Kakamega Pictures

Ok, I've returned to the hotel in Nairobi with the "fast" Internet connection so before anything else here's some pics (fingers crossed)

This is the house I will be staying at. The Peace Corps volunteer that's leaving in a week has done a lot to the place and it's already furnished. Also, he's leaving behind plenty of American food he got in care packages, including all kinds of spices, instant coffee, and Gatorade (You don't even know how exciting that is). He also has about 5 bottles of hand sanitizer he's giving me and plenty of dishes, pots, and pans that he doesn't think Kenyans will use. He's giving plenty of things away to the Kenyans as well so I'll be replacing the basics but I'm in much better shape than most volunteers. I plan to repaint the inside of the house and I even have a gas stove and refrigerator!
This is the view from my back yard but the picture I took just doesn't do it justice. It's absolutely beautiful. For some reason it didn't show up well in this pic but the outline of Mt. Elgon is in the background. It's over 13,000 ft tall and it's a gradual slope instead of a jaggy peak. People that climb it say that the accent is so gradual you really don't know that you're going up until the last 500 feet or so. This is my Choo (Latrine). I got the one affectionately dubbed "the Perfect Aim" and I think that's self explanatory. I think a "Choo's of Africa" coffee table book would sell well.

These pics show how I'll be travelling around the area for the next two years. The bicycle is called a "Boda Boda" and for 20 shillings a kid will peddle you down the 3 mile bumpy dirt road to the Tarmac that goes to Kakamega. The truck pictured is my least favorite way to travel but the one I'll be forced to used to visit the farmers. The bed of the truck has benches on each side and theres no limit to how many people they shove into it. Once the benches are full people start sitting in between the two rows on the floor and then once that is full people hang onto the rear bumper and even get on the roof. The previous volunteer tried hanging off back one time and vowed never to do it again so I'll take his word for it. As long as I can make it to work and back to my house in the same day I'm going to use every opportunity I have to ride my bike instead of taking the Boda Boda/Matatu approach.

So that's it for pics. I'm going to upload all this now and hope it works, then post another blog about my experiences in Kakamega.