**Quick side note - lots of blog posts going up today to sort of catch up from the past couple of weeks - haven't had a lot of luck with the Internet here and it takes forever to post pictures - so we promise to hopefully get something in place for all our pictures. And we will talk about our safari tomorrow - I promise.
Arusha is where we are currently staying - and what a city it is. Arusha is sort of the hub city for most safari's in Tanzania and for hiking Kili (most people either head to Arusha or Moshi).
We found a gem of a hotel called the Ahadi Lodge and I would stay here for weeks on end if I could, but there isn't a lot of us to do in the town. We stayed here two nights after the hike and we have been here since the end of our Safari. The food is outstanding and the owner is such a sweetheart - she has made us feel like family (probably doesn't hurt that we have pretty much had the place to ourselves).
We spend the days poolside in 30+ weather (Sorry guys - I don't mean to rub it in because I heard its very cold right now) trying to catch up online (when the net is working) and relaxing. Trying to get anything done in Africa is very trying - especially doing things online. Arusha is a city of a million people and there are frequent power interruptions, the Internet is hit and miss (plus somewhat slow) and most places don't take Visa. I think it takes triple the amount of time to do anything online and many glasses of wine. Despite the TIA Internet and the weird power situation - it is a pretty cool city. Lots of people out and about and you feel pretty safe when the sun is up. It has been our little home away from home.
But that is it for today/tonight. Spending this much time online is enough to drive a person mad. Hope you guys have been enjoying the posts and thanks for reading. Make sure you guys send us emails though and let us know how things are back home. We miss everyone!! Becky, how's the house?? I keep forgetting you guys are living in our place. LOL
Lala Salama
Melissa and Arnold
Monday, February 28, 2011
"Tan-zan-ya"
As the locals say, it's Tan-zan-ya ...
Anyways, we are starting to learn a bit more about Tanzania and the people that live here. It is a very beautiful, but equally frustrating country - but you can't help but fall in love with it. Over the past couple of weeks we have picked up the very basic Swahili terms/greetings.
Jambo!
Asante Sana
Karibu Sana
"Pole, Pole"
Hakuna Matata - yes, they really do say that here, it's awesome (we even know a song now about it)
Nani, Nani - our personal favourite
Lala Salama
and of course "Mazunga" we get the Mazunga pricing a lot
I am feeling a lot better now, which is great, but it sure took a while for things to get back to normal - I'm just having smaller meals now. Eating three meals a day for me was a bit of a struggle - I am so used to eating breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner and then bed time snack, but I think I have finally adjusted to going 5-6hours without food LOL. A lot of people have asked about the food here - and it is honestly amazing. We have had some of the best food while we are here - especially the soups. They sure know how to cook. But its funny how you crave comfort food no matter how good the food is (Arnold is craving Korean food like crazy haha)
Since arriving in Tanzania, it is a good night if we manage to stay up past 10pm - we go to bed soooo early now. On the hike we would head to bed at around 8:30 and then on the safari, it wasn't much better. Hopefully we break out of this weird habit soon. (I know Mom - we are old!!)
We have met some great people since arriving here and are so impressed with how the Tanzanians treat each other with a lot of respect and are such happy people. (once again, another country with no road rage - we could seriously learn from them)
I think one of the best questions we had is when our guide on the hike asked Arnold if he bought me - haha we definitely had a good laugh about that. He was pretty amazed that you didn't have to buy a Canadian wife and that they were "Free" - he wants his sons to go to Canada to get a wife so he doesn't have to pay 7 cows to the girls family.
Like I said, you can't help but have a love hate relationship with Africa
Love Melissa and Arnold
Anyways, we are starting to learn a bit more about Tanzania and the people that live here. It is a very beautiful, but equally frustrating country - but you can't help but fall in love with it. Over the past couple of weeks we have picked up the very basic Swahili terms/greetings.
Jambo!
Asante Sana
Karibu Sana
"Pole, Pole"
Hakuna Matata - yes, they really do say that here, it's awesome (we even know a song now about it)
Nani, Nani - our personal favourite
Lala Salama
and of course "Mazunga" we get the Mazunga pricing a lot
I am feeling a lot better now, which is great, but it sure took a while for things to get back to normal - I'm just having smaller meals now. Eating three meals a day for me was a bit of a struggle - I am so used to eating breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner and then bed time snack, but I think I have finally adjusted to going 5-6hours without food LOL. A lot of people have asked about the food here - and it is honestly amazing. We have had some of the best food while we are here - especially the soups. They sure know how to cook. But its funny how you crave comfort food no matter how good the food is (Arnold is craving Korean food like crazy haha)
Since arriving in Tanzania, it is a good night if we manage to stay up past 10pm - we go to bed soooo early now. On the hike we would head to bed at around 8:30 and then on the safari, it wasn't much better. Hopefully we break out of this weird habit soon. (I know Mom - we are old!!)
We have met some great people since arriving here and are so impressed with how the Tanzanians treat each other with a lot of respect and are such happy people. (once again, another country with no road rage - we could seriously learn from them)
I think one of the best questions we had is when our guide on the hike asked Arnold if he bought me - haha we definitely had a good laugh about that. He was pretty amazed that you didn't have to buy a Canadian wife and that they were "Free" - he wants his sons to go to Canada to get a wife so he doesn't have to pay 7 cows to the girls family.
Like I said, you can't help but have a love hate relationship with Africa
Love Melissa and Arnold
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Our Flight from Dar to Arusha
After flying into Dar for the night, we headed back to the airport so we could catch our flight to Arusha to start the dreaded hike. When we arrived to the domestic terminal in Dar we were a bit shocked by the state of the airport, but rolled with it. There are no check in counters, you go through a very weird security check point (liquids, gels etc are definitely not a concern here) and then you are in the airport. We get shown to a small room and sit down at the desk. We showed the man our printed off confirmation of our flight and then had to write our names down on the clip board. After a couple of minutes he hand writes (yes hand writes) up our boarding passes and puts a purple colored sticker with the name Arusha on our bags and we are set to go. Definitely had a good laugh about the hand written boarding passes - it was awesome. After waiting a bit for our flight we head outside of the waiting area to check out the planes and to see what's going on. Well we notice these two girls heading towards the plane- so we just thought that it was time for their flight, but no, they went to one plane got their bags off that plane and walked with the airport guy to another plane - apparently their bags were already on the wrong plane haha - we were thinking that it would be a miracle if our bags made it with us to Arusha. Anyways, the planes for domestic routes are somewhat of a treat - they are 12 seaters (at the most) and well there is no cockpit - you are sitting in the cockpit, you can see every move the pilot makes. It was very cool, but terrifying at the same time. I have never been on a plane that small in my life. Our first flight was only 20 minutes (apparently you can't fly direct to Arusha from Dar - the going pattern in Africa actually, to fly directly somewhere is a small miracle) and everything went smoothly, scary, but smoothly. Now it was time for the long flight from Zanzibar to Arusha - 1hr20minutes. I'm not going to lie - it was the worst hour and 20 minutes we have experienced. When you hit turbulence in those planes it feels 1000x worse then a regular plane. As we neared Arusha the clouds got worse (as in there were more and more of them - but they weren't big storm clouds) and everyone knows that flying through clouds can result in some bumps, well bumps they were. My feet were coming off the floor on a regular basis - I was starting to feel sick. But poor Arnold was doing worse then me - I had to hold it together for both of us. I think he almost had a panic attack (and/or he might have actually had one - Gemma, you would have passed out on this flight). One bump so particular bad that it had the whole plane (all 12 of us) letting out a bit of a scream. After 30 minutes of horrible turbulence we had landed - everyone clapped and I think said a small prayer that we had arrived alive.
Needless to say, we are trying to do everything in our power to not go on another one of those flights, but it looks like we might have to in order to get back to Dar - unless we want to take the 9hr bus ride, which I think Arnold would much rather do. We will definitely keep you posted.
Two more things I want to mention about that flight - there wasn't enough seats for everyone, so a girl (about 11 years old) sat up in the co-pilot seat haha and someone kept farting throughout the flight and it was probably the worst smell ever - I think that added to us feeling ill.
Here are a couple pictures for everyone to see
Love Melissa and Arnold
Needless to say, we are trying to do everything in our power to not go on another one of those flights, but it looks like we might have to in order to get back to Dar - unless we want to take the 9hr bus ride, which I think Arnold would much rather do. We will definitely keep you posted.
Two more things I want to mention about that flight - there wasn't enough seats for everyone, so a girl (about 11 years old) sat up in the co-pilot seat haha and someone kept farting throughout the flight and it was probably the worst smell ever - I think that added to us feeling ill.
Here are a couple pictures for everyone to see
Love Melissa and Arnold
My First mini freak out
Sorry for all the delays in posts, but for the past two weeks we have had limited Internet access because of the hike and our safari - so I am going to post a bunch of posts today to sort of catch up on items .... so here we go
Dar Es Salaam ... after an amazing time in Kenya, we were set for Tanzania and everything was looking great and we were feeling way more at ease about being in Africa. Upon arrival in Dar we had to go through immigration to get our visa's and we didn't think much about it (except for the fact that we had left our visa photos in our main bag that was checked - so first little worry of mine). As we get up to the immigration area no one is telling us where to go, what to do and or what we need to do (very typical of African immigration actually haha). So we finally talk to the main guy and he's like fill out the form and then come back and see me, so we did and then he asked for our money and we said that we wanted to pay by Visa (there was a sign indicating that Visa was accepted). But he informed us that the Visa wasn't working and we could only pay cash, US cash. Well we only had $85USD on us at that point so we would need to get more cash - not really a big deal, BUT the ATM's where outside the terminals. So he said its fine, leave the secured area, past baggage claim and get some money. So I was like "umm okay, but I don't have my passport (they had already taken it by that point). So I ducked out of that area and went outside of the airport and perfect, found an ATM. When I got up to it, it was out of order, not good, my stomach dropped a bit, but some guys pointed me to another one. Perfect, I'll use that one - but as I get up to it, it was also out of order, now I'm really getting worried. I tried talking to the currency exchange places to see if I could get money out by Visa, but they said they only take cash. There were no other bank machines at the airport that I could use so I am feeling sick - what are we going to do. So some how I make it back into immigration without showing anything (good security eh) and well I start to cry hahha ... We were short $15 and had no way of getting that money - I was ready to start asking people around us for money. BUT my husband came to my rescue - told me not to stress and he would figure it out. After speaking with the immigration guy for about 15 minutes, it was decided that we could pay for the visa upon our departure - problem solved and it only took us about 45 minutes to do it haha... Definitely, not a good introduction into Tanzania, but that is Africa for you. Lesson learnt - always have USD cash on you for visa's and carry more money.
Thankfully since then, it has been pretty smooth sailing
Love Melissa and Arnold
Dar Es Salaam ... after an amazing time in Kenya, we were set for Tanzania and everything was looking great and we were feeling way more at ease about being in Africa. Upon arrival in Dar we had to go through immigration to get our visa's and we didn't think much about it (except for the fact that we had left our visa photos in our main bag that was checked - so first little worry of mine). As we get up to the immigration area no one is telling us where to go, what to do and or what we need to do (very typical of African immigration actually haha). So we finally talk to the main guy and he's like fill out the form and then come back and see me, so we did and then he asked for our money and we said that we wanted to pay by Visa (there was a sign indicating that Visa was accepted). But he informed us that the Visa wasn't working and we could only pay cash, US cash. Well we only had $85USD on us at that point so we would need to get more cash - not really a big deal, BUT the ATM's where outside the terminals. So he said its fine, leave the secured area, past baggage claim and get some money. So I was like "umm okay, but I don't have my passport (they had already taken it by that point). So I ducked out of that area and went outside of the airport and perfect, found an ATM. When I got up to it, it was out of order, not good, my stomach dropped a bit, but some guys pointed me to another one. Perfect, I'll use that one - but as I get up to it, it was also out of order, now I'm really getting worried. I tried talking to the currency exchange places to see if I could get money out by Visa, but they said they only take cash. There were no other bank machines at the airport that I could use so I am feeling sick - what are we going to do. So some how I make it back into immigration without showing anything (good security eh) and well I start to cry hahha ... We were short $15 and had no way of getting that money - I was ready to start asking people around us for money. BUT my husband came to my rescue - told me not to stress and he would figure it out. After speaking with the immigration guy for about 15 minutes, it was decided that we could pay for the visa upon our departure - problem solved and it only took us about 45 minutes to do it haha... Definitely, not a good introduction into Tanzania, but that is Africa for you. Lesson learnt - always have USD cash on you for visa's and carry more money.
Thankfully since then, it has been pretty smooth sailing
Love Melissa and Arnold
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Kilimanjaro 2, Lee's 0
As the title suggests, the Lee's came to conquer the mountain but the mountain conquered us. Against her better judgement and with much prodding, the dwarf agreed to participate in the 6 day, 5891m hike. With typical vigor, she threw herself into the task at hand, reading every conceivable blog post, advice forum and chat room she could. Needless to say, my personality doesn't allow for proper planning (or any planning), relying more on fortitude than brains. These contrasting approaches served us well in the early days of the hike, as Melissa's equipment and medicinal preparations prolonged our survival for most of days 1 and 2 as we methodically climbed from 1700m, to 2700m, to 3700m. Day 3 was an extra day of acclimitization at the Horombo huts - it was here that the altitude started to affect the midget - mild headaches, nausea, lack of sleep and loss of appetite were the initial symptoms. Thankfully, the extra day subsided the worst of it, preparing us for what lay ahead. Day 4 and day 5 - "the widowmaker" - consisted of an 8am start for a 7km hike to 4700m elevation, followed by a midnight departure for the assault on Kilimanjaro's remaining 1191 metres. Reports from returning hikers were not encouraging; some guides described the blizzard on Kili the night before as the worse they had seen in a decade and the majority of groups that tried, failed to summit.
12am, we're woken by Johnny, our head porter. The sky is crystal clear, the moon is full and the air is crisp and cold. Both melissa and I are feeling good, buoyed by our luck with the weather. The mountain looks like a Christmas tree with the headlamps of slow moving hikers winding up the narrow paths appearing as hung lights. It's a truly spectacular sight. 4800m, things are going well. 4900m, the snow begins to become more dense. 5000m - passed without issue. 5100m, Melissa takes her first bathroom break - I complain about having to poop, she passes me an immodium and encourages me to "push through" (pun intended?). 5190m, the path becomes steeper, the hiking becomes slower and our breaks become more frequent. Melissa's symptoms return suddenly - as she steps, she falls limply. She takes another bathroom break and tries to lie down on the mountain - a definite no-no. Our guides exchange concerned looks. She tries to step again, and again falls limply. It is no longer a question of summitting, but getting her down the mountain as quickly as possible. She tells me to go on, gives me the camera and says "see you when you get back." I watch her and our assistant guide Sayed descend while Joseph (head guide) and I recommence the hike. I last 10 steps. My focus is gone as all I can think about is my wife collapsing doing something that I encouraged her to do. I tell Joseph, he agrees and we head down the mountain so I can be with my dwarf.
As I type this, I'm surprised that I'm not more dissapointed that we didn't summit. To not reach that goal after so much physical and mental punishment would seem to be heart-breaking. But it wasn't. I met african kinsmen in Joseph, Sayed, Johnny - guys that were working for peanuts a day but we're just as invested as seeing us succeed as we were. But more importantly, I got to see a side of my wife that I haven't seen before - the one that worked harder for something that I wanted more than I might have worked for her.
So yes, I will happily payout all the bets that were made against me because it was worth it. And trust me...I'll be back here to get to the top of this thing one day.
Melissa's Story
Well I think that Arnold pretty much sums up the hike the best and I don't need to add much, but I do want to touch on how things went from my perspective. The hike was truly amazing and I am so happy to have gone through that with Arnold - it is definitely not something I would have done on my own. Will I ever do it again? Not sure - maybe if I were to take Altitude Meds... So now this is where I can start my story.
As we started day 4 up to 4700M we were all in good spirits (despite hearing crazy stories about the conditions up top). But as we reached our lunch point - things started taking a turn for the worse, every bite of food (for me) was torture - I was on the verge of puking everytime I ate or drank, but I kept trying to force food down because I knew I would need the energy. With about 1/2km left to our last check point, things got progressively worse - I would have to rest every 10 steps or so. BUT we finally made it to 4700M - and the first thing I did was lay down - my head hurt and I felt ill. Dinner rolls around and there was no way I was eating. I couldn't - I knew it wouldn't stay down. After dinner we have a "nap" until its time to start the final hike to the summit. When we wake, I actually feel pretty good and I am pretty positive about things. Three hours into our hike and I am still feeling good and can see the summit in sight - we are 1.5hours from the first summit point. And then it hits - NEVER in my life have I ever felt the way I did that night. We reached 5200M and that was it for me. I was done. I would colapse everytime I took a step, they would pick me up and same thing over and over. I made it up to this little rest point and I sat down - all I wanted to do was sleep. I was on the verge of puking, had stomach cramps and felt as though I drank 2 bottles of wine - I felt drunk and so lightheaded. That part of the night is a bit fuzzy for me, but I think its something that Arnold will always remember. Right then and there I knew that I had to get down because I was terrified of what was happening. And maybe that is the worst part - knowing that I now had to climb back down from where we were - maybe a good 2-3kms up. I was stumbling down the mountain and the guide was telling me to go slow, but I couldn't. I would colapse every 3 minutes and he would pick me up and we would start again. I think I made it down the hill in record time haha. Anyways, to finish things off, it was a very scary and horrible feeling for me personally and something that I never wish to repeat. Looking back, I definitely should have taken the meds (as 95% of the people do) and things probably would have turned out better. I'm definitely not disappointed in not reaching the summit because it was such an amazing experience, but I am sad that Arnold didn't get to make it because he most definitely could - the altitude was not harming him in any way. So for all those people that said he wouldn't be able to make it, he must definitely could, but he was just being an amazing husband for me (tear - haha).
Our guide told us that you lose 2kg from the hike, which at first I didn't believe, but now I do - but mostly because I couldn't eat food for the last 48hours of our hike and even today (Saturday night - over a full night back) I still can't eat a lot and don't feel right.
Maybe another time - but as it stands Kili is most definitely not my friend haha.
Love Arnold and Melissa
PS Pictures from Kenya will have to wait - I hate the internet here ... ugh ... haha
12am, we're woken by Johnny, our head porter. The sky is crystal clear, the moon is full and the air is crisp and cold. Both melissa and I are feeling good, buoyed by our luck with the weather. The mountain looks like a Christmas tree with the headlamps of slow moving hikers winding up the narrow paths appearing as hung lights. It's a truly spectacular sight. 4800m, things are going well. 4900m, the snow begins to become more dense. 5000m - passed without issue. 5100m, Melissa takes her first bathroom break - I complain about having to poop, she passes me an immodium and encourages me to "push through" (pun intended?). 5190m, the path becomes steeper, the hiking becomes slower and our breaks become more frequent. Melissa's symptoms return suddenly - as she steps, she falls limply. She takes another bathroom break and tries to lie down on the mountain - a definite no-no. Our guides exchange concerned looks. She tries to step again, and again falls limply. It is no longer a question of summitting, but getting her down the mountain as quickly as possible. She tells me to go on, gives me the camera and says "see you when you get back." I watch her and our assistant guide Sayed descend while Joseph (head guide) and I recommence the hike. I last 10 steps. My focus is gone as all I can think about is my wife collapsing doing something that I encouraged her to do. I tell Joseph, he agrees and we head down the mountain so I can be with my dwarf.
As I type this, I'm surprised that I'm not more dissapointed that we didn't summit. To not reach that goal after so much physical and mental punishment would seem to be heart-breaking. But it wasn't. I met african kinsmen in Joseph, Sayed, Johnny - guys that were working for peanuts a day but we're just as invested as seeing us succeed as we were. But more importantly, I got to see a side of my wife that I haven't seen before - the one that worked harder for something that I wanted more than I might have worked for her.
So yes, I will happily payout all the bets that were made against me because it was worth it. And trust me...I'll be back here to get to the top of this thing one day.
Melissa's Story
Well I think that Arnold pretty much sums up the hike the best and I don't need to add much, but I do want to touch on how things went from my perspective. The hike was truly amazing and I am so happy to have gone through that with Arnold - it is definitely not something I would have done on my own. Will I ever do it again? Not sure - maybe if I were to take Altitude Meds... So now this is where I can start my story.
As we started day 4 up to 4700M we were all in good spirits (despite hearing crazy stories about the conditions up top). But as we reached our lunch point - things started taking a turn for the worse, every bite of food (for me) was torture - I was on the verge of puking everytime I ate or drank, but I kept trying to force food down because I knew I would need the energy. With about 1/2km left to our last check point, things got progressively worse - I would have to rest every 10 steps or so. BUT we finally made it to 4700M - and the first thing I did was lay down - my head hurt and I felt ill. Dinner rolls around and there was no way I was eating. I couldn't - I knew it wouldn't stay down. After dinner we have a "nap" until its time to start the final hike to the summit. When we wake, I actually feel pretty good and I am pretty positive about things. Three hours into our hike and I am still feeling good and can see the summit in sight - we are 1.5hours from the first summit point. And then it hits - NEVER in my life have I ever felt the way I did that night. We reached 5200M and that was it for me. I was done. I would colapse everytime I took a step, they would pick me up and same thing over and over. I made it up to this little rest point and I sat down - all I wanted to do was sleep. I was on the verge of puking, had stomach cramps and felt as though I drank 2 bottles of wine - I felt drunk and so lightheaded. That part of the night is a bit fuzzy for me, but I think its something that Arnold will always remember. Right then and there I knew that I had to get down because I was terrified of what was happening. And maybe that is the worst part - knowing that I now had to climb back down from where we were - maybe a good 2-3kms up. I was stumbling down the mountain and the guide was telling me to go slow, but I couldn't. I would colapse every 3 minutes and he would pick me up and we would start again. I think I made it down the hill in record time haha. Anyways, to finish things off, it was a very scary and horrible feeling for me personally and something that I never wish to repeat. Looking back, I definitely should have taken the meds (as 95% of the people do) and things probably would have turned out better. I'm definitely not disappointed in not reaching the summit because it was such an amazing experience, but I am sad that Arnold didn't get to make it because he most definitely could - the altitude was not harming him in any way. So for all those people that said he wouldn't be able to make it, he must definitely could, but he was just being an amazing husband for me (tear - haha).
Our guide told us that you lose 2kg from the hike, which at first I didn't believe, but now I do - but mostly because I couldn't eat food for the last 48hours of our hike and even today (Saturday night - over a full night back) I still can't eat a lot and don't feel right.
Maybe another time - but as it stands Kili is most definitely not my friend haha.
Love Arnold and Melissa
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Our first Safari
Originally, we just wanted to post some pictures of our first Safari ... but due to TIA (as we like to call it - when something goes not as planned due to the African nature) we will have to wait till next week to share some of our pictures with you.
But anyways, we went on our first mini Safari up to Lake Nakuru in Kenya, and it did not disappoint. Seeing animals up close and in those settings is pretty surreal. We had the chance to do a walking safari (yes, walking amongst wild animals), take a boat to see the hippos, and of course the driving safari around the lake in search of lions!!
I won't go on and on about the day and let the pictures speak for themselves. But one thing that we did want to say is that we had some lions no more then three feet away from us - it was so so scary haha. Arnold had to take the camera away from me because I was too scared to snap some photos. I thought they were going to jump into the jeep.
We also had a white rhino that was about 5 feet from the Jeep - I think Arnold nearly had a heart attack because he thought it was going to come charging.
Anyways, time to sign off - we need to prep for our big hike tomorrow :S but thanks for reading and we will keep you posted on how the big ol' hike went. (Plus Arnold has some great thoughts on the past 24 hours in Tanzania - it has been a bit interesting haha)
Be back from the hike on Friday.
Much Love,
Melissa and Arnold
But anyways, we went on our first mini Safari up to Lake Nakuru in Kenya, and it did not disappoint. Seeing animals up close and in those settings is pretty surreal. We had the chance to do a walking safari (yes, walking amongst wild animals), take a boat to see the hippos, and of course the driving safari around the lake in search of lions!!
I won't go on and on about the day and let the pictures speak for themselves. But one thing that we did want to say is that we had some lions no more then three feet away from us - it was so so scary haha. Arnold had to take the camera away from me because I was too scared to snap some photos. I thought they were going to jump into the jeep.
We also had a white rhino that was about 5 feet from the Jeep - I think Arnold nearly had a heart attack because he thought it was going to come charging.
Anyways, time to sign off - we need to prep for our big hike tomorrow :S but thanks for reading and we will keep you posted on how the big ol' hike went. (Plus Arnold has some great thoughts on the past 24 hours in Tanzania - it has been a bit interesting haha)
Be back from the hike on Friday.
Much Love,
Melissa and Arnold
T.I.A.
Nairobi ... nothing like what we thought it would be. We were so worried about Kenya/Nairobi that we almost didn't want to come here and it would have been a shame to miss what we experienced. Nairobi is honestly an amazing city that was beyond our expectations (I guess not hard to do since we thought we would get mugged the second we stepped out of the airport haha). It is beautiful, safe, and has a lot to offer. A couple things we have learned about Nairobi and the people that live there.
1) Their daily commute is 2-3 hours one way (guess we can no longer complain when it takes us 30 minutes to get home). Most people leave their house at 5am to get to work.
2) A LOT (and i mean A LOT) of people walk everywhere. Most people walk 10-15k one way to work or where ever they have to go. We saw people walking on the highways. It was incredible.
3) Everyone speaks English - it is there national language (which I had no idea about). Most people in Kenya can speak at least three languages.
4) The traffic is horrendous here - as I'm sure you can imagine. BUT they are probably the best drivers around - We honestly don't know how there aren't accidents every 3 seconds. Everyone drives cars - no bikes like Asia, which makes driving more intense. (Plus no one has road rage - its weird)
We had an amazing day in Nairobi and here are some of the highlights from our first day here.
Seeing the baby elephants
Feeding the Giraffes
Visiting the Museum - and seeing a big ass rock python
and Just Nairobi in general
(due to IT issues, pictures will be posted next week)
Love Melissa and Arnold
1) Their daily commute is 2-3 hours one way (guess we can no longer complain when it takes us 30 minutes to get home). Most people leave their house at 5am to get to work.
2) A LOT (and i mean A LOT) of people walk everywhere. Most people walk 10-15k one way to work or where ever they have to go. We saw people walking on the highways. It was incredible.
3) Everyone speaks English - it is there national language (which I had no idea about). Most people in Kenya can speak at least three languages.
4) The traffic is horrendous here - as I'm sure you can imagine. BUT they are probably the best drivers around - We honestly don't know how there aren't accidents every 3 seconds. Everyone drives cars - no bikes like Asia, which makes driving more intense. (Plus no one has road rage - its weird)
We had an amazing day in Nairobi and here are some of the highlights from our first day here.
Seeing the baby elephants
Feeding the Giraffes
Visiting the Museum - and seeing a big ass rock python
and Just Nairobi in general
(due to IT issues, pictures will be posted next week)
Love Melissa and Arnold
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
"Packing Light"
So packing light has never been part of my vocabulary - it just doesn't exist in my world and I think the reason everyone was sooo interested in how my packing was going. (I should apologize now for the lack of posts - I promise we have a bunch coming). Anyways, I put off packing, like I put off homework back in the college days. Lets just say that our house was clean and I was basically ready for the trip, except for one minor detail, my bag wasn't packed. So here I am on Saturday night at 1am (so technically Sunday), the night before we leave trying to pack for the first time. I put everything on my wish list into my bag, picked it up, decided it was very heavy and that I couldn't deal with it, so I went to bed thinking about what I could part with. Of course Sunday morning comes fast and I'm back to doing everything but packing - 3pm rolls around (30 minutes before Susie is picking us up) and I decide I better pack my bag for a final time and at that time - I didn't care about the weight of my bag, I just threw everything in there. A lot of people wanted a picture of my bag on the scale and well I'm proud to say I did well (in my mind). Three things I would like to point out: 1) I still managed to pack 5 pairs of shoes - I'm proud of myself, I took two pair off the wish list (and here people said it couldn't be done), 2) My bag only weighed 36.8 POUNDS - can you believe it, because I know I couldn't, 3) I was mad at myself after I saw the scale because I realized I could have packed a couple more items. LOL
So that is the story of my packing adventure - I have a rather funny picture of all the stuff I was trying to bring, let's just say most of the weight comes from my toiletries bag (because as you can see - there are no clothes in that pile yet)
Hope all is well.
Love Melissa and Arnold
So that is the story of my packing adventure - I have a rather funny picture of all the stuff I was trying to bring, let's just say most of the weight comes from my toiletries bag (because as you can see - there are no clothes in that pile yet)
Hope all is well.
Love Melissa and Arnold
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