Fourteen Falls

This morning Karen picked me up nice and early for church. I was expecting another three hour service with fifty percent understanding, but to my surprise, an American was guest speaking. This didn't shorten the service in anyway, unfortunately. I could actually understand everything, though. I didn't feel myself having to concentrate on every word. It was really nice. The sermon was also very well done with a powerful message. I've noticed some of the songs sung in Karen's church are the same as those sung in contemporary services at my home church. This just shows the uniting power of religion throughout the world. After the service, I went to a cell meeting with Karen. A cell meeting is similar to a Bible study with people sharing their weekly experiences and where they see God in their life. One of the girls in the group was really excited to see an American at the church. Her excitement made me laugh.

Having wanted some sort of clothing resembling Africa, but still modern enough I can use it for everyday wear, Karen took me to a local seamstress to design me a top. The whole meeting took about five minutes. I picked out my fabric and the lady took my measurements. This customized top will cost me about $20. For a customized item of clothing, the price seems cheap. Karen and I were both running out of credit on our phones so we stopped at a local booth to buy some. Cell phones in Kenya do not run on the typical plans we have in the States. Instead, the program is more like "pay as you go". I thought I had spent 500 shillings the first time I bought credit, which had lasted me a month so I was going to buy 400 more. Karen gave me a funny look, telling me that seemed like an awful lot. I decided on just 200 shillings. Thankfully Karen had stopped me because I looked at my receipts and last time had only bought 100 shillings worth. I'm surprised it cost me only a little over $1 to operate a cell phone for a month.

We rushed back to icipe as David was coming to pick me up soon. I thought he was going to be there any minute so I scarfed down my spaghetti for lunch and changed quickly. For once the sun was shining so I waited outside for him. In over thirty minutes he still hadn't arrived. I was going to call him, but with the African sense of time I didn't want to seem impatient. Soon after I received a message from Karen saying he was in his office. We were still waiting for others, so at least I wasn't the hold up. When everyone arrived David asked why no one knew how to keep time. Then the finger pointing of whose fault it was began. Funny how they can all point fingers when literally no one here can ever keep time.

David claimed being only the "driver" and didn't really know where we were going. We passed a place for Fourteen Falls Accommodations and Sam thought we should have turned there. After driving a little further we asked some of the people on the side of the road for directions. The man we asked looked like he had never even heard of Fourteen Falls. It was a bad idea to even listen to what he said, but we did and ended up going to the accommodation place. Sam was elated thinking he was correct all along. He was wrong. At the accommodation place we were told the falls were ten kilometers in the direction we had just come from. David set his odometer so we could measure it exactly. Poorly marked signs were barely visible. Luckily we caught slight glimpses of them and followed the dirt path. Along the path, people walked going about their daily chores. I saw a man carrying a freshly caught cat fish on a twig. The fish was still partly alive, flailing about.

After a half hour of getting lost and found again, we arrived at the falls. They were breathtakingly beautiful. Almost immediately after parking the car and getting out, two guides ran up to us asking if we wanted to go on an adventure. Of course we did! We slipped off our shoes to walk across the top of the falls. Everyone put their shoes in the car. I asked the guide if I could put mine there as well. He refused, saying my feet weren't as strong as Africans. What? I was slightly offended. (I ended up making it through the day without my shoes.) The water we walked through was freezing cold and went up to my knees, even higher in some places. Crossing was like a game of follow the leader. We all linked hands and our feet would be placed directly where the person in front of us was standing. A few times, I almost fell, with David and the guide catching me. I'm pretty sure Sam fell once. Sam and Sarah were unsure of the whole adventure. Both feared falling and Sam always seems to be afraid of crocodiles lurking in the corners. No crocodiles at the falls. David, one of the guides, and I broke ahead of the group. Some of the rocks we stepped on were slippery, others gagged. The current was strong. This water was also the water source for nearby communities. I could tell this by the litter catching on rocks around me. An occasional piece of trash would wrap around my leg, frightening me for a second. The views from the top of the falls were unbelievable. I did not count the falls, but I assume there were fourteen, all lined up in a row. We took many pictures having fun along the way. The crossing took us maybe an hour. We were having so much fun I lost track of time. On the final fall, we watched our guides jump off the top. Sam took a plunge also. The breeze swept the cool mist of the falls on our backs. We climbed to the bottom of the falls where we took more pictures, climbed through more rocks, and David bought some sugar cane. At first I wasn’t sure exactly what he was planning on doing with it. Vendors sell sugar cane for people to suck the sweet sugary water out of. David cut off a piece for me to try. The actual plant was very hard to chew and bite off of. All the work was worth it as the juices were sweet and refreshing. Our group took a boat ride near the bottom of the falls. The boat seemed a little unstable and filled with water easily. We road in a small circle and got off on the other side. When discussing how much to pay our “adventure guides” for the day, Rafiell said we should just pay them in appreciation. They didn’t seem to like this idea very much.

There were vendors along the top of the falls where I bought some small souvenirs. One lady even came chasing after me, since the girl selling her items didn’t want the price I had bargained for. On our way out, David bought a hardboiled egg from a vendor on the side of the road. Sometimes the sketchiness of what people do here surprises me.

As we road back to Nairobi, we passed through an area where police officers were checking public transport passing through. I asked why this was the case. David explained how the road we were driving on led to Somalia, and the police were checking for bombs—scary stuff. Along our way back we passed the largest pineapple plantation in Kenya and stopped along the side of the road to buy pineapples. Right as we stopped the car, a crowd flocked to try to sell their pineapples first. David rolled down my window and before long I had pineapples inches from my face. I couldn’t even talk I was in such shock. We ended up buying over eight pineapples for under $3. And the pineapples were some of the best I have ever tasted. One of the people selling them cut one up for us. I sat in the car holding the top of a quarter of pineapple taking huge bites with sweet juices dripping down my chin. I felt like a little kid experiencing their first popsicle. We continued having the man cut up pineapples. I think our car went through at least four in under ten minutes. The cores were also really soft and edible. When I arrived back at icipe, I had no idea what to do with the four pineapples David sent me with. I asked the man in charge of the Guest House to cut them up for me. Later that evening, he knocked on my door with a plate piled high with pineapple, dripping juices from it and all. What a fantastic midnight snack.