Hell's Gate, indeed.

I'm back in California!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to everyone who has been praying for my safe travels, especially while I was alone in Nairobi this last couple of days. I was staying at the Mayfield Guest House run by AIM, which was great. If anyone ever needs a place to stay in Nairobi I'll get you their contact info.

The funny story I have from my last day there involves me trying to get up to Hell's Gate national park via Nairobi public transport. I managed to get to the really sketchy side of town to catch a matatu, which is a mini-bus of sorts, out to Naivasha. The matatus are hilarious in that they try to get as many people on board as possible, and are contantly making stops to try to get more. So I get up to Naivasha, in the Rift Valley (where all the violence was last year!!! And I'm alone and white. :) ) and finally get another matatu to go down toward the park. I was within 10K of the park and all of the matatus start pulling over to the side of the road. I speak VERY little swahili but finally figured out that none of the matatus have working seatbelts, but that by Kenyan law everyone must be belted. There was a police stop up the road and no one wanted to get fined for the belt issue. By this time it was getting late and I didn't want to miss my flight back home so I hitched back to Naivasha and took another bus to Nairobi. An adventure with no fun in the middle.... I guess I'll have to go back.

After a LOT of flying and some sleep I am safely at home, in the land of drinkable tap water and beds without mosquito nets. Beautiful.