Kate In Kenya: Return to Muranga, Nyos' rural home

Goats swinging around the bundle of brush as they chow down on it.


			To get to Nyos' rural home from Nairobi, you take a matatu about an hour past Thika to Muranga, then ride a pikipiki (motorcycle) over beautiful hills and valleys to the little village. The pikipiki ride is always one of my favorite parts of the trip. It's exhilerating. The two of us fit on one behind the driver. I remember last year, heading straight towards and through and road block and some kind of 'no roads beyond this point' sign. That's the beauty of bodabodas (and pikipikis: passenger bicycles). They can swerve through stopped traffic, and ride on roads that aren't roads (not that cars don't do that here too). Nyos lost his hat this time, so we had to stop next to some people laying stones to fix the sides of the road by hand, while he ran back down the empty highway for it.

When you ask a Kenyan where they're from, they'll tell you their rural home; not where they live, or even where they were born. The rural home is the ancestral home of the father.

We rode tons of pikipikis in Thika. They're actually a bit scarier than bodabodas, but probably some of the most skilled bicyclists in the world. My favorite is when they have loudspeakers attached to their bikes, blasting music.

Also in Thika, I sat drinking instant coffee (yes, you heard the coffee snob right: instant coffee) across from a police officer known for myriad human rights abuses. He was sitting with a pretty young woman. Disturbing. It felt almost unsanitary sitting so close to him.

Lots of beautiful birds and trees in his yard.

This crazy fruit basically tasted like a cucumber, with quite the bizarre texture. Not the most appetizing thing ever.

Emaciated cat and its baby. The mother was too sick to give the baby any milk, and having a tiny litter and only one surviving kitten isn't a good sign. But they were adorable, cozying up a few inches from the cooking fire.