A city with a reputation

We spent a few days on an extended layover in Brussels. For the first time in our travels we utilised the passenger loved hack of skip lagging and bailed on our final lag back to France. Being the rule abiding person I mostly tend to be I was hesitant to partake in this option but the alternative of two extra flight legs (Brussels to France and then basically back to Brussels) was most unappealing, especially when juxtaposed with the prospect of a few days in Brussels. Still, I made an effort to not skirt the rules and had some phone calls with the airline about potentially cancelling my final leg (this would have incurred a hefty fee). I felt uneasy about the whole thing as we left our first flight. I envisioned our plane being delayed and announcements being made for the lone woman with five children who they were expecting. Some last minute internet research revealed that it is possible to uncheck out of a second leg of a flight as a way of making it clear they should not expect you. Useful information to know! 

Our few days in Brussels were loaded with food oriented expectations. Belgium has a reputation for certain unhealthy but highly appealing foods - chocolate, waffles, and chips. I told the girls that we could sample all three as part of the cultural experience. Our first day in Brussels was spent enjoyably wandering the old town visiting various peeing statues, going to a great city museum, and of course visiting chocolate shops. My chocolate expectations were actually fairly low and I was pleased at how great the fancy truffles and filled chocolates were. We didn’t eat a ton of chocolate but it was much more than we were used to so by the end of our chocolate tour we all had zero desire to eat chips and waffles. No worries because we still had two more days. On our second day we took the train to Ghent for some more old town wandering. Again none of us felt drawn to a lunch of waffles and chips so we opted for grocery store sandwiches. A couple of hours of a castle visit and still each time I offered to buy chips I got lots of horrified looks. No worries, there was still a third day. On our final day in Brussels I suggested we go for a breakfast of waffles in the old town. Nobody cheered. A lunch of chips? No votes. Instead we went to a more local cafe outside the tourist throngs and had some tasty sandwiches. I was kind of fascinated by my repeated offers to buy waffles and chips with no takers. Oh well, there is always a future visit. 

Brussels was a city that was loaded to the max with tourists. We had heard some mixed reviews of the city but we all really enjoyed our visit. The fact that everyone spoke French made it an easy destination to get by in. There seemed to be lots of events happening in various parts of the city. Beer and comics were of great importance. Belgium is a relatively small country that is easy to get around. And the chocolate really was great. 

Tova in Brussels

Home of Tin tin

Belgium really outdid the Netherlands hagelslag with this move. We bought it and can attest to the fact that it is thin pieces of chocolate to be eaten on bread for breakfast.

Manneken Pis has been dressing up for over 400 years. During our stay he was cheering on the Belgian world cup team. 

                      

This incredibly hot and crowded train to Ghent was wonderful because I got to watch these two woman have a full and proper tea with crockery and pastries and then watch them knit

Ghent

Levana listened to the entire one hour audio guide of the castle with enthusiasm!

Helping hands

 We have thought a lot over our month in Kenya about what it means to help. Kenya is a country with a rich history- and within that a rich history of missionaries. For years Westerners could feel they had a life purpose in roaming around the African continent bringing their religion to the natives. This always feels like a tricky life pursuit. On the one hand, missionaries have brought a lot of good through schools and hospitals and other resources to far-flung communities. On the other hand, the good was granted as a means to garner trust as a means to convince them over to their own religion. Missionary work was highly effective in Kenya, where 85% of the population is some form of Christian. The religion, though initially insisted upon, is a great and loved part of society. There are churches everywhere. Kenyans have built on the Christianity concept by creating their own churches and forms of Christianity. In usual Kenyan fashion, their churches have much more colourful names (things like The Mountain of Hope) and have more extravagant services (think flashing lights and full-bodied singing). The new worry regarding Christianity seems to stem entirely from grassroots ministers taking advantage of their power and has nothing to do with the missionary past. Kenyans seem to adore their new religion, so, does that make missionaries in the right? Is good still good when there are other intentions? Is manipulation the right strategy if the outcome is then exulted? 

We were lucky to also get to see firsthand a non-missionary kind of helping. We visited a home for children whose mothers are in prison. This was a happy, busy home. The children welcomed us in with open arms and were glad for the new playmates and conversation buddies. Many of the children did not speak English, but children are adept at understanding actions and interacting through play. This visit led to an interesting conversation with my kids about whether children's homes are better than foster care - they all agreed they would rather live in a children's home (a glowing review for the children's home we visited!) We also visited a home for teenage mothers and a home for abandoned or orphaned babies. We were all in awe at how calm and cheery the baby staff were in caring for over three dozen infants. They are my new heroes. These were private homes run on donations. The government of course offers similar services, but the standard is such that even the government officials prefer to use the private version. I wonder, if there were no private contributors, would the government step up to the task? On a bigger scale - do foreign help and aid practices empower or disempower a country? How about in the case of corrupt countries? Good intentions can get so complicated! Still, offering good care to women and children seems about as good as it gets and I am grateful that there are people who take on the task. If anyone is looking to contribute to a noble pursuit that I can vouch for, I am happy to share the details. 

Our time in Nairobi wasn't all that contemplative. Really, we also spent a lot of time playing. The children made great use out of the backyard trampolines available, the gymnastics centre, and the trampoline centre to crush some new skills. Tova can now flip and flip and flip again without much effort. Even Zadie who is hesitant of acrobatics can now do a front flip. 

Asante Kenya for a great time and for the kindness shown to us. Countries that love children hold a special place in my heart. Perhaps we will meet again!

She went around saying hello to each doll

Great walking mates (photo courtesy of Maria)

No translation needed when you just play (photo courtesy of Maria)

Trampolines were the theme of our Kenya trip (photo courtesy of Maria)

Monkeys in the forest

Bushbaby

The road to the soccer field

Puppies

Voi-er

 Most tourists come to Kenya to go on safari. The country is dotted with national parks and conservancies. Once upon a time the country was dominated by wild animals. Reading historical accounts of Kenya is mind boggling. Still, a tourists can still get a taste of that historical wildlife heyday by going on safari. The thing about safari though is that it is a high per person cost and it is an activity that involves long hours sitting in a car. Also I kind of have mixed feelings about the safari culture. On the one hand it is very fascinating to look for animals and it is a thing of my childhood dreams. On the other hand, seems a bit of a nuisance to the wildlife to have jeeps driving around watching their every move. All of a sudden nature becomes a wild zoo - especially as more and more parks are putting up fences to prevent elephants from pestering local farmers.

Animals aside though, I still kind of wanted to see the wild landscape of Kenya. Aurora and I had just read Love, life and elephants which talks in detail about the history evolution of Tsavo East park and it appealed to us to bring those anecdotes to life. Unlike most other countries national parks are a car only experience. After much debate we decided to make it happen our own way. We took a train to Voi and then rented a car for a one day game drive into a park. It was a thrill for some of us and for others it was a lot of time sitting in a car. The best time to see animals are early in the morning and in the evening so our day drive was 12 hours long. Sophia spent the entire day with her head out the open rooftop scanning the horizon while Tova and Zadie spent a large portion of the day reading in the back of the car and popping their heads up when we called out something interesting. Levana both really enjoyed looking for animals and was mesmerised by the slow movement of the lions and had her moments of pure frustration at our endless car ride. 

The Tsavo East landscape was just as vast and grand as we hoped. We saw lots of different animals including zebra, giraffe, oryx, water buck, buffalo, dik dik, ostrich, lions, hippos, monkeys, gazelle, many birds of various sorts and lots and lots of elephants. Tsavo East has the largest concentration of elephants in Kenya and we did not tire of the crowds of elephants. They are beautiful creatures and I could sit and watch them for hours (which I essentially did). Watching elephants at a water hole is far better than any social drama. 

Lion love

They blend in so well!

Why did the elephant cross the road?

Levana always enjoys the breastfeeding animals

Turns out when we were watching elephants this family was watching us - guess we are as interesting as elephants

Giraffe

The focused naturalist

Our little lion

Dust bathing

Beach boys

Diani beach is one of those postcard perfect beaches with white sand and a border of coconut trees. The beach incline is gradual and the reef a ways from shore making for a quiet shallow bright blue lapping. The wind is a constant companion adding to the natural thrum of the setting. It is a place of tranquility and calm. Except for the fact that the beach is covered not only in sand but in beach boys who are desperately trying to make a living off of the visitors. There are Maasai trying to sell bracelets, young men trying to sell coconuts, athletes trying to sell spectacles, women trying to sell massage and fabric, and young men trying to sell boat rides, tour, or anything else your heart could desire. They are a good natured bunch of folk but their persistence is monumental. I decided early on to give them time if I could not give money. Their strategy is to introduce themselves and chat with you until you feel a sense of kinship that compels you to buy something to support them. I made it clear when each one introduced themselves that I would not be a worthwhile costumer. Still, they persisted and greeted me each time they saw me and talked and talked trying to discover what might be lacking in my life that they could sell. In some ways these middle men were miracle men who were eager to meet any tourist whims. In other ways they reminded me of a flock of seagulls - beautiful but overwhelming when there are too many. 

One gentleman walked with me for forty minutes chatting about his life, and Kenya. We stayed on the beach for a week so by the end we were very familiar with the beach boys in our stretch. They were exhausting but still they were all good people just trying to live off an oversaturated role. I am glad I got to learn a little bit about their lives even if I was a disappointing customer. 

Tova of course has a special fondness for the beach acrobats. Here is here impression of the coast:

The beach was really fun there were all these acrobatic groups who would walk down the beach performing for money and at some point we payed them a few dollars to see them and they were very good and we got to do acrobatics with them. Another fun thing was when we went to this beach with big waves and when we went on a boat to go snorkeling where we saw multiple eels and fish and went out to a sandbar which was super fun! Their was also this person who sold fruit called Ali so we would get a coconut each day which was super yummy. 

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THIS IS A WAVE

All the kids in one shot having a good time

Acrobats (picture courtesy of Maria)

Maasai salesman

Kenyan meal: Ugali and sukuma and chapati (picture courtesy of Maria)

Snorkeling (picture courtesy of Maria)

Beach life (picture courtesy of ??)

Church group games

Such talent!

She was mostly afraid of the water but enjoyed playing in the sand

The enigma of Lake Naivasha

Lake Naivasha is a lake North-west of Nairobi in the Great Rift Valley. We were fortunate to get to spend a few days by the lake at a camp that is home to many hippos. Aside from hippos the lake area is full of wildlife conservatories and flower farms. An odd mix of white greenhouses and lush native flora and fauna. Kenya is the world's fourth largest exporter of cut flowers and 75% of that is due to lake Naivasha. Our interest in the area was more the natural flora and fauna. We spent a day on Crescent Island reserve. A small lake island where animals were brought in for the filming of Out of Africa and never taken away. Now tourists can pay to wander among the giraffe, zebra, wildebeasts, impala, warthogs, ostrich and such. It was such a great day of wandering by foot among these animals. We spent another day bicycling to the animal corridor (where animals go from the national park to the lake). The mix of busy road, dusty bumpy road, and then scenic paved road really gave us a feel for the Kenya road life. Our stops by a grassy fishermans launch spot and at a hillside farmhouse were equally representative. 

And I would write so much more about all of it but really somehow my mind has become captivated by a more ecological part of the lake. For the past 10 years Lake Naivasha has been growing. Significantly. Along the shore are rows of dead submerged trees where there once was no water. A whole town has been flooded, greenhouses have been flooded, and the many nature conservancies are shrinking. As the lake is endorheic (no water flowing out), naturally most people will blame global warming for the increase in lake size. This could make sense as there is more rainfall and the lake has no outlet. But this is a simplified understanding. Our driver let us know that the lake was increasing in size as water was entering the lake from below. A guide I spoke to gave me a more complicated explanation involving lake drainage via an under lake crack, tectonic shifts causing the cracks to seal and thus making the lake finally truly endorheic. Add in the increased rain to the lack of drainage and bam you get a bigger and bigger lake. Some think this is an issue that will self resolve. The lake grows and then the lake shrinks. And in fact the lake has shrunk so much in the past that it was a sad two meters deep. Others are doomsday about global warming and feel the lake will continue to grow. Still, once upon a time the Great rift valley was full of water. Perhaps with tectonic shifts, unrelated to global warming, there will be a return to that. The other Kenyan lakes in the Great Rift Valley are also growing in a similar manner. As people and animals shift their lives away from the water's edge, everyone is left unsettled by the mystery. 

Crescent Island

The focused child

Looking good with zebras

Game time!

The explorers 

The best kind of entertainment

Levana sang to me much of the bicycle ride

Imagine living at this farm house!

Grocery shopping (photo courtesy of Maria)

Jambo Kenya

 Africa is a huge continent with 54 countries in it and accounts for 20% of Earth's landmass. There is a lot of adventure to be had in Africa but so far we have not partaken in any of it. So, when we were granted the opportunity to travel to Kenya with a friend and get to know a small part of the continent, we were all keen. Our first few days were full of new discoveries - baboons filling the role of racoons, baobab and acacia in place of pines, ugali and chapati in place of bread and rice. We spent our first few days on the masaai plains south of Nairobi National Park. It was a quiet area that overlooked Nairobi National Park that felt remote as it it was isolated between the park and grazing land. Still, in the horizon the big buildings of Nairobi were always visible, making the landscape a nice tableau. We visited giraffes, went to a cultural show, walked to a glassworks, ate large breakfasts, watched a local version of the Lion King play, and generally had a nice time getting to know a new place and vibe. 

Kenya life (photo courtesy of Maria)

National park border life

Such nice scenic dirt roads to walk along

The path to the glassworks

Looking good with glass

Visiting a sacred tree

The explorers (photo courtesy of Maria)

The perfect travel buddy

Feeding giraffe

Giraffe centre life

Her face after meeting the hyena actors in the bathroom (pretend and real life blur)

To be a child