from someone else in the group and realized they were asking if I menstruated. I told them yes, every month. One of them told me that they heard women in another country also menstruated and I said yes, it is true and as far as I know women of the right age menstruate no matter where in the world they live. I was asked if my country has family planning and uses condoms. Yes, I told them, it is SO important and we have many organizations dedicated to just that.

They also wanted to know where the poor live. When I told them some of them don't have houses they asked where they slept. They asked what homeless people wore. And why they are poor. I decided to explain it's often for similar reasons as why people are poor here.

One girl asked me "what is stress?". I think this is because I had shared with them that in my free time I do yoga which helps me with a lot of things in life including stress. As I explained stress to her group I could see their faces lighting up with understanding. The next question was "what do you do when you are stressed?". I told them I go for a walk anywhere, I talk to a friend, I read, I do yoga, I listen to music. They all nodded and then said "thank you". It really got me in the heart.

When confronted to sing a song, I dashed for my computer and before I even had it open they had all scooted their chairs into a (perhaps a little inappropriately small and close) circle around me. I could feel their breath on me and the body heat made me begin to sweat. A couple of girls playfully poked at my hair. A handful or maybe 8 or 10 girls stayed seated at the tables and looked at me like I was crazy while I searched the internet for videos of songs. Someone suggested a blues song and I ended up finding a video of Bonnie Raitt when she was maybe in her 20s singing Angel from Montgomery. Which is hilarious since I am not even sure that's considered blues. Then I shifted to Bruce Springsteen and as I belted out "Born in the U.S.A" their faces lighted up and they smiled and joined me in the chorus. Never in a million years would I have pictured myself at an agricultural training center in rural Kenya, with nearly 30 teenage girls singing Born in the U.S.A.. along with me. Such joy. I live for unexpected, delightful experiences like that.

I also introduced the idea of pizza to them and not a single one had heard of it. Maybe if we get another hot day I can try baking one in our solar box cooker for them. I was also asked if I eat snakes, snails and frogs. I told them no and I don't plan to. They totally fell apart laughing when they saw my facial expression when asked these questions. I asked if they eat snakes and one girl enthusiastically said "yes". I asked her what it tastes like and she said it had delicious meat. Everyone giggled and it occurred to me that this may not be true. So I asked what kind of snakes does she eat. "Cobra" she informed me. More giggles, still unsure, I asked if she was serious or joking. "Serious." she told me. Everyone else laughed louder and said "joking".

It was also decided that one of the girls would braid my hair this Friday. A few of them debated about how it should be done and what style it should be. Being a girl is so fun sometimes.

This just so happens to be my day since I just received the call that the glass jars for the seed bank arrived to the store close to Thika. I really hope we can pick them up today after work!!!

corruption, you really aren't endearing. at all.

Today I visited Nairobi for the second time. Peris, her sister and I went to meet with the folks at Solar Cookers International. After getting a bit lost and walking a bit extra we finally ended up having a great and informative meeting.

Happy to say that I am now the proud owner of my very own, brand spanking new Solar CooKit, user's manual, black pot and black lid and special high heat withstanding bags to put the pot in. I am convinced we will be bringing solar cooking and all of its benefits to our communities very soon.

After the meeting we searched for needles for the women's tailoring and bead work programs. Then after walking and sweating so much we stopped in at a tiny little spice shop to have a cold juice. I liked everything about the spice shop. Big containers of cinnamon sticks, many seeds, everything in bulk and even a nice wooden bench to sit on while we sipped our drinks and rested.

We got a call from Peris and Rose's Sister who lives in Nairobi. She was outside in the car and unable to find parking, so we went straight out to meet her. This is the part when I feel angry about what trouble my whiteness can cause. Some parking police people jump out of nowhere as we are all climbing into the car and try to act like Peris' sister had committed a serious offence by pulling over to let passengers in. What ensues is a 15 minute debate where it becomes really obvious that they just want a bribe. Because they have a white passenger.

The worst part about the situation was not the corruption. Yes, it made my blood boil since these people had no integrity. What got me even more was the fact that the entire time I was literally on the verge of saying something to the parking officers, but couldn't for the life of me figure out what would be best to say. The only thing that came to mind was to get out of the car and try to shame them by saying things like "Is this what you want Americans to think of your country??? Is this really the Kenya you want to show me?!?". What a mess. They asked for $20 (which is a large sum here) and only got away with about three dollars. I felt awful about it since they lost the money just because of my presence.

I think the rains must be coming soon since we've had certain bugs showing up which is foretelling.

Hoping to visit one of G-BIACK's most successful communities tomorrow and also purchase the glass jars for the seed bank. I really hope they arrive.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Kenyans really embrace it here, all the radio DJs talked about it. Over half of Nairobi was dressed in red and there were flowers for sale everywhere on the street.

ad·ven·ture noun \əd-ˈven-chər\ Definition of ADVENTURE 1 a : an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks

"What we have here is a failure to communicate"

I've been thinking about communication in general. How important it is for understanding between people, no matter how basic. Maybe it's important BECAUSE it is basic. Some people are over-communicators. Maybe I fall into that category. Other people seem completely unaware that anyone else should know about anything that they are thinking or feeling. It is way beyond time for me to arrange a meeting and get everything out on the table. It's making me crazy that I haven't spoken up sooner and need to just be a big girl and get it over with already.

After planting a young Loquat tree in the morning I was able to "safari" to Nairobi via mutatu, which is rapidly losing whatever little charm it ever had, which is none really. Small tangent on the Loquat: "Medicinal Uses: The fruit is said to act as a sedative and is eaten to halt vomiting and thirst.

The flowers are regarded as having expectorant properties. An infusion of the leaves, or the dried, powdered leaves, may be taken to relieve diarrhea and depression and to counteract intoxication from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Leaf poultices are applied on swellings."


After a one hour drive and minimal traffic, I met up with my good friend Taylor from Santa Barbara and the photographer for the NGO that she works for: One by One http://www.fightfistula.org/. I had the most refreshing beer and we all chatted and joked and ate for a couple of hours.

When we said goodbye, my friend who had come with me from Thika agreed to walk with me to the main post office to try to collect a package that had come from home. I had already survived a totally pointless and confusing phone call from a Kenyan customs agent who claimed I somehow owed money for my package. Let me just say the experience at customs was totally demoralizing, illustrates the corruption in Africa that tempts me to say "to hell with working in a place like this", and forced me to cause a scene. $15 later I got my package after a 30 minute lecture from a man who told me that if I listened better I would understand. What a pompous loser. I wanted to tell him that if HE listened to HIMSELF he would be completely ashamed if he had any morals whatsoever- which he quite obviously did not.

Nairobi was much cleaner than I expected. Crossing 7 lanes of traffic on foot in between buses that were literally so close to one another I barely fit, was a little unnerving, but it seemed to be the way everyone crossed the street. So I made it a point to make really intense eye contact with the various drivers and hold up my arm in front of every vehicle.

I saw the site where Kenya gained its independence from Britain. Saw a lovely statue, some GIGANTIC hotels, many shops and crowded sidewalks. For 5 dollars total I found a pair of sandals and a pair of flats with lots of tiny holes in them which are all the rage among young Kenyan women at the moment.

The ride back took close to three hours and for those doing the math that is 2 hours longer than it took us to get there. I kid you not, there were several vendors on foot a midst the traffic. What they chose to sell sums up the degree of traffic better than I ever could. These guys were selling toilet paper and bottled water. Any traffic that calls for those items and you can be sure you won't be going anywhere for awhile.

Two uncomfortable, cramped matatu rides later and Ngatia and I were both climbing onto a taxi moto together. While holding my package from home and a bag of over ripe avocados from Taylor. The moto probably looked like an oreo cookie from the side and when I searched for my phone later at the house I found it in a pile of unintentionally made guacamole.

bet you didn't know...

"bled" = bread

bread can also = cake

"fly" = fry

Kenyans like to use the word "alight" for when you arrive somewhere in a car or matatu. For the longest time I thought they were saying "arrive"

Sometimes when you try to bake cookies in a solar cooker you end up with a cake

One of the best ways to be traumatized on a weekly basis is to have recurring nightmares about crocodiles stalking you from unseen places

Kenyans have an addiction to their Mexican soap operas that are reeeeeeeally poorly dubbed with voices that do NOT match the characters appearance whatsoever and have plots where people are always deceiving someone, someone's baby has been kidnapped, someone is in the hospital and someone who just got out of the hospital is finding their estranged mother for the first time while in the background everyone is eavesdropping on everyone else while they have very private conversations

Kenyan puppies are lactose intolerant (makes me love them even more)

If you ever want a nice, little self-esteem boost, owning two puppies who adore you will really do the trick

Mexican marigolds are good repellents for harmful pests like aphids

Even sunflower transplants can die from too much sun right after being transplanted

In Rwanda street kids yell "give me my money" at you. In Kenya they say "give me our food" Interesting difference

When Peris plants in the shamba (garden), she can be wearing a skirt and nice blouse and finish looking like she has maybe one small speck of soil on her. When I plant, I'm rarely in a skirt and always end up looking like I had a mud fight with someone who literally kicked my ass- and my fingernails are black

I sold two puppies today for a grand total of $4. If the price had been any higher nobody would buy them

It's quite easy when harvesting flower seeds to accidentally mix seed from two different types of flowers that you could have sworn were the same. (Then again it's only flowers and it's not for research so I don't think the bees will care if they are mixed.)

I'm supposedly going to Nairobi next Tuesday for a training on solar cookers and solar cooker construction

Piglets need an Iron injection shortly after being born or they will die

To get rid of weevils, put your seeds in a shallow basket in the beating sun and shake it. They will all eventually fly away

After a couple of weeks, yogurt and peanuts become a really boring lunch

I like to use parentheses abusively and frequently (well, okay, i bet you did actually know that one)

There may or may not be a Tanzanian nun who disappeared on her way to Thika

G-BIACK had several goats drop dead because they had eaten plants contaminated with a chemical fertilizer used by the gigantic Del Monte empire.

The game of "What Might These People be Saying to One Another??" is still entertaining after the one month mark

Sorghum cooked with tomato and onions is seriously tasty and full of fiber and protein

Today I planted flower cuttings, tree seeds and 5 sunflower seedlings. The Sunflowers went in row "K" of our 40 bed unit, naturally. Let's hear it for insectories!

slices of life

banana bread and braids
Matisi, me and Wambui at G-BIACK in the income generating beds
40 bed unit and west half of G-BIACK. round building is Samuel's office, display for women's program items, library and upstairs a training hall
Fun day when the kids and I walked to Thika River. Really a gorgeous spot. This cell phone pic doesn't do it justice.Beginnings of a biointensive garden in Mangu at a children's rescue center. The director, Mary, is determined to grow nutritious food for the children there.

bring it on, week!

yesterday was QUITE the adventure. woke up at 7 (on a Saturday mind you) thinking i was coming along to work with Samuel since we had visitors, only to be informed that he would pick Peris and I up at the house later in the morning. so i did some housekeeping stuff and we finally got a ride to G-BIACK. on the car ride over i brought up the fact that we need to find the puppies homes very soon. Peris said, "in fact (her favorite phrase which is slowly becoming my favorite phrase. how can you not sound like you know exactly what your are talking about is true if you pre-empt everything with "in fact...") I was talking to Samson and he thinks you could take them home today.

oh, i'm bringing home two puppies today and didn't know it. probably the first and only time i am NOT upset about the lack of communication but completely elated with surprise. it feels like Christmas morning and i didn't have to get everyone else gifts OR turn a year older :)!

at the center i met Silvia Ponte, a fantastic Italian woman who trained some people in a community in Lamu which is an island off of Kenya in the Indian Ocean. they have a whole Grow Biointensive center there and started everything from scratch. she and Kibele (?), who had the most glorious Afro, AND winked at me when they left (!) had come to collect and exchange seeds. so amazing. as i put Ni Ni and Jack in a box with a blanket Silvia stole Ni Ni from the box and almost didn't give her back. we've agreed that i'll visit them in Lamu sometime in the next two months since she comes for short periods and really lives in London.

Peris informed me that it's much hotter in Lamu. kind of hard to imagine being somewhere hotter than here. the other day at 9 in the morning i was sweating like a crazy person when i just walked to the local store to buy maize flour. apparently the solution to the heat in Lamu is to simply not be burdened by clothes. should make for an interesting trip...

Jack and Ni Ni were angels in the car ride on the way home. they slept curled up together and were really patient when they woke up. quick trip to the store for a few dog items (i literally bought a baby blanket from the baby section. man i'm a total sap) and then it was time to familiarize them with their new home. after they got all settled in, it was decided that the mission to solve the ever falling apart (new) bikes should begin.

after walking about 25 minutes to the local market with our three broken bikes, Karanja (Peter), Shiro (Annet) and i spent about a solid hour and a half haggling with guys about what was or was not malfunctioning on each bike and how much repairing it would cost. it was crazy hot, i was really annoyed at being taken advantage of and when i left my handle bars were not perpendicular to my front tire. lovely. with total joy we raced on our bikes home after we got the hell away from the bike repair creeps. we waited about 10 minutes to cross the Kenyatta Highway and just as we were finishing crossing i suddenly felt like i was pedaling in deep, wet mud. i not only had a flat, but the entire damn, back tire decided to pop out of its place.

it was getting dark and we were about to enter some paths that Karanja himself told me not to go on at night. i couldn't believe it. after debating about what to do for awhile, some neighbor kids pulled up on their bikes and offered for Annet to ride one of theirs and they rode Karanja's since the seat was too tall for her, and i rode her bike. Karanja walked carrying my bike on one tire back to the market to a different place to have the tire fixed. although at the time i thought he was following us home.

when we were about to send out a search party and it was well after dark, he arrived back at the house, with my bike fixed and he apparently rode it back the whole way without any trouble. this morning the tire was completely flat again. blarg! oh and Karanja's pedal completely fell off one side of his bike about a third of the way home the first time. gotta love African style "repairs".

up this week is a visit to a hospital with a large biointensive garden in Kilimambogo, an American visitor who's staying with me for a few days since she's here to collect info for a book, and soil collection from 3 of our communities. i'm also going to call Solar Cookers International to see if i can get things rolling on that front. and we desperately need to label the beds since we've been on planting sprees the past couple of weeks.