Wow - Extremes of Cold and Hot!!

Jambo (hello in Swahili) everyone!

Aberdare National Park, Kenya

We spent 3 days in Aberdare National Park in Kenya. We had to bring in our own food, and at first we were disappointed that there was no fridge in the place. We only had to wait another hour for the day to pass a little , to realize that our cabin WAS the fridge! I never thought that somewhere on the equator could be so cold - it's just not something you think of when you think of equatorial regions! I'm not sure what the temperature was, but we wore all the clothing we brought, including wool socks, sweatshirts and long pants, and layers. I even used a blanket to make a hat to keep my head warm. It was bizarre to think that our little house was sitting at over 10,000 feet, and we weren't even near the top of the mountain! That's like hanging out at the top of Heavenly or Kirkwood! Luckily, we had been told to bring firewood, and so when it got dark and they gave us the kerosene lamps (yep - no electricity), we started a fire and kept it going as long as we could each night. The other thing that was a unique experience for us, was that when we wanted hot water to take a shower, the caretaker stuck some wood in a pipe outside, lit it on fire, and it literally heated the water in the pipe until it was boiling hot (for a short time). That was a first for us to have someone literally make a fire in an outside pipe to heat the water! We saw a huge bull elephant just beyond our cabin, with tusks almost down to the ground. We took a 7 km hike to a pretty waterfall and cave. We saw all kinds of antelope, some buffalo, baboons, a hyena and many warthogs. It was very relaxing and quiet and natural and COLD. We were happy to head back to Nairobi after the second night though. We even got a nice view of the Rift Valley on our way back to the city. No one was fighting in case you've been watching CNN! And neither Nairobi nor Mombasa has been burnt to the ground! FYI.

Mombasa, Kenya

And, for the other extreme...Mombasa! We are in Mombasa right now and will be here until Monday morning. Ahhh... So, yes, we are very very happy here. We swam in the Indian Ocean for the first time yesterday! It is as warm as the Gulf of Mexico in the summer for those of you who have been to the west coast of Florida. Ahhh... We arrived yesterday from Nairobi, and landed at an absolutely beautiful hotel. Landscaping, beautiful pool (also the same lovely temperature as the ocean), food and french fries and drinks brought to you poolside, a gym, spa services, internet, walk straight onto the white-sand beach, you name it. They've got it. Our apartment has a kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a balcony, A/C, TV. The works. And it's 88 degrees, sunny, a warm breeze, the total opposite of our few days in the mountains.

We got here and immediately headed down to the pool! Surprise, surprise. We swam, sunbathed, swam up to the pool bar, got drinks, and yes, the lap of luxury, got them to deliver french fries to our lounge chairs. Have we mentioned that WE LOVE delivery french fries? Especially to our lounge chairs by the pool. =) We walked out to the beach and floated in the warm water. Ahh...happiness is.

Our hosts had a lovely surprise for us last night (sneaky!). We had gone grocery shopping when we arrived so that we could cook our meals instead of buying them, but when we only bought two dinners' worth of ingredients, Sally and Sophie just said that we would go out to dinner one night, in an offhand way. OK, sounds good. Last night, I was heading to the gym to have a workout in the evening and our friend Janis called me from the balcony and said we had to leave at 6 for dinner. OK. We hopped into a taxi and ended up on this deck overlooking the Indian Ocean and the sunset. Beautiful! Then, they said our dinner would be picking us up, and we got onto a beautiful wooden old-style sailboat weighing 80 tons! We then drifted out onto the Indian Ocean to enjoy the sunset and our welcome cocktails (like a Mojito but with vodka). We then proceeded to have a yummy 4-course meal. Mmmm... Jeremy, Natalie and I all had grilled lobster with melted butter as our entree. Yum. There was a live band and dancing after dinner. All in all, it was 4 1/2 hours of yummy food and floating along in the warm breezes of the Indian Ocean. We are quite happy here. And for the next two days, have nothing to do but sit by the pool, swim in the ocean, walk on the beach, and enjoy. Not too shabby!

Monday morning early, we fly back to Nairobi (a 40 minute flight) and Tuesday we continue on our journeys to 10 days in Zanzibar. Yes, we are happy beach bums in Africa for the next two weeks. Good Times!