Nairobi: Jo'burg to Mauritus.

Knitted blanket squares for children.

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After almost 9 hours on a shuttle bus from Moshi we arrived in Nairobi, Kenya.  From a hotel drop off point Tovah and I hopped a taxi to Karen Camp, in Karen (a Nairobi surburb) where we were meeting up with Piet, Nel, Dzingi, and Scott from our overland tour.   It was really nice to see familiar faces after spending the week climbing Kilimanjaro!  We spent the remainder of the evening catching up on the past weeks events and Tovah and I even splurged on dorm beds ($5/night, sometimes there were hot showers) as we did not feel like pitching our tent so late at night.  We lucked out as Tovah, Scott and I had the room to ourselves so we could spread our things out to reorganize.

Much of our time in Nairobi was spent updating the blog and emailing (they really mounted up after such a long hiatus).  We also organized our things and sent much of what we bought while in Africa home. Posting packages home is not the easiest as the post office doesn't have packaging materials/supplies, so for example, I had to go to a supermarket to get a box they were going to throw out to use to ship my stuff.  As far as paintings go, I haven't found a cardboard tube to send them in so they will continue to travel with me until I find one.

With little time to finish up the knitting project we passed along the sqaures, yarn, and some needles to Piet and Nel.  Our overland truck had spend many of the driving hour knitting 36x36 row squares to make into blankets for children with HIV.  We had learned about the project in Swaiziland and continued it.  Nel offered to continue working on it, as well as promised to drop the squares we had finished (picture) off on her return to South Africa (thanks Nel!).

It was really sad to say goodbye again to Piet, Nel, and Dzingi when they left for a tour through Uganda!  This time there is not the certainty that we will be seeing them again like there was the last time....except if Nel goes through with meeting us in Thailand, or if they come to visit us in the States as Piet says he plans to do.  Only time will tell, but nonetheless we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them and appreciate the countless wonderful memories!

Tovah and I (Scott wasn't feeling well) met up with Roosh, Andrew, Merete, and Marianne for dinner on our last night in Nairobi.  It was so good to see them as well!  They  have been all around Kenya since our tour ended and  were currently staying with Roosh's family in Nairobi.  Conversation is never dull with this group, there was much talking and laughing.  While  goodbyes are always difficult, I trust that  we will all cross paths again in  one of our countries  (yes girls, we are still planning on visiting you in Copenhagen...how else are we going to keep up with our danish? And boys, you know how much we both love Australia, so you can probably count on American visitors as well).

Tovah, Scott, Genviere (a Canadian girl we met at Karen Camp) and I caught an early taxi to the airport.  As a side note, we met really lovely people at Karen Camp including Genviere.  A couple from Finland became my daily breakfast companions as well as travel agents giving me all the suggestions and tips they could for our travels in India.  Though only for a brief time it is nice to connect with such similar yet diverse group of people.  There is always such interesting and genuine conversation and everyone is always eager to exchange travel stories etc...oh how I love this life of travel!!

Tovah and I had a few hours to kill with Scott at the airport until our flight left which was nice.  It was really sad to say goodbye to Scott- he was the last one of our tour group left with us.  But off to Thailand he went and Tovah and I to Johannesburg for the night.  It was funny to note the difference in our comfort arriving in Johannesburg this time as opposed to the first time.  Initially we were very timid and everything sketched us out.  This time we wandered around with out the fear that was instilled in us by everyone prior to our trip.  Our hostel, The Purple Palms (70Rand/night), was very nice having a small pool, clean rooms, 2 kitchens, a well manicured lawn, and free airport pickup/dropoff. We wished we would have stayed there upon our initial arrival in Jo'burg....next time.  We had an early night as the next morning brought another international flight to Mauritius.  We are really sad to be leaving Africa as we have loved our time here.  It is a continent so rich in beauty and culture and we feel fortunate to have been able to experience as much as we did, even though it leaves us wanting to see and experience more.