Farewell to Arusha and Tanzania and Chui....we are off early this morning taking the Impala shuttle a small bus to Nairobi. Our fine friend Chui...probably glad to be rid of us after a week...waits for us to go, I will miss his warm smile and great personality and many stories. We are in a packed bus taking a 5 hour ride to Kenya.
We travel thru the countryside, Mt Kilimanjaro is still eluding us, low clouds are blocking our view yet again...Mt Meru is visible in the foreground with green lush hills leading up to it. We see many Maasai villages, cows, goats,donkies and people, as well as giraffes and camels...yup camels..don't know why but they are grazing and chewing on the trees....
We get to the Kenyan border and have to get off the bus and give exit documents to Tanzania, then walk across the border into Kenya and have to get our visas, then back on the Impala for Nairobi.
Nairobi is a huge and very modern and urban city. After Arusha with no high buildings and very rural and poor I guess I was not expecting such a city out of Nairobi. The traffic was crazy...gridlocked and I was about to die from diesel fumes..I gagged 2 times and was trying not to breathe, Finally we reached the Stanley Hotel, the oldest and most historical in Nairobi. Off the bus and we ate at the Thorn Tree, a yummy lunch. our new Kenyan driver James showed up to gather us to head to Karen and our mystery accomodations, $10 a night with 3 meals included...we are all wondering about this one....
Karen, named after Karen Blixen, the author of Out of Africa, is quiet and lovely ..thank goodness..I wanted out of Nairobi!!! The houses are huge and there are gardens and flowers and it is beautiful, we pull up to a gate as it opens we see a beautiful compound and gardens and houses, this is where we will stay..it is a Benedictine Sisters convent. The buildings and the grounds are so lovely and quiet, there is garden where they grow all the vegetables and a chapel. We are checked in by Sister Justina and brought over to our building. There are nice rooms looking out to a beautiful garden, the rooms are big with sinks in them and the bathroom and shower are across the hall. There is a large lounge and a kitchen, a computer in the lounge, one other couple is in the building they are an american girl Jennifer and her husband from Mauritius Jean Marie who are awaiting a green card and immigration papers for Jean so he can move to the US. They have lived on the beach in Mauritius for 3 years and Jennifer is pregnant so they are moving back to the states to be close to her family, They are fun and have invited me to visit them in Mauritius next week as they go back today, they have a pool and they live on the beach and swim with the dolphins everyday.....
We settle in and are told by sister there is a service at 6pm, I decide to check it out after I go outside to take pictures and hear the singing...Marcia joins me. It is a beautiful mass, lots of beautiful singing and dancing, bongos and tambourines. The priest is great and excited, the sermon is on listening to our calling and embracing it and following it......So glad we went..wondering why the singing at our church doesn't sound like that, the voices are so strong and beautiful.
We head over for dinner, self service of a home cooked meal, can't ask for more.
