Weekend!

This weekend was a free weekend so we got to do whatever we wanted to do! On Saturday, we went back to play with the giraffes and then stopped at a few shops on our way back. I bought a handwoven bag and a necklace from the Masai market and then the girls walked back to the compound. Today was the best because I GOT TO PET A BABY ELEPHANT!!!!! If you know me at all, you know that I'm obsessed with elephants and getting to spend the whole morning playing with them and watching them eat was like heaven on earth. It was at an elephant orphanage, which takes in, rehabilitates, and releases baby elephants back into the wild. Most of them were found alone, their mothers killed by poachers. The orphanage (Sheldrick Wildlife Trust http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/), serves as a means of taking care of the babies until they are old enough to be released back into the wild. They were so sweet I could hardly stand it! After the elephants, we went to Rolf's... the most beautiful restaurant I have ever seen. It was literally built into a mountain and you had to take one of those crazy wobbly bridges to get over to it. The food was incredible; I had the best salmon I've ever had in my life. We spent 2 hours talking and admiring the view from our balcony seats. Then, we took a walk back behind the restaurant to Kitengala, an adorable little "village" where workers make glass out of recycled bottles. When we got there, the men were making a glass bowl. They put a long steel tube into a a huge oven filled with melted glass, twisted it around in the glass, and shaped it as it cooled with wet newspaper and by blowing into the other end of the tube. We were in complete shock when he showed us the final product. And they make everything; bowls, glasses, beads, figurines, wine stoppers, etc. We stayed there and walked around for a bit before heading back for dinner. It was a fun last weekend on the compound... on Tuesday, we head west for the last 2 weeks. Hopefully we will be able to connect to internet every day at some point so I can continue to update the blog daily!