Chelsey, Chelsey!

I hear it called from homes I walk by, on the street, in shops, and all around the school. They remember me and in fact have been waiting for me and within the first hour I found myself sitting on the coach in Dorothy's home as a trail winding out the door of familiar faces lining up to shake my hand and greet me. I am home amongst old family and friends and students now and it feels good. Yet I forgot, after being around people my age, having access to water, often hot water, and internet, being able to walk to a supermarket or go to a bar, I forgot for a moment the struggle of rural village life.

Back and the Reason Why.

Back. Back to the country I stepped foot in for the first time in 2008 - four years ago I seemed to be a different person in some ways, I was young, barely out of my teens, having never traveled to a third world country before, much less traveled, I was naive and more innocent than now, I was nervous and often scared of getting lost or making a mistake, I was somewhat unsure and not as confident as I had hoped to be, definitely not as independent as I am now. Kenya would give me illnesses and hospital stays, a bout of Malaria and Salmonella that would forever weaken my immune system. This country would make me miss home, would make me cry at night out of pure frustration, would depress me and loose me in its busy and dirty streets, it would steal from me and deceive and cheat me, it would confuse me with its languages and cultures I didn't understand, as a minority for the first time, it would give me my first taste of racism and force me to face the uncomfortableness of my skin color and its infinite judgements, in this country I would see real poverty and disease and in a rural village I would live amongst it and in a busy capital city I would walk through it.

But here I am, again, four years later and for the third time, back. Back because I can't stay away, this place showed me a piece of hell but is where I found my personal heaven. In Kenya's multiple gifts, while many included struggle, there was growth. I am more intelligent, my mind is more open and my perspective is greater. I am not afraid and I am not nervous. With each visit I find I am more independent and confident, more wise and sure, of myself and of the fact that this is where not only I want to be in this moment but also perhaps where I am meant to be.

On the plane from Dar Es Salaam to Kisumu, still a little upset about my stolen camera, I read a quote in a magazine, "Experiencing such a spectrum of powerful feelings in a short period is rather overwhelming and almost exhausting. However, after having some time to ruminate and digest it a little, I have come to the conclusion that this is exactly what life is about, at least for me. Imagine waking everyday knowing that today there will be no peaks or troughs, just one even matrix. There was a time where that was preferable, but now I prefer to give myself over to the "sharper teeth of existence"...there would be nothing worse than being gummed to death by life, may you experience the sharper teeth of existence and revel in being alive."

The Africa I have seen, and since Africa is a mighty continent, not one place or one country,but a mass of many countries, people, languages, and cultures, but of the small sampling I have had the privilege of winding through, I have felt alive, I have met incredible in your face genuine endearing kindness, I have laughed hard and smiled big, have welcomed and I mean over the top - live in my home, play with my children, eat my food, let me give you all I can welcomness, I have been amongst people with very little "things" but extreme happiness all the same, I have been embraced, loved, protected, and cared for and been told on infinite occasions, often by strangers on the street, "you are welcome, feel free, be free, and this is your home."

I am drawn to this place like a mosquito to light because of, perhaps, its beauty in nature, while here I've seen wonders of the world, climbed mountains and heard Victoria Falls before I saw it, not to mention the sunsets over the oceans, the red dunes we slept below in the deserts we camped in. Or maybe it is the wildlife, the elephant I rode or the dolphins I swam with, the whales off the coast of South Africa, the big game on the sides of the road in Botswana or the hippos we heard while swimming in the Zambezi or the elephant saw cross. Or maybe it is the activities that fill our days, snorkeling among hundreds of tropical fish in Lake Malawi, the safaris and hiking up and down gorges and dunes and mountains and red clay hills, or the swimming and rafting down the world's most powerful river, the bungee jumping. Also, I can't forget the food, the dishes that remind your tastebuds they are alive, the fresh mangoes alongside beaches, picked for us by smiling locals, the bananas sold to us off the tops of women's heads through our bus windows, the lobster, octopus, and squid dishes sold for mere dollars by local fishermen on the street and seasoned with limes and lemons, the of course the meals cooked in homes by friends that became a little bit of family. But I know the real reason, the truth to why I am back and why I can't stay away, the true attraction and addiction of this travel is not the sights, the animals, the activities, or the food, it is the people. The humans who show humanity and remind me the world is my home.

Sand, Sun, and Dolphins!

After a challenging time making it from the border of Malawi into Tanzania, we were happy to be in the bustling city of Dar Es Salaam. Once again, I found myself in East Africa on the eve of presidential elections, so Makayne and I, after being in buses, vans, and taxis pushed to twice the capacity for the past 72hours were strategic in choosing a place to sleep with a hot shower and a TV to watch who would become our new president, a world away. We had tears running down our face the next morning as we watched Obama give his speech as we sat eating our breakfast, amongst a table of Africans equally excited as us, so much so that they insisted on pictures for us to remember the day.

I was proud of how far we had come in our travel confidence and myself in my Swahili when Makayne and I then figured out the bus system and found ourselves downtown, we then, of course made a friend named George, who is a local art student, running a non profit teaching street kids performance art. George took us on a grand tour with the finale being the fish market where my tastebuds rejoiced at the once familiar taste of fresh octopus. After stopping at a clothes market where we refreshed some of our wardrobe with a few new shirts and skirts for the equivalent of $3, we were back in our rooms, preparing for the Ferry ride to the island of Zanzibar the next morning.

Zanzibar is an ancient trading port, an island not far from the coast of Tanzania, in the Indian ocean, rich with history, culture, and food - ranging from every spice you can think of to every item of seafood. With the Indian influence, this makes for food heaven and was also yet another country where I would gain a pound or two! Our first night, as I am winding my way around ancient mazes of narrow passage ways made entirely of stone, so narrow, no cars can navigate the streets, my nose is busy smelling the fish and breads cooking inside the open doors of the houses we pass and my ears hear the call to prayer and Muslim school children reading the Quaran. I am excited to be on this island. When a young rasta guy asks if we need directions, he jokes with me when I tell him I think I remember where I am going and thus is the start of a weeklong friendship. Kiba is an artist around my age who came to the island from the mainland at a young age but his talent is so great he has been invited all over the world to teach his art and sells his work across the island. Kiba had just spent three months in Japan and his quick smile and contagious laugh led us to hanging out with him and his friends the whole night. When we told them of our plans to head to the east coast of the island and spend three days lounging on the white sand, he helped set us up with a ride, and the next day met us and took us out to a beach party, unfortunately, this was the time I started to get really sick, so I took it easy while he showed Makayne, along with two Swedish girls, around. For lunch each day, he would invite us into his friend's homes and cook, along with his other friend, Seif, us huge meals of rice, mango, tomatoes, and fish. After a few days on this tropical beach, we decided to try our luck further south where we heard we could swim with dolphins. Of course, as our luck would have it, Kiba and Seif had a friend with a beach house who also had a boat, who just happened to run a snorkeling and dolphin swimming company.

In meeting and hanging out with locals, we get a behind the scenes look at everything and when you are with locals, you also get to eat, travel, and stay where the locals do which means you spend a fraction of what you would as a typical tourist. So, we make it to the beach house where we are told we can pay whatever we would like, we are told to sit down for dinner, and Omar, the friend and owner of the house begins to cook us a meal, which would not be our first, for he would cook us every meal for the four days we would stay with him, while Seif and Kiba assisted with building the open fire our meals would be prepared over. Fresh fish everyday with spices and fruits - waking up beside the beach, we didn't think it would get any better until it came time to swim with the dolphins.

Seeing advertisements to swim with dolphins for around $45-50 each, Makayne and I had a whole day to ourselves with these creatures for half the price. Not knowing what to expect, I was completely overwhelmed by the amazingness of the experience. Within 15minutes from shore, our boat was surrounded by fins, and while I counted several, I had no idea that beneath the water, there were dozens more. So while the boat comes to a slowdown, we are sitting over the side with our snorkels and fins and we are told to "jump in now and swim, look down, now, jump in!" Beside me, below me, above me, every where I look, I see these huge magnificent and beautiful creatures, I am totally freaked out, kind of scared, but in awe, I swim with them, I reach out to them, I look down at them under water and lift my snorkel up to look at them above the water jumping and swimming. We do this for the next couple of hours and then again the next day because we are just laying around and Omar has free time.

We head back for Stone Town, away from the beaches but needing to be on our way to catch all of the school kids in Kisumu before they all leave for Christmas break. So, after one last night on the town with our friends, where unfortunately my wallet is stolen, I am forced to remind myself that I am fine, it was just a camera, and I am lucky to even be in a position to have owned it and to be traveling right now. When I watch the news here, I see people dying, people blowing each other up, people with no money and no hope, then I feel embarrassed for being so upset. I honestly hope whoever took it benefits somehow because I will always have those memories in my head, I already bought a new phone, and when I go home, I can afford a new camera. I stand by the fact that I have only met good people here and most people are good people.

With another once in a lifetime experience in my pocket and more reminders to be thankful, we are on our way to where this continent first grabbed my heart, and luckily, we are spoiling ourselves, because we are in a hurry, rather than a three day bus ride, we are flying into Kisumu. When we get to the airport, we can't remember our flight number, we had almost missed our ferry, we have two layovers and a delayed flight,but within less than a day, we are taking a taxi from the airport and I am talking to the driver in Luo and Swahili and he knows the school I worked at and we are in a hotel for the night in downtown Kisumu, less than an hour away from my former home, my old village, my Kenyan family that is anxiously awaiting my arrival, if I weren't so exhausted,I doubt I could have slept.

T.I.A=This is Africa - journey out of

Looking back on the last 72 hours of chicken busses, buses, taxis, and cars, I guess I can only laugh at the bad luck and focus on the good. It took us about three days to travel from Malawi's Nkhata Bay to the capital of Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam and it entailed a total rollercoaster of really bad luck, followed by really good luck in our never ending journey overland. I only have about 4 minutes online here so I will give a very brief overview and save the details (which there are some good ones) for another time.

Ran with backpack to border post in the dark after sharing a long bus ride out of Malawi with chickens, children, cabbage, etc, it was closed, immigration man opened it up specially for us, ran out of money for visa fee, immigration man's friend sold us money on black market in back of customs office in the dark, taxi tried ripping us off, immigration man called friend to give us lift, bank was closed/atm not working in the morning, couldn't pay for bus into Tanzania, stayed one night for $2, got bus, bought ticket for second bus, second bus didn't exist - totally ripped off, yelled at people who sold us ticket, they found a random car going our direction - instead of 20hr bus ride=7 hour private car, car ran out of gas, no fuel existing in gas stations, found bus, made it here!!!! lol TIA = this is africa.

Happy in Dar, going to island of Zanzibar tomorrow. Off to market to find some cheap new/used clothes now, then back to lodge to watch CNN and hopefully see the election news!