Birds and Views in Thika

Dead bat on a tree-- we went on a little nature hike through some neighbor's shamba (farm) and some factoryland.

Sakuma Wiki in the making! "Sakuma wiki" means "to stretch the week." In other words, it's what you eat while you're waiting for the next paycheck. People plant it everywhere, even by the side of the road, so it's great for urban agriculture. It's actually kale, which people cut into tiny pieces and cook with tomatoes, carrots, onions, salt (the basic seasonings for everything here). If you want to make it a little fancier, you can mix it with spinach. I'm a big fan.

 Nyos' neighbor kids, playing on what looked like the most fun playground equipment of all time i.e. a giant truck! I was pretty jealous. They also played the most adorable game of hide and seek ever. A little boy Nyos calls Chinaman lives over there. Apparently, he looks slightly Chinese. In other news, our bodaboda driver asked me if I was Japanese the day before yesterday....

Another day, we sat on a wall with this view, and the views below.

A box of chickens in a matatu.... PETA doesn't have much of a presence in Kenya. Nyos bravely snuck this picture for me, but refused to sneakily photograph the matatuconductor wearing the pink Carolina shirt (who I actually remember fistbumping a year ago for wearing the same shirt)