Travel Blog

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I accumulated more vacation time than I thought, realizing that I only took 3 days off this year for Fest, so I decided to take it all at once. With just over two weeks to travel, I read every page of my Lonely Planet South America on a Shoestring and had decided to go Argentina. I wanted to fly on an Aerolineas Argentina Mercosur Airpass, which allows multi-stops in Brazil and Argentina. I found out however that those seats usually need to be booked 6-8 months in advance. Bummer.

En route to the Indian Ocean, we camped a night in Pangani, which offered nothing but a small pool. With the rising humidity, the pool was refreshing, until we got overtaken by 40 local children. They spent all day building their desks and chairs to start school tomorrow. Most of them had never swum before, no less in a pool. It was mayhem, but a joyful sight!

I (heart) Civilization

I land in Nairobi and am picked up by my safari rep. Then we get stuck in traffic! Traffic! I'm normally not so excited about traffic, but having lived in Rwanda for a while, I felt like I was re-entering "civilization" what with the high rises, street names, and traffic lights that actually work, all of which I hadn't seen in ages.

Lockable gate

I live in an apartment compound. So I don’t have a LOCKABLE gate. On the night of my birthday (Feb.

While many experiences so far have been enriching, many others have been #!@&%*#$. I think it's inhumane to be prevented from writing whatever I want on my OWN blog. But thus is my woe.

A new perspective

I'm already prepared to be an object of curiosity, even of hilarity. The key is to smile and nod. I do wonder if I'll be labeled umuzungu (white). (Added Jan. 31, 2007: Yes, I will be called muzungu everywhere I go. I especially love hearing babies shout out "Mama, muzungu!" as in "Look mom, a white man!)