Lamu Tamu

Sweet Lamu.

On our way to the airport, crammed into a matatu, Nate busts out three boxes of teatree toothpicks. They are gifts for our month and a half journey together. Throughout our eight months here, these tooth picks have taken on a great deal of importance for us oral fetishers and smokers. Every time we are together, we are chewing them. To the point where back in Kitui, a Kenyan was trying to describe one of my friends and said ‘you know, he always has a stick in his mouth.’

We get to the small airport and check in, our baggage consists of a small backpack each and 3 shopping bags of alcohol. Being a Swahili island, Lamu does not sell alcohol- good thing we knew to stock up before hand. Sitting in the airport, a man in a nice suite is ushered through the small lobby surrounded by airport staff and other suites. Charles says, isn’t that one of the ODM guys?(ODM is Odingas party) In fact it was Saitoti, one of the head ODM MPs in a contested seat. A few wazungus(white people) in fancy sunglasses and pull luggage walk through, each with a Kenyan guide. This is not how we are used to travel. Sitting in fancy airports watching fancy people led around. Our flight comes. It is a 20 seater plane, we are 3 of the 6 people on this plane. It is more like a private jet. I say we are not used to traveling this way, but this is the 3rd private plane we have been on in less than a month.

The plane lands on a field. Literally grass. There is an airstrip, but it is under construction, so we taxi along side it on the grass. Everything in Kenya, especially roads, is under construction. Climbing off the airplane we are hit by a blast of scortching hot and muggy air. Just to give you a climate reference, we are on the border of somolia. we grab our stuff, walk out of the airport(a field with a shack) and down to a dock where we climb on a canopied wooden boat that taxis us up to the part of the island where our house is. We have no idea if this house/apartment is going to be complete shit, we have negotiated to pay 2000 Shillings a night total, about 8 dollars each, so we don’t expect much, though, tourism is in the shitter, so we had no idea. The boat pulls up to the shore, but the tide is out, so we take off our shoes, the guys roll up their trousers. We are greeted by 2 young men in flowy white shirts and blue shorts-they turn out to be our house boys-they take our bags, against our insistence that we can carry it. Steping out of the boat, I feel the cool water on my calves and the sand in my toes. I instantly smile. I don’t really care what the house looks like if I get to have this sensation for a week. The boys lead us barefoot through a maze of shaded narrow walkways and allies full of arched doorways covered in bougainvillea. I am in heaven. constantly remarking- this is gorgeous! I just love walking barefoot through exotic locals. It makes it all more intimate. They lead us to the ‘apartment’ we have rented. It is a 5 story building and we have the top 3 floors. Most of it consists of out door balconies and sitting areas with a gorgeous view of all the cement houses with thatched roofing that we had just wandered our way though, the brilliant ocean spotted with dhows(sailboats), and the mangrove island offshore. We are flabbergasted. In shock. We have these absurd smiles on our faces, the kind of disbelief as if we had just won the lottery.

We spend the next week laying around our balconies sunning, enjoying the breeze, swimming in the crystal ocean, eating good seafood and a lot of beans with tropical salsa. My favorite day was spent wandering alone through lamu town, through their narrow alleyways just getting lost. Turning corners and running into women in boi bois, full muslim dress of black flowing robe with colorful headscarves, men in white robes and skull caps, and young boys and girls in minature costumes. When I get far enough away from town center, it is quiet, all I hear are the people chatting on their door stoops, kids chasing eachother and the occasional call to prayer. Architecturally this place is a mix of the greek islands and the Italian coast but with a heavy muslim influence. tall dirty white walls warn by the sea air. It is beautiful. old. warn. Remarkable. Gorgeous and wrapped in culture. I just wander.

At the end of each day, at about 4, we all reconvene on our middle balcony with drinks where we just sit and talk and laugh for 3 hours as we watch the sun drop over the ocean. Nate and I set up beds and a mosquito net on the balcony and sleep under the stars in the ocean breeze. This is paradise.

We weren’t used to this type of travel, but man was it nice. For a week in paradise, we spent less than 200 dollars. The rest of our trip will not be in any kind of comparable luxury, but I like that even better I think.

In other news, our fabulous trio is now just an awesome duo. Early last week charles decided that he just needed to get home. I am disappointed to see him go, as I love him dearly, but I understand, as I cant wait to be home also. For now, we are playing around mombasa, saying goodbye to the coast of Kenya that has treated me so well for so many months and trying to arrange a sailboat to Zanzibar. Ok, until next time.

im coming home...wish i could see the look on your face.

Today i am officially an RPCV. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. no longer employed by the peace corps. i have completed service. ive only been here for 8 months-you all thought you had another 19 months without me. well, no longer, im coming home. a week ago i would not have been able to tell you i was leaving so soon. ive been playing with the idea of leaving for some time now, but it was in the future. the last few weeks have been some of my hardest here. since returning to voi from evacuation in tanzania, i went through severe depression. i couldnt eat, couldnt sleep. couldnt do anything...but cry. i was paralyzed. i couldnt stomach being back in voi, back in this small bubble seemingly untouched by the devastation the rest of the country is experiencing. i couldnt even fathom waking up each morning and reading about the gang rapes, the homeless families, the lost relatives and livelihoods just a few hours away and me, going back to life as usual, to talking to kids about aids and how to make decisions for their futures. futures that at this moment are so uncertain. i contemplated just quiting Peace Corps and walking up to one of our haphazard displaced persons camps and just saying let me help. i want to be talking to those affected, i want to hear their feelings about the people who put them there. i want to start thinking about the reconciliation process that is going to have to take place here. my brain is capable of so much more than what i was doing in voi.

I had been planning on quitting peace corps in a few months, to freely travel and to begin pursuing work i am interested in, work that stretches my brain. more challenges. ive just realized a great deal about myself and what i want to do with my life, and staying here and living in voi just for the sake of finishing peace corps is not enough. i want out. i want to start taking control of my life and not have this safety net of peace corps behind me. im ready to be scared. im ready to not know the next step. im 23. this is the only time i can really be so reckless. so peace corps, we are done. tumemaliza.

Peace Corps has closed 2/3 of this country. all of my best friends were sent home a week ago, they told us 2 days prior to their flights. my site is still open and i dont want to be there. everyone in this country has been granted the option of Interruption of Service(IoS). it means that there are circumstances beyond my control that inhibit me from working. it reads as a completion of service. i can go home, hang out for a bit and if they find a better option they will bring me back, otherwise, i am just done. and damn it feels amazing. i chose to take IoS for a number of reasons, some of them practical like health insurance for a year, others like having the option of Peace Corps placing me with a humanitarian relief org out here. id still be a PCvolunteer, but it really would be an opportunity i cannot pass up. so we will hold our breath for that option. they told me to go home and wait. but im not going home...IM FREE

the day after i decided to IS, i was feeling pretty shitty because i thought i would not see any of my best friends for a long time. i received a text from Charles (one of my best friends in nairobi) telling me that we are offered the option to cash in our tickets and go travel. i responded back 'want to go travel, im only half serious, but could be talked into it.' he writes back that he will think long and hard about it. I text nate in Tanzania 'do you have the option to cash in your ticket? if so,want to play? if there is momentum, im there' because nate is in tanzaia, the text didnt go through for hours. before he had received the text, he calls me and asks me the same question. and i say im there. we both start screaming with excitement, he calls charles and the terrific trio was born. we're going traveling!!!!!!!! i couldnt be more thrilled, and really couldnt have asked for better partners for adventure. we spent some time emailing from our 3 locations and decided we need to be together and plan. we are now in nairobi and after much deliberation, we decided on this rough route through east africa.

1.28 Depart for Lamu Kenya
2.4 Lamu to Kilifi to visit current volunteer Darcy Dodd and Dan Hekkel
2.6 Kilifi to Mombasa Kenya-hang with more volunteers
2.9 Mombasa to Dar Es Salaam Tanzania
2.12 Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar Tanzania
2.14 Return to Dar Es Salaam
2.15 train from Dar Es Salaam to Mwanza Tanzania(abt 3 day train ride)
2.18 Arrive in Mwanza Tanzania
2.21 Depart Mwanza on Ferry for Bekopu Tanzania
2.22 Bekopu to Kigali Rwanda
2.24 Kigali for Nyungwe National Park
2.26 Depart Nyungwe for Mt. Elgon National Park Uganda
2.28 Depart Mt. Elgon for Kampala Uganda
3.3 Depart Kampala for Jinja Kampala
3.4 White Water Rafting on the White Nile in Jinja
3.6 Depart Jinja for Kampala
3.7 Depart Kampala (by air) for Nairobi
3.9 or 3.10 Depart Nairobi for NYC via British Airways
3.11 Arrive NYC
Play around NYC and Wash DC for a week or so. if you are around, send me an email with your contact number, would LOVE to see you!!!
3.17 or 3.20 Arrive Sac Town

so our trip is filled with activities like renting a condo on the beach on the island of lamu for a week, eating fresh sea food, drinking fresh tropical juice, drinking in general, dancing, sailing from mombasa to zanzibar, overnight ferry across part of lake victoria, hiking through montane rainforests in rwanda, climbing mt elgon in uganda, rafting the nile, historical museums and remembrance walk in rwanda and soo much more. about 6 weeks of overland travel in 4 countries. ill try and keep you all posted.

if youve been to any of these countries and have tips for us, send me an email. geeze..what a post. i have soo much more explaining to do and i have many posts to catch up on, so they will be coming through as time allows. hope youre all well. namaste.

updates

hey all out there in blog land. im alive. not well. but healthy and ok. im not posting my thoughts on the blog as i fear a lawsuit from the american government and or repercussions from the kenyan government. im also struggling to get past a point of mental paralysis from this waiting game that has soo many potential consequences and organize my thoughts during this ever changing situation. so. if you have not been getting my emails and would like to, send an email to rksantos@gmail.com and i will add you to the list. also, Nate has been keeping a relatively good log of what is going on in our direct lives so if you want to check out his blog http://natyb25.travellerspoint.com.

please be well