Thursday, 7-9-09 day 23: Mt. Elgon!

So sleep was terrible last night. I think it was the malaria pills yesterday… I’ve noticed a habbit that I always have the worst dreams the night of taking it.
Last night’s episode involved six inch long flying cockroaches invading my tent whilst I was sleeping. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking that the cockroaches were actually there, and searched my bed for them for a good five minutes before realizing that it was only a dream and laying down on my bug-free pillow. I tried to go back to sleep. Alas, luck was not on my side tonight because some shady people were wondering around the streets; which meant that the dogs on our compound were barking, the dogs in the neighboring compounds were barking, and dogs all down the main road were barking. (I should tell you- we’re in the middle of the jungle, so there isn’t a lot of noise at night. Seemingly small noises, like barking dogs, can carry their sound for quite a distance.) Over the next few hours, I tried to listen to music to fall asleep. It proved useless, so I settled for a daydreamy-halfsleep-state. That was working nicely until the chickens decided to wake the rooster… then the rooster crowed for however long. I think someone around here is determined that I don’t sleep.
So, I’m now writing this portion of my daily journal just as the sun is starting to come up. No one else is awake… all I’ve got right now are miniscule amounts of sleep and a half cup of coffee. I’m thinking that I’ll start getting things ready now. I’ve got nothing else to do. (For the reference of the reader; getting ready includes setting out the breakfast stuff, boiling the water for coffee, setting out the coffee stuff, getting the water for dishes prepared, drying the chairs off and putting them right side up again, etc.)
The team is scheduled to do a Safari today, and everyone is scheduled to be out of here by 7. (If we actually do leave by 7, I’ll be shocked!)
Let me show you what no sleep does to me- When packing for the trip, I remembered to pack the Megaphone, and forgot to pack my water. Hmm. Go figure I would leave behind the one thing that can keep me alive while I’m in the middle of the jungle.
We dropped Jim off at the Office, and made our way to Mt. Elgon. We picked up Gertrude on the way- for whatever her reason, she felt compelled to come with us. I felt pretty bad- There’s a major language barrier between she and I (she doesn’t speak hardly any English, and I don’t speak hardly any Kiswahili) and she kept trying to talk to me. I was already short-fused, so I was trying extra hard to be polite because I was getting increasingly frustrated at the situation. She is such a nice lady. Jan tried talking to her, too. I don’t think she had any luck with the whole communication thing either, because we all eventually just sat in a comfortable silence with the occasional smile. On the way there (it took us a few hours to get there) I started majorly feeling the effects of my tiredness. I started getting giggly and really talkative…. Poor Gertrude wasn’t expecting it, and she kept saying stuff to Jan and laughing at me. I told Jan I would probably fall asleep on the way there. Gertrude was still smiling. As suspected, I was out within 15 minutes. (I feel so… predictable.)
We stopped at some local café that used to be known for it’s great food. Turns out, the café changed managers and their food is now less than great. I ordered the fried eggs, chapatti, and coffee. What they brought to me (and to Protus and Mike) was the chicken and chips. (They didn’t order that either.) We told the guy that he gave us the wrong food and that it was probably meant for another table. He brought the manager out and accused us of changing orders. When we finally DID get our food, it tasted horrible. We were ready to leave, and it took them 20 minutes to bring out the check. I waited with Mark for the check while our other teammates headed toward the Van. Titus ran into a friend of his, so they talked for about 5 minutes before we left. On our way to Mt. Elgon, Jan was talking about this bible verse she was thinking of- a verse about how man sharpens man. We were trying to find the verse in our various concordances but couldn’t find it, so we made the educated guess that it was probably in Proverbs somewhere. We all scoured through proverbs, and I found it! Proverbs 27:17! I’m sure that when you read this you will think it’s no big deal. So I found a bible verse, go me. No…. It took a few hours, along incredibly bumpy roads, with small print. It was only one verse out of all the CHAPTERS of proverbs. So… it was a big deal! We all had our little celebration and were bored afterward. Eventually the van got quiet again, because we were all staring out of our windows at the beautiful, lush landscape that surrounded us! (Mt. Elgon is gorgeous!) We finally arrived at our destination (After almost getting lost), and were haggling the price for the entrance fees. They were ridiculously priced- 200 shillings for locals and 2000 shillings for visitors. Talk about INFLATION!
We also had to get an armed guard (whose name is Kevin) to “protect us” from the animals (it’s a drive through zoo). We saw some horses, baboons, bats, monkeys, and gazelle on our drive through. It really wasn’t worth 2000 shillings. Meanwhile, I took the megaphone out of my bag and started playing hostess. “Welcome to Titus’s Vanways. We ask that you please keep your hands and feet in the vehicle at all times, because 25 Km and hour is a dangerous speed. If you look to your left, you will notice a jungle with no animals in it. If you look to your right, you will notice some pretty trees. If you look ahead, you will see the rocks we are about to pop our tires on, and if you look behind you, you will see my smiling face!” (We made it fun.) I think the best part of being in the Zoo was when Kevin told us to stop the van. We got out (except Mike, whose cigars were calling his name) and started hiking up this picnic area. Instead of stopping, we turned down this trail. The trail was a footpath that eventually got narrower and more densely surrounded with plants and trees. We saw some more monkeys, and some creepy “mountain beaver” thing. We made our way up the side of the mountain- it was beautiful! We had an awesome view. It was also dangerous because there was very little to keep you from falling OFF the side of the mountain. Eventually we came to this enormous cave (that is said to have been “carved” by elephants!). This is where we saw the bats. I felt SO adventurous! How many people get the chance to say that they’ve explored a cave in the lush, jungle-y Mountains of Kenya? I feel so privileged. I danced my way back down the mountainside. (Mark threatened to push me off the mountain. He loves me!)
The road on the way back to the entrance was filled with sharp rocks and mud. I was thankful yet again for the amazing driving skills of Sir Titus!
Since the Mt. Elgon reserve turned out to be bogus, we decided to go explore one of the lesser known animal reserves. There is a gentleman who privately owns a bunch of property, where he keeps and sustains various wildlife (both endangered and otherwise.) We saw Giraffes, Zebra, Gazelle, pregnant rhino, and some other crazy looking animal. (Just a quick side note- if we had gotten there a few hours earlier or called in advance, they could have served us fresh Antelope. I would have loved to have tried antelope!) It turned out that minutes before we arrived, the owner’s son (who is an American Citizen) flew in from Vermont with a few of his friends. He was college age, and Jan kept telling me that “I’ll never know where love will find me” and “they’re kind of cute” (they really weren’t.) I thought it was funny that I’m an ocean away from home and I STILL have people trying to set me up with other people. Later, everyone was petting the giraffe, and I had to put something back in the van. It was within eye range of the team, so they handed me the keys and said to hurry up. I jogged over to the van and within ten feet of it, fell and twisted my ankle. It turns out that there was a hole in the ground that was camouflaged by the taller grass in that area. Out of the whole field, I had to pick the hole in the ground to trip on. I was incredibly embarrassed, but when I stood up I found out that not a single person noticed (so much for watching out for me, guys!) I was irritated that I ripped a big hole in my skirt (again) so I took the hair tie out of my hair to fix that real quick. As I was walking back to the van (thinking I was fine, just slightly injured) I began to get dizzy and my vision blurred completely. Then I felt like was going to throw up. I don’t know what happened- my ankle didn’t hurt THAT bad. When I stumbled my way back to the van, I laid there for a while. It turns out Mike was around the corner with his cigar. He saw me lying in the van and said I looked a lot paler than usual, and flagged Mark to come over. Told him I was fine, just needed to sit for a little bit. “When was the last time you had water?” he asked. ……..none…………… I find it incredible how completely stupid I can be sometimes. Didn’t I JUST go through this whole “dizzy from no water” thing YESTERDAY?? K. this won’t be happening anymore. All I really wanted to do was get some dinner because it was late and I was hungry. On the ride home Jan kept talking more about how “you just never know when you’re going to run into a young guy, you should always be prepared”. She humors me! I told her I had my eyes on a different prize. There was no need for me to be concentrating on young guys in Kenya. She laughed and we shared a granola bar that she found in her bag.
On our way home we stopped for some quickie food. We had coke (and then Mark made me down a few litres of water) and Samosas! Our team was shocked- these samosas were better than the ones in the Coffee Garden! We didn’t think such samosas could exist! I’m wondering if it was the cilantro that was added to it. A cute little end to my day- on the way home we saw some kids playing on the pillars holding up their parent’s store. 4 kids, 4 pillars. It was like 4 separate “ring around the rosy” party of one’s. It was cute! There was also another Amazing Sunset to be credited to God. That made me smile!