Joseph Technicolor or Joseph the Dictator

We continue to have beautiful weather and wonderful weekends here. Friday we went to dinner with several of the Moi Medical students Joe had become friends with on his prior visit to Eldoret. We did a lot of laughing, and loved the description of Kenyan marriage rituals. According to our friends, the practice of the groom paying a dowry, is very prevalent, the more educated the woman, the higher the price, up to a million Kenyan shillings in some tribes ($13,000)! Joe was chastised for the amount of fish parts (bones, meat, facial parts) he left on his plate.



Saturday we took off to Kerio View, a restaurant and inn near to Eldoret with spectacular panoramic views of the Rift Valley. We hiked down from the viewpoint towards the valley, weaving through small farms, and encountering plenty of friendly children. One such meeting involved kids sledding on scrap plastic down a hill. One kid (repeatedly!) crashed directly into some brush.



The children were also amused by our whiteness, and some took a liking to Joe's name, calling him either Joe the Dictator or Joseph Technicolor. Sometimes they would walk with us, repeating English phrases like "How are you?" or smiling and saying "Wazungu!" (foreigner).


In the picture below, the sledding boys had started alternating between rapping for us and speaking in frog voices.

Our guide, Koech, standing in the background, seemed to know many of the people on the walk. He also did what was a pretty burly downhill portion of the hike in flimsy sandals more aptly than Joe or I.

The hike took us past his home, and he pointed out his sheep and cows.


Kerio View is also known as a wonderful place for paragliding. These kids had created their own small versions of plastic bags and twigs that worked really well!


We had a delicious dinner, and even had Kenyan tea and dessert. The food here has been really good. Tea and coffee are of the most flavorful I've ever tasted. (And the milk is in triangle cartons!) We've had a plethora of fresh fruit, including mangos, papayas, bananas, and oranges. We woke up Sunday for the Sunrise over the Rift Valley, and it was spectacular.


You can see Mt. Kenya in the background here.


And just a couple more closer to sunset (we're moving backwards in time).




Lala Salama. Tutafanya kazi kesho asabuhi.