Trip to Kisumu

Sorry to those of you who couldn't read my last post, I re-posted it, so maybe it works now? So, last week I met with my organization (it is a small community development organization with 5 people and a team leader) and mostly went around getting stuff for my house. I didn't need much because there was a lot here when I moved in, including various inhabitants (spiders, ants, lizards, and a bat). So, I don't have a confirmed sighting of the bat, but my first night there was squeeking, actually it sounded just like the noise the golden snitch makes in the Harry Potter movies so I named it Granger, after Hermione. Since that first night the noise has been more distant so I think Granger moved to the uninhabited building next to my house.

My friend Denae, who's living on the island in Lake Victoria came and stayed with me on Wednesday and then we went to Kisumu on Thursday. We had a pretty "Kenyan" experience on our matatu ride to Kisumu, meaning there were 15 seats and 22 people and two chickens at one point. Then two guys got in a fight with the matatu driver over price or something and we had to stop while they argued with each other and got a police officer involved.

So, our main objective for the trip was going to Nakumatt, a store like Target, in that they have everything from groceries to bikes to appliances. We bought various food items and spices (yes they have cumin and oregano and whatnot!), I even splurged on some boxed mac & cheese. We met up with two other volunteers from the Nyanza area: Sonya and Jason. The four of us found a great hostel/hotel that was pretty inexpensive and centrally located. We ended up staying two nights.

After getting everything back to the hotel we went to a restaurant/bar and had amazing burgers/pizza. We also met a crazy/drunk man who told us he spent the last 10 years in the psych ward because he used to have hallucinations that white people were going to kill him. He was causing a ruckus and got kicked out by restaurant/security, yet the restaurant let him take the rest of his beer in a "to go" cup. Interesting...

Friday we hired a motor boat to take us around Lake Victoria (only a small portion, the lake is huge). We saw a hippo! It wasn't actually a huge deal, we just saw it's head pop out of the water a few times, but we were still nervous we've heard scary stories about hippo attacks. The boat driver dropped us off at a fish restaurant on the lake and Jason, Denae and Sonya shared some tilapia. It was a huge fish, and tasted pretty good. So, we've heard that the reason Luo people are smart is because they eat the brains of the fish too. Sonya decided we should try the fish brains and we all just about died laughing as she searched through the fish for the brains. We gave up after a while, it's probably better that way.

We had a fun time and we'll definitely go back to Kisumu sometime soon since it's not that far for any of us. On the bus ride home I saw a live goat standing tied on top of the bus in front of us, poor thing must have been terrified, although I found it pretty hilarious.