When we last left you we were stuffing our faces with Chef Ken’s delicious food and hunting preying mantises. Saturday we got to experience something that we haven’t done in a while: sleeping in. Except for Peter who was rudely awoken by the roosters at dawn. As you can probably guess, he was overjoyed. Brady, on the other hand, could have a cinderblock dropped on him and he wouldn’t even miss a snore. Chef Ken’s breakfast was a disaster. Just kidding, that defies all laws of the universe. After breakfast, we got in the combi and settled in for a long ride to an orphanage. Peter thought this would be a great opportunity to catch a few z’s, however his lanky-ness proved to be a problem. The head rests were not tall enough to support his neck’s needs. As you can probably guess, he was overjoyed once again. When we arrived at our destination, we were greeted by a singing and dancing crowd of kids. I even saw a tear roll down Brady’s cheek. They then brought us down to their dorms, which were, unsurprisingly, a lot cleaner than ours rooms have ever been. We then went to a large room (we think it might have been a class room because of the chalk board, but we were not sure and we don’t want to mislead our faithful readers). The children sung to us and then introduced themselves. The real star of the show, however, was the drummer, who played on a drum set made out of paint cans, a plastic barrel and tree branches. He worked those drums like Chef Ken works a kitchen. I even saw a tear roll down Brady’s cheek. We then took their picture with a Polaroid camera, played with a cool robot and did a Coke and Mentos experiment. But what the kids absolutely loved were the balloons that were brought out. They went crazier than Leafs fans after game 7 of the first round of the 2013 playoffs (but in a good way). And just in case you forgot, the Bruins erased a 3 goal deficit in the third period and then scored the series clinching goal in overtime. You’re welcome Leafs fans. Anyway once the kids got their balloons, they swarmed Brady and demanded that he blow them up. After a while, Brady told them that if he blew up any more balloons, he’d pass out. They just laughed. Brady passed out. Just kidding, he was fine. After a half hour of balloon blowing, tying and those annoying squeaky noises that nobody likes but the kids found hilarious, we headed out.
**UPDATE: A flying worm just dive bombed my laptop. Yes you read that right, Africa has worms with wings. I, Peter, retaliated appropriately.**
**UPDATE: Another one just dive bombed my face. I think he was avenging his friends death.**
We stopped at the Nakumatt on the way home where Peter was excited to purchase a Sprite. In line, Peter thought it would be a great idea to toss the Sprite in the air multiple times. He later regretted that decision in the combi when the Sprite destroyed his shorts. The rest of the ride home was uneventful, but that didn’t matter because when we got back, the one and only Chef Ken prepared another splendid supper. We then got prepared for the main event of the evening.
**UPDATE: Janelle dealt with our flying friend. Thank you Janelle.**
That evening, the team and their many friends went down to the local bar. This bar is where the team stayed on their very first trip to Kenya. Since then it has been a tradition to go to the bar and mingle with our Kenyan friends. This year, however, was different than any other year and will probably go down in history. This year, we brought Jenga. Yes, Jenga. Fun fact: Jenga means build in Swahili. The game was a hit. For the 3 and a half hours we were there the blocks were in constant use. Some of the standouts include: Paul, whose years of driving the Combi around the treacherous roads of Kenya have results in hands as steady as the analogies in this blog; and Chef Ken who looked unfamiliar without his Chef uniform, but his Jenga skills are on par with his cooking skills. It is safe to say that Jenga is a new favourite among the locals. A warning to the workers at the Wave, Jenga is heading your way.
That night was also very nostalgic for Peter. It brought him back to the early 2000s in PEI when the mushroom cut was his hairstyle of choice. When he ordered a Sprite, he was delighted to discover that it wasn’t in any normal container. This Sprite was special. It came in a glass bottle. Nuff said. Having learned from his previous debacle at the Nakumatt, his shorts remained dry throughout the night.
**UPDATE: A swarm (4) of flying worms has forced us to retreat and move our table to a safer position. It’s not over yet.**
On the way to the bar Libby mentioned that the bathrooms “were less than exciting”. Brady and I felt a tad confused by this because in Canada the bathrooms aren’t exciting to begin with. However, we would soon learn that calling these bathrooms less than exciting is like calling a matatu spacious and comfortable. During the night, after a couple of brewskis, Brady felt the urge to use the men’s room. This may have been the worst mistake that Brady has ever made. After asking Paul to point him in the right direction, he walked into what he thought was a one person bathroom. He noticed that there was no toilet or urinal, light, or door. There was simply a small hole in the ground that the floor was slanted towards. While this was slightly uncomfortable for Brady, he proceeded to use the bathroom. Half way through he noticed that someone walked in the bathroom and was standing behind him. He assumed that this person would realize the bathroom was occupied and wait outside. He didn’t. He proceeded to stand beside Brady and relieved himself onto the floor where Brady was standing. Seeing this, Brady realized the bottom of his shoes were now in need of a thorough cleaning. He finished his business as quickly as possible and left the bathroom, waiting to do up his pants and belt until he was safely in the hallway. Brady returned to the table trying to forget the horrific experience he had just encountered. It didn’t work and he now has a paralyzing fear of bathrooms. And that was Saturday.
Sunday is what Brady and I would like to call leg day. For all the body builders out there you know what we’re saying. It started out at 8:30 when we all piled into the combi after a magnificent breakfast prepared by Chef Ken. We went to church where the kids sang songs while we waited for the priest to arrive, which he didn’t. So we proceed with the next event on our schedule: climb Nthangathi Sacred Rock. Compared to Brookvale, this was Mt. Everest. The way up took about 45 minutes with about 6 breaks along the way. At the top we took lots pictures including a few where Brady and I attempted yoga for the first time. Needless to say, we are naturals. The way down is where things got interesting. The paths were made of loose dirt and leaves which provided little traction. This was apparent to Peter, who’s two year old Asics have seen better days. While most of us were sliding down the hill, trying to survive, Francis who was our leader, somehow maintained a phone call, and calmly walked all the way down. Seeing this, Brady and I were inspired, now seeing first hand that in fact anything is possible. Arriving at the bottom, it felt as if someone put a jackhammer on my quads and didn’t shut it off until that night. Overall it was an unforgettable experience and we won’t have to do leg day until September.
The rest of that day consisted of sleeping, reading and eating samosas. And in Peter’s case, cleaning some sweet battle scars. This week we will be finishing up our project and eating many more of Chef Ken’s scrumptious meals. Stay tuned for the epic conclusion of the adventures of Peter and Brady.