In no man’s land, no ones to blame-Gomez

The very first time that I can remember walking in No Man’s Land was 3 years ago when me and a few others snuck across the boarder to Kenya for a minute and then walked back. I remember clearly thinking about what no man’s land was, how cool it was to be where no one ruled me but God, and what would happen if something terrible went wrong here. I would assume that in this culture, a lynching would happen right then and there…mob justice. But it has often intrigued me.
Anyway, so for Spring Break this year, my two best buddies here and I went to Kenya the cheapest way we could…and loved it!
I can’t really sum it up too well, but I can give you an idea of what you did, then send you in the direction of my facebook albums from the trip to get a better idea. There you will find captions with the pictures too.
We took a bus to Nairobi which left at 7am and took 13 hours, arriving in Nairobi at 8pm with a driver there waiting for us. Luckily, World Gospel Mission has a big presence in Kenya- they started there almost 100 years ago! So, we got picked up and taken to a missionaries home to stay. In the morning we got picked up by the Duncans, the East Africa directors and dear dear people! They took us to the big Africa Gospel Church in Nairobi. That was really neat. One thing I really enjoyed about that church was at the end of the service, they had everyone stand up, then ask the visitors to stand up and walk to the back of the church to go meet the greeters. We did so, then they brought us up to a room where they had prepared tea for us specially! We all sat around and talked and just had great sweet fellowship with all different sorts of people! There was even a woman who had just become a Christian and her husband and children were still Muslim. Her husband didn’t know yet and she was moving up to be with him out in the bush in Sudan. She needs prayer. People do not respond well to things like that and she will not have much support out there.
From there the Duncans took us out to lunch, then to a Maasi Mara (that is the tribe that jumps so high and wears the red blankets with a big stick) market to do some souvenir shopping. Boy is stuff expensive in Kenya! One of the Duncan’s children took us from there to buy train tickets for the following day. That night we went out to eat with Robin, the sweet missionary that we stayed with, at Java House. That place is known for it’s coffee, but it had some wonderful hot chocolate too ☺ The following day we hung out and walked around and went to the Nakumat! Now that was culture shock…and they are opening one here! It’s like a Walmart, but more expensive. We got some great groceries to take with us on the train, then went early to the station. We got in a 2nd class sleeper car and readied ourselves for the supposed 12 hour journey to Mombassa. It really lasted 17 hours! But it was worth it by the time we got to see the beautiful Indian Ocean! I slept pretty well all strapped in on the top bunk, but Lacey and Christina did not do so well. We got a tuk-tuk (a motorcycle powered rickshaw that can fit 3 people) to the ferry. Stopped by Nakumat there to get some more food then got another tuk-tuk across to Amani Acre-a missionary guest house run by Africa Inland Mission. It was beautiful there. We stayed in a low key simple apartment right by the water for real cheap and even had a guard watch us when we were on the beach so that not too many men would bother us! It’s dangerous showing your knees in East Africa…all the men want to marry you! The next morning I woke up crazy early to watch the sunrise over the water. Oh wow was it beautiful! Such a gift from God after the crazy stressful testing that I had the previous week at school.I got lots of neat photos then went back to sleep for a bit. When we all got up we got a ride to the south side of Mombassa to go to a resort for the day. For only $5 we got to spend the day at a beautiful resort by the Indian Ocean with a swimming pool…and camels on the beach! That was on of Christina’s items on what I would call a bucket list- Ride a Camel. Check! The water there was so warm, it felt like I was in tea water. It was also clear so that I was not too afraid to swim in it…that is until the tide came in. So that day we got to just relax and swim in the pool and the Indian ocean and ride camels and then I searched for treasures in the sand ☺
Then we went back to the apartment and found the power out. So we put on the water to boil while we sat outside reading aloud to each other. We kept going into check on it. This was the longest time ever that it has taken to boil water…almost an hour!!!!! Eventually we got pasta cooked and ate by flashlight. The next morning we checked out and went to get bus tickets back to Nairobi for the night bus. We left our bags at the station and wandered throughout the town of Mombassa. Not the most interesting place to be quite honest. There’s only one sight seeing thing and other wise little restaurants. We went to go see if we could see a movie at the theatre, but there was only one movie playing that night when we would be gone. So we wandered around inside the Nakumats and Mr. Price shop and checked e-mail at an internet café. The night bus back was quite an experience! One that is preferably not repeated. Comfortable enough if you know the person sitting next to you. Otherwise you might wind up with an asleep mans hand under your bottom in the middle of the night. And it was SO hot at first, then SO cold. But, we made it back to Nairobi safely, and that is what counts! We got picked up and brought to drop off our bags at Robins and to wash up again before going to Nakumat for some food then going on a real African adventure! We first went to the feeding of the orphaned baby elephants and rhinos. Too cute! Then we went to the giraffe center where there is an endangered type of giraffe that used to live only in Uganda, but no more. That was an adventure in and of itself! We put food pellets in-between our lips and the giraffe could come and get it! So in essence, I kind of kissed a giraffe!!!! Then we went to Nairobi National Park for a safari. It’s the cheapest one around, and oddly enough, within the city limits! So, there are lions in Nairobi. Look out. That was beautiful. It was just amazing to be able to sit on the roof of the car and snap away with my camera. I loved just sitting and watching the Zebras. We didn’t see any of the cats (Lions/Leopards) but we got to see some neat things and enjoy the backdrop.
The next day we ventured back to Kampala on the 13 hour bus. While I loved Kenya with it’s donkeys, sheep, and Indian Ocean, I was happy to get home. From this trip I have concluded that Uganda is the friendliest and cheapest country in East Africa…I do love it here!