To get away from it all...

Today is Day 1 of my experiment in filling in the gaps of my less than exciting surgical days. (But, in case you were wondering, I did 7 cases in 8 hours, NEVER would have happened in the US, trust me…)

Today, I’m going to take you backwards in time, all the way back to Sunday. A mere forty-eight hours ago, what were you doing? I was sitting at a table in the Green Garden Restaurant, meeting some Americans that are here doing work with Beldina and Ben and the MCI. But, while I was talking with them about the public health challenges in Kisumu and the difficulties of international supply and medication donations (clearly, my area of expertise…), my mind was drifting back to my glorious day at the beach.

Yes, that’s right. The beach. In Africa. At first, I was planning on just spending a few hours there, but it was so lovely, I stayed all day. At first, I thought I might need to stay there, if only to give my vertebrae a chance to re-align. I had hired a tuktuk driver to take me, not realizing that the road was unpaved and rocky for the better part of a mile. The road was so unfinished and took me through such a rundown area of Kisumu, I did briefly entertain the thought that Kennedy was taking me to the ends of the earth to do away with me. Luckily, we then passed something familiar had seen on the map, and my faith was restored. My spine may never be restored, but a good massage will take care of that.

The photos don’t do it justice. The water laps at the rocks and grass that line the coast, but not as rhythmic as a tide, choppier and more syncopated. Regular enough to be calming, but not enough to lull you to sleep. A breeze blows from the south, taking the bite out of the afternoon sun.

Kiboko Bay... only 3km from Kisumu City

The resort is a heterogenous mix of people. There are the affluent Indian and German families that are staying there, lounging about the poolside bar, ordering drinks and sodas. Playing in the water with the children of those families are local Kisumu children who come to splash about in the pool. Their mothers or older siblings relax on the grass down by the water, guarding the dusty knapsacks carrying their dry clothes. Then there are the slightly wealthier Kisumu locals, dressed in their Sunday finest, coming to dine at the resort and watch the sunset.

Lying in the grass, looking up at palm trees that reminded me of home, I was drifting off for an afternoon nap when I was snapped out of my reverie by a snuffling sound near my left ear. Half blinded by opening my eyes directly into the sunlight, it took a few seconds for me to see clearly what was approaching. Happily munching its way toward me was a cow. A scrawny, tawny, very much with horns cow. And while those ruminants happen to be rather mild and peaceful creatures in the US, I wasn’t exactly sure what the African climate had done to its temperament, so I quickly rolled to my right and stood up. I nearly doubled over in laughter at that point, because not only had ten or so cows invaded the little spit of land, one was stuck in the marshy grass at the water’s edge. Perhaps, not so funny to you, but to the see the Kenyan waiter trying to fish it out without getting stuck himself was quite amusing.

That's right. Cows. At the beach.

Because I planned poorly for this excursion, my Nook ran out of power and I was without a bathing suit. Hmmmm. Having spent so long at this point, I was not relinquishing my time at the bay without seeing what was proclaimed to be the best sunset in Kisumu. I gave in to the tourist hustlers at the beach (that had been mildly harassing me all day) for a boat ride on Lake Victoria to see the hippos, though I did successfully whittle down their price from 2500 KSh to 1000 KSh. [But more about that later this week, with lots of pictures]

I was soon back on shore, and my dilemma happened to be this:

1. I have started traveling with minimal Kenyan shillings, of which I had just shelled out 1000, the better to avoid temptation (did I just mention the hippo boats?)
2. The resort only took credit cards for bills over 2000 KSh
3. The only other money I had was US dollars.
4. Last, but not least, my camera was threatening to run out of battery before sunset!

I could not amuse myself with photography, nor with reading, and after the incident with the cows, I was a little afraid of napping.

I decided to have dinner and a drink, and pray that it either came to 2000 Ksh, or that they took USD. As it turned out, they took USD, so all was right with the world.

And, in the end, the sunset was completely worth it, no?

Sunset at Kiboko Bay... It was completely dark about 15 minutes later.