First thing Tuesday morning, a few local vendors came over to Karibuni's side yard to sell their wares to us. What a treat to have a craft market come to us and to have the place to ourselves!
I'm amused by the guards milling around with us in the picture below with their (probably not loaded) rifles.
There were so many neat pieces of jewelry, art, and wood bowls. I wasn't sure how much we might be shopping when we went back to Nairobi at the end of our trip so I didn't purchase too much. I also wasn't sure how much room I had in my luggage because, unfortunately, I was completely loaded down when I left home (ridiculously so). Of course, once I got back home, I wished I had bought more!
L & J showing off their finds
We went into this day with certain plans and by the end of it the day looked quite different. Bud & Kimberly were in the process of looking at some land a good distance away from Mattaw to open up a separate home for rescued babies. They saw a need and were looking to spread their ministry to another location. Bud had a meeting out at the land this day regarding their potential purchase of it so he took advantage of this opportunity to take us out there with him and show us the property.
We piled into his Land Cruiser and a van and headed out of town towards the rolling hills. The drive was quite long and the roads were quite bumpy! There's so much to see along the way that I enjoyed every minute of it. As will probably be obvious in the pictures to follow, I had a prime seat in the Cruiser and was able to take lots of photos out the window! Riding with the windows down makes for a dust-covered face, but it was totally worth it. Side note: a majority of the pictures included are mine, but I did post a few from my team because everyone took such great shots.
Around town in Kitale
This is a job that I would PAY to not have to do! He was a couple stories up without a safety strap.
Here you can see the mountains in the background that we would be driving towards to get to the land...
Lots of friendly faces along the way
A common sight on the side of the road...vehicles, big trucks, or motorcycles being washed in muddy river beds. This cracked me up! Not only was the water dirty but the vehicles would be back on the dusty roads in no time and be completely filthy again. I appreciate their work ethic, though!
Donkeys
Plenty of farmland along the way...
As I mentioned before, the roads were a little dusty. It was hard to keep a clean windshield...
When we finally arrived at the property, we all unloaded and wandered around while we waited for the gentleman that Bud was supposed to be meeting with about the purchase.
Here's a tour around the property...
All of the round balls in this tree are bird nests!
Bud's oldest son, Elisha, came along for the ride this day. Here the boys are entertaining themselves (and us) while we waited...
We toured the house on the property that still looked lived in but wasn't...family photos and decorations still hanging on the wall.
Some workers in the field right next door
Can you tell we had lots of wait time to take pictures?!
Beautiful views from this land...so breathtaking and peaceful...
This is how we often saw Bud...cowboy hat on head and phone in hand. We were amused that electricity was sporadic but cell phones always worked. More impressive technology in Africa than expected! Running all of the parts of the ministry that they do, Bud was constantly on the phone coordinating this and that.
Some of the natives (i.e. our team) were getting restless by this point because we waited for a long time for Bud's meeting and gnawing hunger pains were hard to ignore. Time works slightly different in Africa and there's just not the urgency to make appointments...so the guy was REALLY late. The fact that we knew that we had to travel the same distance back to Kitale before we could eat probably didn't help. I was just thrilled to be seeing more parts of Kenya and I'm always prepared with plenty of snacks so I was good to go.
After Bud took care of business, we headed back into town for lunch...
Our second eating out adventure was at The Coffee Shop
Interesting wall art in The Coffee Shop...this was one of my favorites...
Pineapple Fantas were a treat in Kenya
Interesting ceiling in the restaurant. I wonder if that net is supposed to catch something??
After lunch we ventured out around the town of Kitale by foot looking in some shops and taking in the sights. Because the trip out to the land had taken so long, there really wasn't time for us to spend at Mattaw as planned. This was sad knowing that this was our next to last possible day with the kiddos, but it was also nice to tour around Kitale.
Our team walking in a line with bags and cameras strapped around our necks didn't make us look like tourists at all.
We only actually stopped at 2 stores...a hardware store and a fabric store.
This fabric "store" was less like a store and more like a walk-up window. This store's walls were lined were all kinds of different and colorful African fabrics. You make your fabric selection and then choose from hundreds of different patterns and they will make a shirt or skirt or dress for you in a day.
Of course, the decisions were overwhelming for me but this was too cool of an opportunity to pass up. Fortunately, I had some patient help and I decided on a skirt. Once you placed an order, they brought you into the tiny space inside and took your measurements. Custom made clothing in a day was impressive.
While part of the team was at the fabric store shopping, the rest of the team relaxed and watched the traffic go by...
Our last stop while in town was at Kitale's main grocery store, Wool Matt (seriously?!).
Much of the team used this as an opportunity to stock up on tea or gifts to bring home. There were lots of neat items in the store but I only purchased one small bag of tea. I am a math person but for some reason I could not figure out how many schillings I needed to use for my purchase. I was so confused and Arnold was so amused!
After the grocery store, we called it a day and headed back to Karibuni. Another picture of the streets on the ride home courtesy of one of my teammates.
And I will finish with another humorous moment from the trip. It was amazing how much stuff these people could squeeze on a motorcycle or moped. This person was transporting a chair and bed frame! My favorite was when we saw a full size sofa on top of a bike going down the road. Oh the sights on the streets of Kitale!
