Kisumu/Kakamega

This morning (Saturday) we met with a team of researches from Kemri (Kenya Medical Research Institute) one of whom co-won the Nobel Prize (Andrew Githeko) for his Malaria Research. We also spoke with his wife and another researcher. They each gave a presentation on their respective research projects and then we all went for lunch at a resort on Lake Victoria. It was so nice, the patio was right on the lake! After lunch, we left Kisumu to go to Kakamega. We don't have wifi tonight, but I could care less because we are staying at the most BEAUTIFUL retreat center I have ever seen!!! We're in Kakamega Forest at Rondo Retreat Center, and Wairimu booked a cottage for all of us to stay in for the night. It's seriously so perfect and peaceful here and I wish we were staying here for the rest of the week haha. We were served chai on our veranda as soon as we arrived, and for dinner, we went to the main house. Afterwards, we had tea and watched "The First Grader" and if you haven't seen it, you should. I loved it. Now, Anna and I are lying in our princess canopy bed. The canopy isn't actually a canopy haha, it's our mosquito net, but it's hanging from polished wood framing and goes around the beds like a real canopy. It's "just lovely" as Wairumi says about everything haha. We're calling it "the honeymoon suite for divorcees" because it's really just 2 twin beds pushed together to make a queen size bed... it's a lot funnier when you haven't slept in 2 days (the guest house we were at last night was about 1000 degrees and it felt like we were sleeping on rocks). Anna and I have gotten super close over the past 3 weeks... it's amazing what happens when total strangers are put into such life changing situations! Anyway, hopefully tomorrow we have wifi... we're travelling to Eldoret, which is about 2 hours from Kakamega. That is where we will spend our last 4 days of the trip before heading back to Nairobi for a spa/shopping day!!! Wairimu doesn't tell us much about the places we're going haha, she likes everything to be a surprise... and that it has been!

Lake Victoria

Princess Bed

View from our room

hewwwooo annnaaaa

veranda