Today was a crazy long day. We started off on a bike ride along a dirt road with zebras, wart hogs, and gazelles along the way. We were supposed to stop after a few miles and walk up to "Pride Rock", but there were buffalos on the bridge over, and evidently buffalos cause the most deaths in Africa, so they circumvented us over a different route and we didn't get to climb the rock. Next we hiked up through a gorge and free climbed up a rock face to get up to the next level. They had guides climbing up next to us and guiding our feet to make sure we made it up safely, a little sketchy! Next we hiked up to a lookout point, found monkeys in a tree, had lunch, swam in a geo thermal hot spring pool, and finished up on the MOST beautiful lake. We rode in a boat and saw giraffes, baboons, zebras and wart hogs on the shore, but the crowning moment was the 10 HIPPOS we saw wrestling in the water only a few feet away from us!! They were so cool! We thought it had been a perfect day and returned to the bus totally exhausted at 4, ready for the 2 hour bus ride back......the driver and our guide helped us onto the bus, started the bus, then disappeared, we sat on the bus with it running for 30 mins. I finally ventured out to figure out what was going on, but noone was anywhere to be seen. I hiked around the lake, and there found our driver and a group of men squatted in a circle behind some bushes....long confusing story, the woman who managed the bus, had never been paid by the driver for the safari he had driven yesterday, so she was demanding more money. Our guys wouldn't pay, so after 2 hours of shouting and discussion, they told us to get off the bus with all our stuff and they would call matatu's for us. I assured them we would pay the difference and just wanted to get the kids home, but they flatly refused, saying this bus driver was no longer trust worthy, and we would not do business with him. It made no sense, as I am sure this was more expensive, and it was now getting dark, we had run out of water, and it was dinner time. The taxi's finally came, we arrived back in our neighborhood at 9 p.m., but were stopped at the end of our street and had armed police board our matatu's to ride in with us. We arrived at the house to see police cars in the driveway and the guards walked us in. They assured us this is all just precautionary, "better to prevent than cure", was their remark, but we were all a little confused and exhausted! Luckily, Mama Mary had a lovely dinner of beef stew waiting for us, and Izzo had picked up the birthday cake I had ordered, so all was well. Most of the kids are already in bed, and I am heading there now. Tomorrow we will lay low, go to church, have a final group meeting and get ready for our last adventure before heading home. I had met a woman at church last week who told me she struggles to support her family because she is a refugee from Tanzania and Kenyans do not like Tanzanian refugees. She makes Samosas every day and sells them on a corner. I offered to buy 100 of them for our lunch tomorrow (they are little fried triangles with beef and spices in them) so we are walking to her house after church where she will fry them up fresh for us. this will be an adventure in itself!
Mindy
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