The one with Ultimate Christmas Crosswords

Ultimate

It's time for Nationals. I don't play for Zero anymore--I moved up to the old(er) man division.

We leave tomorrow and play Thursday, Friday and Saturday. See results here (they should be updated after each game), or read about the action at this page.

Masters is definitely different--tonight we had our only team meeting of the year, which was entirely about the logistics of getting more than 400 pounds of Surly beer to Sarasota.

Christmas

Houston, we have a problem. I have no idea what it is, but The Christmas Cottage has been delayed until 2008.

Actually, I assume the problem is just that the movie sucks.

Crosswords

I'm okay, getting better, at doing crossword puzzles, or at least the New York Times'. (Different puzzles have different styles, conventions, etc. Once you do them for a while, you even get to know something about the different constructors...I'm not there yet.)

But I'm slow. I recently solved a Saturday in about 40 minutes (they get harder throughout the week, and Saturdays are the hardest) , probably the fastest I've ever done. If I finish one of these in less than an hour I think I've done well. Fast solvers are in a whole nother world; for example, the fellow Carleton grad who's one of the best there is did it in under 6 minutes, faster than I can do even the easy Monday puzzles.

I am trying to improve at least a bit, and I've started following some bloggers (Carleton woman, a slightly more mortal SUNY English Prof) who write about each day's puzzles.

Note that I generally enjoy the puzzles a bunch, but if you read this on Wednesday, October 24 (or December 5 if you do the syndicated puzzle) I hope I haven't inspired you to try it out. Today's was dumb, unless you're the type who happens to remember that the Latin term for 'the die is cast' is ALEA IACTA EST. Trust me, that's not normal.

Go Surly,
sg

The one where omigodimsoexcited

The Steelers were just like Homer said. But at least I got to watch it among fellow fans.

Headed to Tulsa this weekend for regionals. It would take some work for us to not win. Thankfully, they've backed off the original forecast--now it looks like it might only be in the low-to-mid 80s instead of the 90 they originally called for. And, not sure if this fits CY's schedule, but we should be done in time to catch the game at Cowboy Sharkies.

I'll be in Sarasota for Nationals at the end of October, Philly for a bar mitzvah the next week, and home for the holiday, which in my family means Thanksgiving.

Finally, and here's what's so exciting, this year's presumptive Best Picture comes out November 30. Anyone want to see The Christmas Cottage with me opening night?

bask in the light,
sg

The one where it be September 19th

Ahoy, mateys! It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

My Pirate Name Is...

Privateer Mad Tongue

What's Your Pirate Name?

Since we last talked, I bought a car. Her name is Roberta, but you can call her Bobbi. And I've done...not much else. Hopefully I'll have a resume soon, because I probably need to unretire at some point.

But I'm not feeling overly ambitious yet, so give me a call if ye wanna hang out.

yarr,
sg

The one where I should date more beauty queens

My trip probably gave me a better sense for the geography of the world than the average American. Here, as pointed out by a Freakonomist, is an average American.




Anyway, I've made at least a little bit of progress.

• I helped Dave make a turducken (chicken in a duck in a turkey) and a turcordon bleu (ham and cheese in a Cornish game hen in a turkey).
• I met Peter. He looks like his brother.
• I ran 60s and 90s. (This week is 50-50-60-60-70-70-80-80-90-90-100-100, rest, 100-100-90-90-80-80-70-70-60-60-50-50.)
• I've done some car research...maybe a '94 Plymouth Colt wagon!
• I'm probably gonna to buy a laptop tomorrow so I'll be able to do work without being stranded sitting on my floor in the corner, which will hopefully motivate me to do more work.
• I'm gonna devote 2 hours a day to stuff around the house.
• I'm gonna start yet another new blog. It'll be just for me for a couple of weeks. Then, if I'm happy with where it's going, I'll open 'er up. Tentative name is Math in the Media, but that's the name of an existing column so I might have to think of a better one.
• I made my first Tom Yum Gai. It was okay, and will be better next time.

chao,
sg

The one where I am like Costello

I'm a b-a-a-a-d boy. And, like Chuck Berry and MC5, I'm back in the USA.

Hey, I'm home! I just neglected to tell you that...

I'll write lots more about the trip (and more) in the near future. In the meantime, in no particular order (well, a particular order, just not the one in which I'll do the stuff), here's some of the stuff on my to-do list:

• buy a car
• buy a mounting bracket for my bike lock
• calculate some travel statistics
• create a map of the places I've been
• decide how to support myself
• emails to people I knew before
• emails to people I met
• frame some pictures and posters
• gather the stuff people brought home from Australia for me
• get a cat
• get Colleen to make me dinnerware
• get estimates for a new bathroom
• give loads of stuff to Goodwill
• have a Welcome Home/Housewarming party
• help Dave and Charlie make a turducken
• learn to make tom yum, dolamades and more
• meet Allison Joy, Bart, Bella, Echo, Henry, Kristina Jr, Leo, Peter
• name my last ~500 pictures
• play for Surly
• replace the pot I ruined
• run a 60-90-60-90-60-90-60-90-60-90-60-90-60-90-60-90-60-90-60-90
• spend more time with 3 Ys
• tell you why you should never fly Olympic Airlines
• track down the $840 Olympic Airlines owes me
• work on my house
• write a resume
• write about Athens, Istanbul, Meteora, New York, Santorini

Sorry about the lack of entries, and thanks to those of you who prodded me to get moving. I'll keep working on this stuff, and if you wanna help, or want my help, or just wanna say hi, give me a call. We can hang out--I'm pretty much free any time!

ta,
sg

The one with the weirdest dream yet

No reason to think it's from the medication, but I had another weird dream.

28 July 2007, 3:30 am, Perissa, Santorini, Greece
The Dream:

I'm driving along on my way up nort dere. When I get to Analfi, MN, I see a series of signs along the road commemorating the highest scorer each year on AHSME, the American High School Mathematics Examination.

One sign has a bunch of flags around it. I stop to check it out--it turns out that this was the guy that set the state record, and I'm surprised to find that I know him. It's Virgil Amundsen, my friend Christine's dad.

As I'm looking at the sign Virgil walks over and says hi. He's old, and he's wearing an eye patch.

He shows me some recent press clippings from some newspaper in Pennsylvania, I didn't catch its name, that just did a story about his accomplishment. The article also mentioned that the other person on the math team the same years as Virgil was Nelson Muntz, who barely qualified but of course went on to become a famous comedian.

I wake up.

Some notes: Christine is from North Carolina, and I'm fairly sure her maiden name wasn't Amundsen--her parents are Korean. I don't actually know anyone named Virgil or Amundsen. I don't think there is an Analfi, MN, and if there is I've never been there. Nelson Muntz is a character on The Simpsons who once said "That's like asking the square root of a million. No one will ever know." And, in case you didn't know it, I was myself a high school mathlete.

Snu, you never got around to analyzing my other dreams, but feel free to have a go at this.
sg

The one where I leave in one week

Greetings from Santorini!

Since we last talked I've visited Alexandropolis, Istanbul, and the monasteries of Meteora. All of which I'll tell you about...later.

It's been really hot--CNN reported that Athens hit 107 the other day, while other parts of the region have been even hotter.

So I mostly stayed in my room, which had air conditioning, for a coupla days when I first got here. Now it's cooler, so I've been able to get some beach time in. Today I moved to a (much cheaper) campground, and tomorrow I'm gonna rent a car or an ATV and spend another couple of days exploring the island. (I wanted to get a scooter but I've never ridden one before, I have skin, and I'd like to keep it.)

Then, Tuesday I'll catch a ferry back to Athens. Wednesday and Thursday I'll finish up my tourist stuff, and I leave for the airport at 5am Friday morning. Let me know if you want anything (small) from Athens!

I was thinking of having a get together at some New York bar next Saturday, but I think the only people I know in New York right now are Andrea and Snu. But the G parents will be in town, so let me know if you'll be around and wanna hang out.


Okay, off to dinner. I'm gonna try rabbit for the first time.

αντίο,
sg

The one where I'm in Ελλάδα

I was in Αθήνα
I spent a couple of days in Athens, wandering around some of the historic sites, eating gyros, and practicing my reading skills on every sign I saw.

Overall, Athens is beautiful. Every time you turn a corner you hit some other ancient ruin or something. And from all over the city you can see the Acropolis (a collection of temples and such, including the Parthenon, atop a hill--acropolis means "high city"). And the taller hill in town, Mt. Lycabettus. And from the Acropolis or Lycabettus you can see the surrounding mountains and islands--I always forget, or never knew, that Athens is right on the sea.

At night, they light up all the historic sites. Very pretty.

I saw the Parthenon!


Oh, sorry, that's the replica in Nashville. What I really saw was a whole mess of people and construction.


The historic sites, especially the Acropolis, were extremely crowded. And everything is under construction--the old stuff is still okay, but the repairs they made in the 1920s (or even 1990's) all need re-repair.

I also saw a Putzmeister.

I also saw the changing of the guard. (Hey, I took movies of that, too, which you can watch at my new video site!) When they've changed, they wander off down the street. Not sure how they do it in England, but I always pictured them just walking inside or something.

I am in Θεσσαλονίκη
Thessaloniki is second largest Greek city and the main center of Macedonia. It's also called Salonica, as in Gardens of.

Took the train to get here. Decided to take the overnight train so that I could avoid a night in a hotel and have all day Saturday if necessary to find a place to stay here. Turns out, I didn't have a seat. Spent some time in a virtual cattle car. Saw Greece on fire. Standing all night wasn't really an option, so I eventually made my way with some Spanish students to a car where there was some room on the side to lay down in the aisle. Right under the air conditioner...brr.

I'm Jewish (and a Sethicist!), but I don't get so excited about Jew Tours. The Jews of Central Australia or such just doesn't interest me. But, and I didn't know this until I got here, Thessaloniki has a fascinating Jewish history--apparently, this used to be Hymietown.

I went to the the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. Some facts:

• In 1492, 60 years after it was conquered by the Turks, the total population was 11,000. When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, 15-20,000 moved here.
• By the 1870s there were 70,000 Jews in town, half the population
• In August, 1917 a fire wiped out much of the city. 31 synagogues were destroyed and 54,000 Jews were left homeless
• There were 50,000 left in 1940. The Axis powers occupied the city in 1941.
• From March-August '43, 19 train "shipments" carried most of the Jewish population to Auschwitz/Birkenau. Over 95% of the Jews of Thessaloniki were killed.
• Today, there are about 1000 Jews here (out of a total population of 800,000)
  

Also, I think every American Jew in Greece was at the museum while I was there.

Language
My reading is getting better. I still wind up having to sound out a lot of words, but I'm getting quicker.

Basically, Β is 'v', Γ is 'g' or 'y', Δ is 'd', Η is 'ee', Θ is 'th', Ι is 'ee' or 'y', Λ is 'l', Ξ is 'x', Π is 'p', Ρ is 'r', Σ is 's', Υ is ü, Φ is 'f', Χ is 'ch', Ψ is 'ps', Ω is 'o', MΠ can be 'b', TZ serves as a 'j' in foreign words and names, and the rest are pretty much the same. And of course some letters look a bit different in lowercase than in the block printing on street signs, where A is α, Γ is γ, Δ is δ, Z is ζ, H is η, Λ is λ, M is μ, N is ν, Ξ is ξ, Σ is σ or ς, Υ is υ and Ω is ω. This should all be familiar to you if you studied math or science or went to a school with fraternities.

Tennis
I went to T.G.I. Friday's to watch the Wimbledon finals. It was the only place I could find a tv. I have _not_ been to the Applebee's or Ruby Tuesdays that are just around the corner--it's great to be back in civilization!

I showed up to see that Venus, who I was expecting, was playing someone named Bartoli. She looks awkward, but gets great depth and placement, especially with her backhand. I haven't seen enough of her game to judge, maybe, but it seemed like she should be more active in approaching, especially with the deep up-the-lines. I'd never heard of her before...wonder if we'll see her for the next ten years or never again...?

Overall, not too exciting. Especially the maybe the 15 minute break where they both got medical treatments.

The men's matchup was what I expected. My overall impression: Roger Federer is a god, and I'm not sure Rafael Nadal is mortal either. They're so quick, and move so well, and get great placement and pace and hit such impossible angles. Federer's serve is more dangerous, and that helps him most here. But the rest Nadal's

Best Wimbledon quote:
"I saw Pierce Brosnan in the crowd, one of my favourite actors. I said to myself, it's not possible I play so bad in front of him. Because he watch me and I play so bad, it was unbelievable. So I try to feel it a bit more the ball, play more smartly. I saw he was cheering for me. I kept going and I won, so maybe a little bit for Pierce Brosnan. I was focusing on Pierce Brosnan because he is so beautiful."
-Marion Bartoli (the 18 seed), on her comeback to win the semis over the Justine Henin (the 1 seed) after losing the first set 6-1.

Best tennis quote ever:
"Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis seventeen times in a row"
-Vitas Gerulaitis, on beating Jimmy Connors after he'd lost their previous sixteen matches

What else to do in Greece
I showed up in Auckland at the end of November with a ticket out of Christchurch a month later and no other plans. I went to the tourism office the first day and they were super helpful--the woman basically sat down with me and we mapped out a month's itinerary.

I went to the tourism office in Athens. I said "I will be here for one month. Where should I go?" and the guy got mad at me for asking such an idiotic question. How should I know where you should go? It's a big country. How could you ask my favourite place? I like them all. Here, here's a stack of brochures. Go away!

There's too many islands to see them all, or even each island group, but I know I want to spend at least a little island time. And not sure where to go on the mainland, either. But I found a postcard stand today that had a bunch of cards of places that looked nice, so I bought cards for where I want to go, and I'll plan my trip around those.

Hey, it's no more random than why I came to Greece in the first place. Have I mentioned that? I was on the phone with the travel agent, giving him my itinerary. I was eating hummus, and thought "I wish I had some olives right now". So, while he was pricing stuff anyway I asked what it would cost to add a stop in Greece. He said the flights would be $100 more, I said "yeah, let's add a month there at the end."

Okay, it's really late, I'm off to bed.

ta,
σγ

The one where I'm in Greece

I'm in Greece.

No flight problems other than the fact that I didn't get here until 23 hours after I left there.

I've eaten gyros and some hummus, but no olives yet.

ta,
sg

The one with piscine crania

I have a coupla random things for you. And in my mind, and I'm pretty sure nowhere else, they're both related to Fish Heads, a wonderful novelty song from my (and Erin's) youth.



They can't play baseball
But maybe they can play cards. Paige and I have invented a wonderful game: FishWar! And it's certainly roly and poly.

You start out by playing Go Fish. Each time you successfully get a pair you add the cards to your pile. Then, once you've worked your way through the deck you use your piles as your starting hands for a game of War.

The strategy elements (having a pair of aces is good, having a bunch of 2s, 3s, 4s and such doesn't do anything for you) add a fascinating layer of complexity to your game of Go Fish and truly invest you in the outcome of your game of War.

You scoff only because you haven't tried it.

We're working on a drinking game version and will let you know when it's complete; for the basic version, patents are pending.

They don't wear sweaters.
But you know who does? Evo Morales, el presidente of Bolivia. We were sitting around the lunch table today and I opened a copy of The Economist to a picture of EM. He was just wearing a shirt, but I told Phil and Paige about seeing a recent press conference of his.

FIFA, the world soccer governing body, had decided that international matches could no longer be played at altitudes over 2500 meters. La Paz, Bolivia is at 3600 meters, and soccer's hugely important throughout South America, so it was a big issue. They called a special cabinet meeting, and at the ensuing press conference his cabinet ministers, wearing suits, lined up behind Morales, who was wearing jeans and this ugly sweater.

I described his sweater as something I wore in 1988 or so. And I'm not now, and certainly wasn't then, known for my fashion sense.

Turns out, he really likes the sweater. And I'm not the first to notice--I started laughing so hard I had trouble breathing when I saw that the BBC website had a slide show of him wearing it on normally formal occasions.

I've gotta tell Bad Sweater Guy about this...

Okay, tomorrow I leave for Greece. And I'll be home in 36 days, so if you have any ideas about what I should do with my life you could maybe let me know?

Eat them up yum,
sg

The one where I commuted with wildlife

I went on a safari.

It's impossibly expensive to go alone; I needed to join a group. So I went to the Tourist Board--there's a bulletin board with lists of partially filled trips that need more people. I called around and wound up choosing a 5 day, 4 night trip. I think I would have taken a 4/3 trip if I'd found one, but I certainly didn't want to come all the way here and not see what I should so I went with longer rather than shorter.

And, unlike Kilimanjaro, I was quite confident that the group existed--I paid $110/day, which is about what you'd pay to rent a car. And, like Kilimanjaro, the park fees eat up much of that cost, so if I'd been alone the company would have surely lost money.

I got paired with Brad from Vancouver. His wife was planning to join, but they're traveling with their 11-month old so they decided that he'd go alone. Our vehicle was a Land Cruiser with removable roof sections. While in the parks, we could stand up to watch (or catch a breeze) while guide Frank drove around. And any time we saw something interesting, we'd pull over to park and watch. Also joining us for the trip was cook Isaac.

Our first morning we headed to Lake Manyara National Park. And, after having done some game walks and drives before, I think the topless Land Cruiser is _totally_ the way to go. (And it helps that the animals in these parks are pretty used to traffic and gawking tourists so lots of them aren't too shy.) About two minutes into the park, we sat and watched a baboon troop from about 20 yards away. Lotsa babies. Pretty awesome.

We went on to see elephants, impalas, Masai giraffes (noticeably different than the ones in Kenya). And two lumps that I'm told were lions.

Then, after lunch, lots more elephants, giraffes, a herd of buffalo, vervet monkeys, dik diks, and more impala.

Camp the first night--we weren't exactly roughing it. They set up my tent for me, and the site had hot showers and a bar/restaurant. We ate Isaac's food on a table set up out back, but still.

The next morning we were joined by the last member of our group, some Swedish guy whose name we never learned. He had all sorts of safari clothing and about $4000 of camera equipment with him (the special bag alone had to cost more than my camera), and much of the rest of our trip became a quest to search for photo opportunities. He was kinda a tool, but one who spent 20 years in the Special Forces (I resisted the strong urge to refer to the Very Special Forces!). We ate breakfast and headed off for the Serengeti, about 6 hours away.

On the way we stop at a Maasai village. The lands they've historically tended are disappearing (or being turned into protected conservation areas) so many Maasai make a living by selling their culture. They ask for $50 per car to come see their village and take pictures, which apparently lots of people actually pay. I know Björn would have paid his share; I just laughed. Brad and I started reading and acting disinterested while Björn negotiated. I spoke up and said I'd pay 5000 shillings, $4. Brad said he'd pay the same, and we wound up settling for 20,000 shillings total, with Björn kicking in $8. In real life the Maasai herd cattle, but this is sort of a demonstration village where they jump up and down and sing songs. Our Maasai guide took us around, showed us a home, tried to sell us jewelry and made us promise not to tell anyone what we'd paid. Oops.

Also, the Maasai wear tire shoes.

We get to Serengeti National Park and do a game drive on our way to the campsite, somewhere inside the park. Now, the park is about the size of Connecticut, so we don't even try to cover the whole thing. Instead, for the rest of the time we, and most of the other groups, drive around an area that seems fairly large but is surely only a small percentage of the park area. You can only drive on the roads (that decently criss-cross the area), no taking off cross-country.

The campsite in the Serengeti was more basic, with pit toilets, no running water, and a bunch of other safari groups.

We did game drives in the Serengeti on our way to the campsite on day 2, in the morning (sunrise - lunch) and evening (3pm - sundown) of day 3, and in the morning of day 4.

There are a couple of places that we can go to try and see certain animals (the hippo pool, a shady area where lions sometimes sleep, etc.) but mostly we just drive around and hope to spot something. We keep a lookout for animals, and for other safari vehicles--when someone sees something particularly interesting word gets around (Frank spent a lot of time on the CB) and everyone descends.

One constant theme was our search for the leopard. One of the classic "Big 5" (along with elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo), we spent way too much time trying to see one. It was like a game of telephone--we'd pull up to a large group (more than 10, we saw as many as 26 vehicles gathered) where someone said that someone had seen a leopard in "that tree over there". We'd spend a half an hour sitting around, seeing nothing, before finally convincing Frank to move elsewhere. Once, after looking through binoculars for about 10 minutes, I was finally able to make out some paws hanging down from a branch in a dense tree about 100 yards away.

We saw a lot of antelope (impalas, gazelles, dik diks). Lots of zebra and lots of wildebeests (aka gnu) and some of the other beests, the harte.

The zebras and wildebeests are buds. Zebras are really smart, and maybe like to hang with the wildebeests because they are dumb as shit--if there's a predator about, odds are it catches a gnu. The wildebeests maybe hang out with zebras because otherwise they'd have no idea when there were predators about. They don't smell, hear or see very well. They tend to follow each other in single file lines when moving, unless one gets spooked, in which case they take off in all directions. We'd frequently come across zebras and gnus in the road--the zebras would get off the road, and the gnus would run down the road away from the truck. Zebras are pretty. Wildebeests are ugly and they grunt incessantly. It was hard to fall asleep in what sounded like a hog farm...

On the morning of day 3 we saw a bunch of lions fairly far off. After watching for a while we realized there was another road that went right by where they were sitting. There were several sitting around, and one male was still working on the wildebeest that the rest had had their fill of. He went on for a while, and was still going when we left. And the birds of prey were gathering, waiting for the scraps... (There are some cool pictures, though vegetarians might want to stay away.) We found another lioness eating nearby, soon after we left the first.

There's no way to tell if the lions had killed it--despite their reputation, lions steal about 2/3 of their meals from other predators. (And hyenas, who have a scavenger reputation, are actually fierce group hunters who kill about 2/3 of their own prey and only steal 1/3.) We never did see the "action" of an actual hunt.

Magnus threatened me at breakfast on day 4--I'm pretty sure he didn't hear Brad and I talking about him and instead misinterpreted something completely innocuous that I'd said. Frank didn't understand what he was talking about either. Frank talked to him, Brad avoided him, I turned on the charm, and the detente lasted the rest of the trip.

After lunch day 4 we headed back to the Ngorogoro Crater, where we stayed at a campsite (hot showers, zebras grazing, but not much else) on the crater rim. It was really cold. And instead of grunting gnus I got to fall asleep to the sound of a zebra chewing grass about 20 yards away.

The crater itself is about 2000 feet deep and covers about 100 square miles. The sides are very steep so for the most part animals don't just pass through. Apparently, almost every type of animal in East Africa can be found in the crater. Except my favorite, giraffes.

We woke up early (~5:45) to get there in time to maybe see some of the normally nocturnal animals. But it was really foggy and we couldn't really see anything. We wound up finding a black kite perched near the road at about 7:45, and it was almost 9 before we saw any animals, a lion from a distance. At 9:30 we finally came across the density Ngorogoro is famous for--a small lake with storks and flamingos and hippos, with zebras and gnus grazing and hyenas hanging about looking for an opportunity.

About an hour later came our most surreal moment--two male lions were walking down the road. We, and a veritable host of others, followed. We jockeyed for position, with one truck speeding ahead and waiting, then hurrying to follow when the lions got there. At times, the lions needed to weave between stopped vehicles to continue on. This lasted for almost 20 minutes. And I think our truck took more than our fair share of viewing opportunities--for quite a while we drove along, right next to one of them, matching his pace.

After some more driving around we stopped to eat our box lunches. They were mostly inedible, just like virtually all the other food we were served. We headed out, and finally, on our way out of the crater, we found a rhino, the last of the Big 5. We left and headed back to Arusha, arriving about 5pm yesterday.

This time, I tipped 10%. Again, I have no idea if that's right. I know that Brad paid $780 for the trip and Leif paid $560 for his 4 days. I "only" paid $550 (which I didn't happen to mention to them...). I gave the cook $20 and the guide $35. Frank had to work much less hard than Rafael (my Kilimanjaro guide) did, the food was terrible, and they were getting tips from 3 of us so I think I'm okay with it.

I have no contact info for Brad or Gunnar, which I'm fine with. I do wish I'd gotten info from the Canadian trio on a trip that largely matched ours--our table was next to theirs at the Manyara campsite, we ran into them quite a bit arriving at and leaving the Serengeti, saw them again in the crater, and I chatted with them for a bit just before we left for Arusha. They're climbing Kili starting tomorrow--good luck, Canadians!

Pictures are up. There's a lot, and the best have been added to my group of favorite shots from my trip so far.

Next for me: Rwanda. God forbid I'd be healthy at any point while in Tanzania--now I hab a cold. So, to avoid 2-3 (or 4 or 5) long days on a bus, which I wouldn't love even if I felt great, I'm gonna fly. I leave Arusha Monday, probably in Rwanda just 'til Wednesday or Thursday, then back to Kampala to say bye. And a week from Monday I'll leave Africa. Next stop: Athens.

Kwa heri,
sg

The one with some random stuff

Hey, just got back from safari. Five days, four nights in Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park and the Ngorogoro Crater. I'll write it all up for you tomorrow, but the highlights: we saw lions eating lunch, saw other lions at _extremely_ close range, giraffes are awesome, wildebeests suck, a Swedish guy threatened to maim me.

Before I left I had dinner with some interns. As promised, here's a shout out to Ting Ting. TTC is in the hizzouse!

For now, I'm back in Arusha 'til probably Saturday, when I'll head west towards Rwanda. I'll soon circle back to Uganda, and July 2 will leave Kampala for Greece.

Where I will stay (with a side trip to Turkey) until Friday, August 3, when I'll head for New York. I think all my NY friends will be out of town, but if not there'll maybe be a small get together on Saturday night. Come see me, and meet the G family! If not, maybe I'll just take my sister out to celebrate her new job.

On Monday, August 6, exactly 9 months after I left, I'll return to Minneapolis.

Where I'll be staying... Some of you seem to have an idea that I'm moving to Boston to study Metabusiness. I dunno, kinda sounds like something someone made up on April Fool's Day.

So if you have any ideas about what I should do when I get back, let me know. Did I mention I'm broke and unemployed?

Okay, more soon.
chao,
sg

The one where I'm piqued

Er...I mean I peaked.


Helen (Allen's second cousin, my new favorite elephant, travel companion and pillow) and I climbed to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro last week. Yeah.

I've got some travelogue for you, some random thoughts, some whatever, but I'll just throw it all in here and let you deal. Grab some popcorn, it's pretty long...

The trip:
I didn't sleep that well the night before we started, and I had some stomach issues. So I didn't eat any breakfast, but the first day should be easy. They picked me up at 8am. We go to the company offices to drop off some of my stuff and pick up stuff they're gonna lend me--a coat, gloves, boots. Tour company woman never asked my size, and they just had two pairs for me to try, but she'd done a decent job estimating and thankfully one of the pairs fit okay.

As we left the guide gave me the day's schedule. I asked when we'd meet up with the other hikers in our group. "It's just you." "But Joanne said there were two others." Blank looks. "Oh, yeah, they cancelled." Or, I'm thinking, maybe "didn't exist". So it's just me, a guide, a cook, and two porters.

It takes 'til about 1pm before we've gotten to the park and everything's organized for us to start. We start out at Marangu gate at 1970m (6500 ft). The first day's walk is only about 8km (5 miles) and takes you up to the Mandara Huts at 2700m (8900 ft), about 3 hours total. A nice easy walk through rain forest. It's just the guide and me--the porters and cook walk separately, and on the first day they even have a road to walk up while we take the "tourist" route.

By the end of the first day, even though it was easy I was tired and sore, especially my left knee and right ankle. And my right elbow, which I'd SMASHED in the shower that morning...

The only book I brought with me was David Copperfield--lotsa pages, small print, I figured I could make it last for several days. At dinner I got about 25 pages in...not so promising. I would read no more over the rest of my trip. Does anyone actually enjoy Dickens?

Dinner was pretty good--cucumber soup and beef and potatoes with a vegetable sauce. I was asleep about 7:30.

Day 2 we walked about 5 more hours up to Horombo Huts at 3700m (12000 ft), and that's when the altitude hit me pretty hard. I had mild Acute Mountain Sickness. Thankfully, even though the 'A' in "Acute" is capitalized the "mild" is more important. I had a headache, no appetite, nausea, and lotsa trouble breathing.

I started taking the pills I'd brought (Acetazolamide) to help with the altitude. I'd have started before we ever started climbing, but some people recommend you don't take them if you don't need to as if you react poorly you're not really near any medical help. In retrospect, what I should have done is taken a couple of doses back while I was in the States to see if I had a problem and started taking them before I climbed anywhere. In any case, I was a bit off kilter for most of the rest of trip, and my contemporaneous notes stopped.

Luckily, my itinerary called for an extra day for acclimatization then. Day 3 I woke up and it still really hurt to breathe, but my headache was better so I had hope. We left around 10am to walk up to Zebra Rocks at 4000m, just an hour and a half or so. Hung out there for I'm not how long--I took a nap--and headed back to Horombo Hut about 1:00.

Day 4 we walked from Horombo up to Kibo Hut at 4700m (15,400 ft). I spent much of my time daydreaming about marrying Julie née Holland's kid sister. I went to college with Julie, and we weren't exactly close--we maybe took a class or two together but I probably haven't seen her or had any contact since graduation, and I have no idea if she has any siblings. Well, guess I'll email her now...

Kibo was, well, cold. The best part: the 7 kids from UNC-Chapel Hill. Philip and six women, all seven of them attractive, came to Tanzania to spend several weeks doing environmental work and then climb Kili. One was named Zina (I'm spelling it like Garrison instead of Warrior Princess but I'm not sure...), the other 5 names, not sure. I heard them but couldn't keep track. Not sure why I liked them so much...

• all were cheerful and bright and bubbly, not just cute
  
• they're maybe who I wish I'd been at that age (if not today)
• Philip is maybe in training to become a Sethicist. And if he's hetero and all the women are in serious relationships with others, he's already there
  

We spent the day resting at Kibo Hut. I had that gawdawful Together Forever song (Rick Astley, from the bus in Nairobi) going through my head all afternoon while trying to sleep and at dinner. A Chapel Hillie suggested Alanis Morissette instead, and I spent much of the evening trying to sleep but instead thinking about the meta-irony of her song about things that suck.

We left Kibo at midnight on Day 5. The walk goes pretty much straight up a hill to Gilman's Point at 5685m (18,650 ft). We stopped twice for water, for less than two minutes each, and got to Gilman's at about 4:15. Our pace totally reminds me of walking my grandmother down the hall at her nursing home when she was in her late 90's. To Gilman's is supposed to take 5 hours, then another 1 1/2 to Uhuru Peak, so we kept going really slowly to get to the peak just before sunrise so we wouldn't have to stand around for too long.

We did, reaching the peak (5895m, 19,340 ft) at 6:15. It was clear. Maybe 5-10°F. We hung out for a bit. Took some pictures of me and Helen at the peak. Then we left.

Ah, Sensei, the master becomes the student. I could see where I was going, and there was no longer any need to go slowly. But Rafael, my guide, has only been on snow the 10-15 times he's brought people to the peak. Hello, I live in Minnesota! I give him my walking poles, told him a few tips, and took off, looking back every once in a while to make sure he wasn't falling too far behind.

We got back to Gilman's Point and take our first real break. We look down: "Hey, that's Kibo." Sure doesn't look like a 4-5 hour walk... The hill was scree so we took our time, stopped to chat once or twice, and maybe two hours later get back to Kibo to take a nap.

After climbing, some people leave equipment behind for their guides and such. I wasn't exactly in position to do that--Rafael had been worried that I'd be too cold so I'd borrowed wind pants from one of my porters. Maybe he would have been right in worse weather, maybe he was even right here. But...they didn't breathe. I took off the wind pants in the hut and found that my long johns, and my (only!) pants, were SOAKED with sweat. Same for both of my long sleeved shirts and my sweatshirt. Yuck, and brr.

I ran into a Chapel Hillie--I think six of the NC7 made it. One of the women got really sick, threw up 4 times at 5300m or some such thing. I felt really bad for her, but she didn't seem too depressed or was covering it pretty well.

We walk down to Horombo. Very slowly--my knee is almost useless by now. My guide kinda wanted to head all the way down to Mandara so it'd be a shorter walk out the next day, but Horombo it was.

We get in about 2:30. I head to sleep. They try to wake me for tea, but I sent them away. I think that's when they sing the Kilimanjaro song to you. Shit, missed it.

I looked for Chapel Hill at dinner but didn't see them so I went to sleep early. Day 6, didn't see them at breakfast, either. We left at about 8:30.

At 8:40 we passed CH--they'd been there after all. Back to Mandara at about 10:45, back to park HQ just before 1pm. They gave me a certificate, a garland, a bottle of champagne and a nice lunch. Then we headed back to Arusha.

Tips:
I've seen recommendations ranging from 10-15% of the trip fees for tips. But I paid $1000 for my trip, and of that

$360 park fees
$250 camping fees
$ 20 rescue fee
$ 3 some fee
= $663 went to the park.

That leaves $367 for salaries for the guide, the cook, and two porters, transportation to and from Arusha (about 80km), food for all of us, equipment rental, champagne, overhead, other expenses...

It wasn't my fault I was alone, but I felt really bad about these guys waiting on me for a week for peanuts. And they haven't worked in a coupla months as it was the rainy season and they had no bookings. And I'd have paid another $100 for my trip without batting an eye. And I didn't have the right mix of change with me as I thought I'd be in a group and had planned to give them less.

So I maybe overtipped. Or maybe I undertipped...who knows what's right but here's what I gave them, which was almost what they'd asked for:

• Albert, a porter, who I'd seen only when Rafael introduced me after bringing up the subject of tipping on day 3 and again on the evening of day 5 when he came to say goodbye and get his money (he had to leave really early on day 6) got $30.
• Elisante, the porter and waiter who brought me water to wash each morning and after each hike, woke me up every day, gave me a hug when I'd finished and lent me his pants, got $40.
• Emanuel, the cook/porter, who spoke good English and had a sense of humor, got $70.
• And guide Rafael got $100.

Almost 25%.

General comments:
It's really funny to see the porters, like lots of other people in Africa, balancing stuff on their heads. Some are really large or bulky packages, but some are standard(-western)-issue internal frame packs with support straps, hip belts and the like, and they probably weigh almost 30 pounds.

I really felt like crap on day 2. I had continuing stomach issues at night, and no-to-not much appetite during the day the whole time. I thought I might have lost some weight. And I probably did--both Rona and Nushin commented on it when I got back. Andre didn't seem to notice.

Final Thoughts:
(On my way up) I heard a bunch of people (on their way down) talking at Horombo about how the climb had been "mentally challenging beyond what we could have ever imagined." For me, the peak was a bit anticlimactic. I almost felt cheated--was my route too easy, the weather too perfect for me to get the full experience?

I'm maybe more equipped than many for long hours of trudging on, alone, just footstep following footstep with only my own thoughts to keep me company. But it didn't seem that hard.

Don't get me wrong--the altitude is hard to deal with, and something over which we have no control. If I had been on a 5-day itinerary instead of a 6-day I would surely not have made it. The Chapel Hillie who failed was totally sick, puking her guts out at 5300m. But the walk itself, I just kept going. Once I wasn't sick there was no doubt in my mind that I'd make it.

And the peak isn't the standard cartoon mountain where you get to the top and look down around you. It's just the highest point on a large plane--the views from there aren't that spectacular (and it was fairly clear and we got there at the perfect time). And we'd gone from gaining 1000 meters in just over 4 hours to gaining 200 meters over the final 2 hours, so the last while of the walk wasn't challenging, it was just finding our way (and, thanks to our perfect weather that just meant following a well worn path--we didn't even need our lights to walk it in the dark) over to the right spot.

Still, I'm definitely glad I did it and, while it maybe wasn't the hardest thing I've done this trip it was definitely one of the highlights. And I can now use the phrase "back in ought seven, when I climbed Mt Kilimanjaro..."

Okay, if you've made it this far, pictures are up.

Next up: safari.
sg

The one where I spent time with people

My second night in Nungwi, on Zanzibar island, I walked into the restaurant at the same time as another guy who was alone. There was one table left overlooking the water, so we ate together. He's Andre, from California, traveling with girlfriend Nushin but she wasn't feeling well.

I traveled a bit with them (and with Nushin's cousin, Rona(sp?)). We were in the same van back to Stone Town, stayed in the same places (or together) in Stone Town and Dar Es Salaam, and rode the bus to Arusha together--they'll be working here for a coupla months while law student Nushin interns at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

My first night in Arusha I stayed at a campground. I was the only person there. And, in fact, I was the first person to sign the registration book since April 9. So after a day I moved to a hotel across town. My room is essentially a closet, but it's really clean, the bathrooms are really clean, there's free breakfast at the pretty decent bar/restaurant on the roof, and it costs $5 per night.

Since we got to Arusha I've run into Andre and/or Nushin basically everywhere I go. And then yesterday I walked into a cafe and a guy who sorta looked familiar said "Hey, I know you from Upper Hill in Nairobi. I forget your name but I remember you play ultimate and worked with coupons. Oh, yeah, and you're older than you look, something like 34?"

I am, in fact, 34. Kyle, who's maybe a bit too much into trivia, is also an intern at ICTR. So I've been hanging out quite a bit with all the interns. (And today, I went with Andre to watch some of the testimony of Dr. Casimir Bizimungu, the former Health Minister of the Interim Government, as far as I know the first genocidaire I've ever seen in person.)

Yesterday, I was in the office yesterday of the Tanzanian Tourist Board when a guy walked in wearing a shirt that said "Da Burgh". I said "I'm from the (Pitts-)Burgh." He bought the shirt in Kenya or something, but he and his wife did just move to Pittsburgh.

Then, at dinner last night with the interns, we're talking about random people coincidences. I tell about seeing this guy. The intern across from me said "I'm from Pittsburgh." Usually that means somewhere in some town in southwestern PA, but in this case it meant that she lived maybe 150 yards away. We went to the same high school, just 10 years apart.

I came to Arusha to try arrange a trip to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. It's really hard to do research here because _everyone_ wants to give you information. For example, the Tourist Board found me a group leaving tomorrow through Shidolya Tours. And when I got to the Shidolya office (right at the Arusha International Conference Center, same place as the ICTR, so I ran into Nushin in the lobby) there were 3 guides from competing tour companies in their lobby trying to
steal me away.

I wound up joining the group. Which is I think two other climbers, plus guide and cook and porters. The woman said the others speak good English so she thinks they might be Australian, or maybe English, but that's all I know about them. In any case, tomorrow morning at 8am I'm leaving to climb Mt Kilimanjaro! We're doing the Marangu route, which isn't my first choice but I didn't want to keep looking for a group and working with all the companies (and street touts.)

Two posts today, but definitely no more for the next 6 days, 5 nights!

_sg

The one with speling arrors

One thing I forgot to mention about Zanzibar: spelling on the menus.

I find (and I'm sure make...) spelling errors all the time, anywhere, but in East Africa they're everywhere. My favorite might have been the Grossary store I passed in Uganda, but two of the restaurants I ate at in Nungwi had some fun ones.

At the Paradise Bar and Restaurent things on the Barbercue menu come with barbicue sauce. There's a Bolognesex pizza. And the Non Alcohol Coctails include spirits such as

• Vordika
• Johnnie warker (black and relebble)
• Jack Deniels

And at the place I ate the next night, drinks included

• Milk Sheak
• Vagine Bloody Mary
• Vaginepina Coleda
• Daqure

Anyway,
sg

The one with symptoms

Around here, you're supposed to assume that flu-like symptoms are caused by malaria. But sometimes, like in my case, flu-like symptoms are actually caused by flu-like illnesses.

Actually, I think I had neither--Dr Omar thinks I had some sort of bacterial infection. And he may be right--whether it was the antibiotics or just the natural course, I feel much better now. The fever broke, my headache is gone, no sore throat, stomach fine, I have some appetite back, I only napped once today.

So my stay on Zanzibar got extended a bit.

Zanzibar is the Spice Island. (Actually, it's an archipelago, and is apparently not to be confused with the Spice Islands.) Off the coast of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, about an hour and a half by fast ferry--it's not that far from the coast, but it's a bit north of Dar. It's part of Tanzania (in fact, the ZAN part) but I still had to pass through immigration and get my passport stamped when I got here.

The most exciting thing I did is Mr. Mitu's Spice Tour. (Not to be confused with the other Spice tour.) Basically, things that grow where it's really hot and wet grow here. We sampled 11 kinds of citrus and I ate un-ground pepper.

Other than some fruit we ate on the spice tour, the food in Zanzibar has been uniformly bland. And I've tried Zanzibari, Italian, Indian, Chinese, generic Tourist, etc...

I spent my first couple of days, and again after I got sick, in Stone Town, the historic part of Zanzibar City where no one speaks much English, the streets are alleys that do not go straight, and it's dangerous to be walking around alone at prayer time, when everyone but the criminals is in a mosque.

I spent two days in the middle in Nungwi, a theoretically paradisical resort at the northern tip of the main island. It was sorta pretty but nothing fantastic. The surf was really choppy. Lotsa guys wanting to sell you art, sunglasses, jewelery, drugs, all of the above. I was gonna head down to Kendwa, about a 30 minute walk south, which is supposed to be idyllic, but that's when I got sick. And since I got back to Stone Town it's been raining pretty much every day, so today I'm going to head back to the mainland instead of extending my trip even further to head to the beach.

Hey, I used to play Ultimate with some guys who are pretty good. Congrats to Heijman, and Q and Shane and Drew and other Hodags,
sg

The one where I'm dreamy

Yeah I am!

(Though that might be more a side effect of my malarial pills than a judgement about any particular qualities I might have.)

21 May 2007, 12:41 am, Mombasa, Kenya
The Dream:

I'm flying somewhere. The plane has some problems, but I wasn't scared. We come in to land but touch down briefly and take off again. The sign says we'll be landing in 342 minutes. Everyone groans. Changes to 40 minutes. Then 6 minutes.

As we approach again, I overhear the flight attendant ask if we'd lose power again. Sure enough, the power goes off as we hit the landing tunnel. The cockpit disengages, the main body lands fine. I'm immediately in Rik's car on my way into town (though we're actually on the Parkway going the other way past downtown Pittsburgh). We see the cockpit fly past, flip over and crash just ahead of us.

I should call my parents and sister to tell them I'm safely off the plane. Mom first, turns out she and Snu are at dad's office. I tell them to wait there and head to the office. Dad, the only one there, is on the phone, helping arrange a job for me. He asks if I'd be willing to teach temporarily, I tell him I'll try out anything as long as its temporary.

While he's on the phone I wander over to Lewis Taffer's office down the hall, maybe to ask him about a possible job? While waiting outside, 'cause he's in a meeting, I glance out and seek Kristie R smoking on the porch roof. She's wearing gray cords and a burgundy turtleneck, which seem very dowdy.

The door opens, a guy comes out of LT's office. Turns out, the meeting was about a crossword newsletter and competition for July. Lew points out (I hear--I only see the anonymous guy) that the guy should remember to include that there were three perfect scores on puzzle A3, including two from the people that tied for 1st, and a perfect A2 from the 2nd place guy, in the last competition.

I wake up.

Some notes: The last time I actually saw (or had any direct communication with) Lew Taffer, a high school(?) friend of my dad's, was maybe in 1991 when I was in NJ for my cousin's wedding. The office was dad's, though the suite it was in and the smoking area on the roof weren't his. I met Kristie one day last week, and I never saw her smoke and she seemed fairly stylish.


23 May 2007, 3:15 am, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
The Dream:

I need to run home from work 'cause I forgot something. The home: 505 S. Linden, but it's mine. I drive past Sarah and Dave on my way and wonder if they'll ever stop by to see the house. When I get out of the car in the driveway, they're standing there, having passed while walking their dog, who doesn't seem to be around.

I explain that I'd love to show them the house at some point, but I only had a minute and had to rush back to work. Russ walks by. We all talk for a minute. I say I gotta go, but if they wanted to help run my errand they could at least sneak a peek inside: turns out, a bed and mattress for Snu had been delivered and needed to be carried inside. Don grabs the bed, Sarah the mattress, I go to unlock the door, Russ follows along.

Turns out, the front door is unlocked. Sarah looks around, sits at the piano, and comments that the house is in a style called "standard" rather than the "pre-modern" or whatever that I thought I had. I usher them out, but it seems like someone left the radio on in the kitchen. I go in, and the back door is standing wide open. The radio on the wall is BLARING a Monday Night Football game. There's a lot of crowd noise and Al Michaels is giving Dan Marino's stats from the game

I start to leave with Sarah and Dave. Russ seems to have wandered off upstairs, but I'm just gonna leave him wander as I need to get back to work.

I wake up. And as I'm waking up, I think that if George is looking for projects to work on around my actual house to work off some more rent, and if Bridget and TY think that it's a good idea, if he hasn't put in glass block to replace the basement window at the foot of the stairs, when he does that he can also use glass block or something like it to replace the doggie door in the wall of the kitchen.

Some notes: I actually lived in that house, which is in Pittsburgh, from when I was 10 'til I left for college; my parents moved out about 10 years ago. The radio on the wall in the kitchen is the only detail that's different than it actually was. Sarah and Dave are friends from college--in the dream they lived a couple of doors down in the house where I babysat once or twice. They actually do live around the corner from where my parents do now, and I spent some time with them in Sydney in February. Russ is a friend of mine in Minneapolis, a former (and future?) teammate. He doesn't know Sarah or Dave. Snu is my sister. Dan Marino is from Pittsburgh but I don't think we've ever met. He quarterbacked the Miami Dolphins from 1983 'til 1999 and appeared in glove commercials. George and Bridget are living in my house while I'm gone, and TY's helping them decorate it and hopefully avoiding paint fumes.

My other thought as I woke up was that this dream seemed much more innocuous than the first one and that I hope that doesn't lead Susie to give me a much less informative meaning for that one.

Snu, go to town!
sg

The one where I was with Dorothy

Wait Dorothy was in Kansas, not Kenya. Sorry, I was in Kenya, in the Rift Valley.

I left Nairobi and headed west to Nakuru. On the bus, it was 80's Saturday on Classic 105! Jungle Boy (Baltimora), Like a Prayer (Ciccone), Abracadabra (Miller), Together Forever (Astley). But then we left town and they switched to REALLY LOUD NEWS. Spent the night in Nakuru in a suite on the roof of the Mt Sinai Hotel, across the street from a "Subway" restaurant. Note that Dar Es Salaam has actual Subway franchises--can't wait to try the pressed beef sub!

In the morning I got a ride out to the Menegai Crater. It's...a crater. I took some matatus up to Lake Bogoria. I wanted to camp at the Fig Tree Camp. From the map in the guidebook it looked like it'd be about 6 miles. But it's not, and since I didn't think I'd be able to walk the 18 miles to the campsite in the 3 hours left until sundown I wound up heading to the campground at the hot springs. About 8 miles in, past flamingos and ostriches and a coupla zebras and hydraxes and antelopes.

I stayed just one night. My tent pole broke, and I went to borrow some tape from the other people at the campsite--Barbara (Swiss) and Karsten (German) and their dog Mali (Malian) had what looked like a very well stocked van. They volunteered to drive me out. And since they'd take me all the way to my next destination, saving me a 8 mile walk and three different matatu rides, for each of which I might have had to wait some hours, I accepted.

The next night was at the Flamingo Camp at Lake Elmenteita. There was no one else at the Flamingo Camp at Lake Elmenteita. And not many flamingos. But it is beautiful, and the lake was totally reminiscent of the lakes in New Zealand famed for the mountain reflections.

Turns out, the millions of flamingos are now at Lake Nakuru. But that's in a national park that you can't go into without transportation, so it would have been _really_ expensive to rent a taxi for a day and pay the park fees and such to see them. But at several viewpoints from the road back from the crater and in Nakuru town you can see the pink shores.

Next stop was Fisherman's Camp on Lake Naivasha. Which I visited to go to Hell's Gate National Park, just across the way. I decided not to camp in the park--I figured at night, when the nocturnal animals were active, I'd be huddled in my tent rather than wandering in the dark looking for lions and leopards. I rented a bike and headed off to the park.

Which was really neat. As I entered, some of the park rangers were burning trash, right next to the sign indicating the current fire danger level: EXTREME. There isn't a huge density of animals, but the ones I did see I saw with literally no one else around. No guide, no other park visitors, just me and the mostly antelopes and zebras (and two giraffes, but at a distance). And the animals are used to humans, and there was no engine noise to scare them off. At one point I looked up and there were zebras maybe 25 yards away that I hadn't noticed until then.

The other park attraction is the gorge. The ranger tries to get you to pay $15 so a guide can take you in--"otherwise you can easily get lost." Which is kinda like getting lost in a tunnel, and not the confusing Boston kind of tunnel. You're going in, or coming out, but you're just following the river in one of the directions. As I was eating lunch a Canadian woman walked up, and we decided to walk in together. One of the Maasai guides followed, and we agreed to have him show us the way in return for a tip, but certainly not $15.

We took the 2 hour walk, which took about 30 minutes, ending up at the path to take back to the ranger station and our bikes. We gave the guide a coupla bucks each and decided to continue on to the hot springs, another coupla hours. We went not quite all the way to the hot springs before we came to a section that would have been hard to get through without getting quite wet. And we'd each seen enough hot springs to not need to see these, so we headed back. Biked back out to the road (5 miles to the park entrance, 2 to the main road), I went left, she went right, I headed the 3 more miles back to the camp.

The next day, Thursday, I headed back to Nairobi.

Friday I got a new tent--the pole had broken all the way, it couldn't be fixed until Monday, and I paid about $40 for a much better one than the one I'd had. It'd been used, but pretty lightly. It's much bigger (I think it'll sleep 4) but only weighs a bit more. Gave my old tent to the guard at the campsite in Nairobi, along with explanations about how to get it fixed, which hopefully he can do and then sell it to someone. Or use it, but I'm betting on the former.

Saturday headed to Mombasa, to see somewhere else and break up the bus trip a bit. Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast, is really hot. And a bit disturbing--it's the first place I went where the street beggars are really in-your-face, and I felt a little unsafe for the first time this trip. I stayed a day and then headed down to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Where I've been for a day and a half. It's supposed to be safer than Nairobi, but still feels more like Mombasa. And, unlike Kenya (and certainly unlike Uganda), most people do _not_ speak English. Finally! Of course, I don't speak muck Kiswahili... In any case, I'm off to catch a ferry to Zanzibar, the Spice Island!

Ta,
sg

The one where Nairobi's nice this time of year

Which is a good thing, as I've been here for a couple of days longer than I'd planned.

I hung out with some Canadians for a bit, spent a day waiting around to meet a friend of a friend who came six hours late and left after 20 minutes, and spent more days than you'd think it would take trying to change my flight.

Now, I've finally changed my flight--I'll head to Greece on July 2, and probably get home in the first week of August--and will leave town this afternoon, heading off to Nakuru. Either today or tomorrow, depending on timing, I'll head out to Lake B?--I forget its name, but its hopefully got millions of flamingos.

For the next week or so I'll be around the B? Lakes, Nakuru, Naivasha and Hell's Gate National Park in the Rift Valley. I'm especially looking forward to Hell's Gate, where you can rent a bike and pedal (or walk) freely through the park--hopefully, the cheetahs and lions and leopards and such are used to such things... Then, back through Nairobi on my way to Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar!

Flickr (the host of my photos) reports that you can now view slideshows with titles. Haven't tried it, but it might now be easier to view my pictures (and know what you're seeing) of Nairobi. Which include shots from Nairobi and the running, screaming mob I ran into just after arriving, Nairobi National Park, and of me with Laura (including a hopefully not too explicit photo of our first kiss!). And my photos from Sipi Falls in eastern Uganda are up as well.

And a generic note--Flickr shows photos in the reverse of the order in which they were loaded. So it's kind of a pain to make things coherent for you as I need to load them one-by-one in reverse order so you can see them properly, but it also means that you can always just go to my photo link and easily see my most recent pictures if you've been hankering for some Joy when I'm not obliging.)

ta,
sg

The one where I went east

I went to Sipi Falls in eastern Uganda. It is pretty, but probably isn't worth the trip unless you're in the area anyway.

Which lots of people have reason to be as the falls are right outside Mt Elgon National Park, Mt Elgon being one of the highest mountains in Africa. And, like Kilimanjaro, it can be climbed in a coupla days without any specialized skills or equipment.

I was in the area because I was gonna pass close by on my way to Kenya.

Now I'm in Kenya.

I've started my eastern swing. For the next, I dunno, six to eight weeks I'll be in Kenya (Rift Valley, Kakamega Forest, maybe Masai Mara and a treat for Kristina), Tanzania (Zanzibar/Dar, Kilimanjaro, Karatu/Ngorogoro, Serengeti and Mwanza) and Rwanda (Kigali and maybe a park).

The trip here:
I caught a bus to Nairobi. Which means I'll have to backtrack west quite a bit, but there were no better transportation options. The bus left Mbale, Uganda at around 5:30pm. At about 7:30 we got to the border. We pull up to Ugandan customs. I follow everyone out of the bus and into the office, fill out a form, wait in line, and officially leave Uganda. I went outside and there was no one on the bus (and bicyclists were fighting for my attention) so I figured we were supposed to walk over to Kenya. I did.

Passed a gate with soldiers on each side wearing different uniforms. I guess the border. Crossed a bridge. Walked past a building with what looked like lots of closed offices that should be full of customs agents. Then through a gate.

Wait a minute...I'm in Kenya. Where's the bus? I went back.

I said to the guard at the gate "Do I need to show my passport anywhere?"

"Welcome to Kenya. Jambo!"

I turned to his friend. "Jambo!," said the friend.

Went over to a small building nearby. A guy in a suit said "Jambo!". "Sijambo," says I, "where do I go?"

Apparently, it's around back, behind the original dark building. There are no lights, no signs. He sent someone to show me the way, and we walked through two unlit corridors to get to passport control.

I waited in line, and the bus came by. Good, at least I'm on the right track. My turn at the window. "Hello, I need a visa to enter Kenya."

Man flips through passport. "You do not have a visa." He flips through again. And again. "I need a visa." "You don't have a visa." "I know. I need one."

Finally, he asks me for $50, which is a good sign again because I know that's what it should cost. He takes my money, slides it into a drawer, stamps a page in my passport with like eight different stamps, and writes in yet more details. He proudly shows me the results, turns it several different ways and asks for my opinion. I take back my passport and turn around...to see the bus leave.

I follow it down the road, it stops a bit later, and when I get on my stuff is even there--I'm on the right bus! That's another good sign.

Twenty minutes later, we get stopped at a checkpoint. We all get off, with all of our stuff, and line up by gender. They search lots of bags. When it's my turn I give him my passport, which he doesn't even open. I'm thinking it's gonna take forever to go through my pack as everything inside is also inside a translucent pack liner in case it gets wet. But he asks me what's inside and cuts me off when I say "a sleeping bag, some clothes, some...". I get back on the bus.

At about 1:30am, I think slightly before Nukuru, this happens:



I was awake, trying to shut the window and stop the draft. I'd just put my book away (The Mill on the Floss) and was thinking about going back to sleep. A pretty big bang, but it was obvious pretty quickly that I was fine. Not even sure that the seat belt, which, Mom, I was wearing, stopped me. It probably did, but I know most weren't wearing them and I think no one got hurt.
We climbed out of the only slightly collapsed driver's side and got on other buses as they came past. I got into Nairobi at about 6:30am, by which time it was light, so thanks to the crash I didn't need to wander the streets of "Nairobbery" in the dark with no Kenyan money.

I hung out at the bus station until the currency exchange opened, got a bit of money and took a MUCH needed shower, and headed off for breakfast.

Now, I'm off to Nairobi National Park.

ta,
sg