Great Rift Valley

We were picked up on Wednesday morning by Jamlech and Peter for another day full of surprises. First we began to walk toward the gate to leave the hostel grounds the men called us back to a car! What a treat! We’ve been enjoying the sludging through mud but I was looking forward to arriving home in the evening with clean feet!
We headed along the great North Road away from Nairobi to the Uplands where we enjoyed a spectacular view of The Great Rift Valley which is the longest valley in the world.
We then visited a local market, I was amazed at the different types of beans and fruit available, and felt pretty cheated at the range accessible to us in the UK, that’s only one reason to visit Africa! Before we left Jamlech and Peter made sure to buy a bag of sugar cane for me to sample. If I could bring one thing home for my family to taste this would be it. It was not what I expected at all, very juicy and refreshing! Wasn’t so keen on the strings we had to remove from our mouths after we’d had a good chew right enough.
We enjoyed a quick cup of tea (this is all Kenyans seem to drink!) and a samosa (which was very different from Indian ones, some beef with gravy in the middle) before we headed to the hospital to visit one of the elders Peter who had had an accident in the garden. He seemed pleased to have more visitors, and proudly showed us photo’s of his leg before surgery – lovely! Despite the pain Peter seemed very cheery! This seems to be due to the support of his friends and family. He explained that at one point there were so many people in his hospital room he could hardly move. I’m always worried that if I visit someone that I’m not extremely close to in hospital or at home when they are unwell that I will be putting them out. But during my time at home and here I’ve seen how much visitors can cheer someone up and it’s changed my misconception.
In the evening we spent some time at Jamlicks home, we enjoyed some tea before starting on the supper. We learned to make chapattis, 15 each so we’re now gurus in Kenyan cooking... we relaxed for a little while with the family, and enjoyed our chapattis and some more tea before heading home for an early night.

Laura <><