A Holiday in Spain

We left Pamplona amidst much revelry headed towards a place I'd always wanted to visit, Barcelona. We arrived at night to a very hot and quite humid city still dressed in all white from San Fermin. People immediately recognized where we'd been and a few even ventured to ask about it. We soaked up the little bit of status we had been missing since Africa before heading to bed. We awoke the next day without much of a plan. We wanted to ride bikes and see the Sagrada Familia beyond that was bonus. We began riding along the beaches taking in the beauty of the sea before heading towards Gaudi's premiere work the church of the Sagrada Familia. I remember some point in my school career doing a report on this Spanish architect and since then I had always wanted to see his work in person. It did not disappoint. Looking at the building from any angle of the outside could cause a person to forget to breathe if but for a second. It is one of the most visually stunning works of architecture in the world and has been being built for over 100 years. I'll add a picture below.

After accomplishing our goals for the day my bike decided it didn't want to function anymore. The chain slipped and got somehow wedged in between the wheel and the gears. Long story short after making sure my hands were filthy I made the decision to ride the metro back to the shop with my broken bike. After a heated conversation in Spanish neither of us could fault the other with the bicycles malfunction and so we agreed to split the cost of repairs. Not an ideal solution for me but definitely the most just. After that incident we needed a break and so grabbed some supplies and headed to the beach. Best decision we've made all trip. Barcelona, nestled right on the Meditteranean sea boasts some of the best beaches in the world. I spent a nice relaxing afternoon rolling in the waves before heading out on my bike to see some more sights. Barcelona is definitely a city I will be back to, hopefully for much longer than a day.

When we awoke the next morning we boarded a train and headed back to Pamplona where we wandered around aimlessly for a good part of the day before heading to the airport. Onward to Milan!

La Fiesta del San Fermin

Every year Pamplona spends a week honoring their patron saint by participating in some interesting activities including running from bulls, drinking heavily, and dressing in all white. The running of the bulls or El Encierro has been held on the same course for over a hundred years. The Festival is said to celebrate the joy of living so how fitting is it that thousands put their lives on the line in the path of bulls. As for the drinking in the classier parts of town the drink of choice is a nice spanish wine or maybe a beer served in a nice glass. In the parks and city center however everyone is carrying around liter bottles of cheap beer and coke bottles containing a mixture of cola and sangria. It's an interesting mix but not something I would order at home. Somehow people manage to get this mixture literally all over them turning the completely white outfit a almost tie died purple. I have yet to see someone turn their clothing this color but they must pour it over themselves or something. Anyways the official outfit of the festival is white pants with a red belt, a white shirt, and a red neck scarf. It's pictured below.

So it turns out that everything we though we knew about the running of the bulls turned out to be very little and so as we struggled out of bed this morning late because of an alarm malfunction we knew our participation would be a stretch. We arrived to the area where the encierro takes place around 645 and couldn't get in anywhere to run. Kind of disappointing but in my mind for the best. We were unprepared and stretched for time. If only acomodation around here had been cheaper we'd have stayed another day or two and better figured things out. Nonetheless the day we spent at the festival was great. Only at a European festival to a catholic saint would you be served Sangria with breakfast at 9 am. Not a terrible way to start the day. Wash that down with a liter or two of cheap beer and some churros and alas you have a great day.

Anyways we jusy spent the day in Barcelona and now on to Milan....

Culture Shock

I wrote such a good post our way to Pamplona today but it disappeared before posting. I'll try to put the last few days in such elegant prose once again but I can't guarantee anything. Here goes nothing....

No one noticed us as we wandered around the airport attempting to figure out dutch transport. No one tried to sell us anything,  no children yelled "how are you" repeatedly, and no one tried to take advantage of our plight. In fact no one really cared. Our celebrity status had been revoked as we returned to our lowly place as poor college grads seeking adventure.

Our first European experience was a monday night in Amsterdam. We did very little and by that I mean almost nothing and by that I mean we walked for close to four hours, found out the city has more waterways then Venice and that beer in Europe is both plentiful and cheap. The biggest shock of the night however was sitting down to a beer at a cafe at 10 and having daylight. TEN? Daylight? It got dark around 6:30 everyday in Africa. To top it off we had HOT water in our hostel (but we seemed to have forgotten our towels :( ) and didn't have to worry about being targeted for mugging because of our skin color. We blended.

The next day we travelled to Brussels where we spent the early afternoon trying to interpret some more dutch and some french in an effort to find our hostel. After some hiccups and stumbling upon some beautiful sights we found our hostel situated right in the center of historic old town. We spent the rest of the day sampling local cuisine and by that I mean beer, fries, and waffles. We visited the Delerium Bar known for having more beers at any one time then anywhere else in the world. It set the Guiness world record in 200r for offering 2004 beers at once. It was insane. Some of the best beers in the world for less than the price you'd pay for them in a store in the US. Capped off with a nice Carl made breakfast of ham, bacon and eggs our stay in Brussels was short but sweet.

Onward to Zaragoza where we had our first couch surfing experience (www.couchsurfing.com check it out). We stayed with a guy named Angel in his small but very centrally located apartment. The night we got in he took us out with his friends to some tapas bars for some food and cerveza. As we walked back to his apartment that night we passed all of the major sights we would see the next day. He lived a stones throw away from Zaragoza's central plaza that houses remnants of a roman wall, two major cathedrals (one in the renowned mudejar style and the other gothic) as well as several museums housing paintings of Goya. The river Ebro weaves through town one block from the square creating a picaresque landscape complete witha old stone bridges and parks along the water. As the capital of the Spanish region of Arragon and only two hours from the major cities of Barcelona and Madrid it would seem that Zaragoza would see quite a few tourists. However this gem of Aragon is definitely worth the visit. It's low prices, location and friendly people make it a great place to spend a day or two. As for couch surfing, its the best way to travel. Getting an overview of town from locals proved most beneficial and we managed to make a few new friends along the way. Check that out too....

Here's some pictures of these cities in no real order:

Leaving Kenya

I'm sitting on an airplane headed towards Amsterdam, almost seven weeks in Africa behind me and the rest of my life ahead. The people I've met taught me things I couldn't have imagined learning and afforded me experiences beyond any I could conceive. Africa is a land of opportunity and I'm thankful for the people of Kenya for giving me the opportunity to come and learn from them.  This continent has so much to see and experience. I've seen breath taking sights that cause my heart to skip a beat. I've seen one of the seven wonders of the natural world from the ground and from the air. But I've also had my heart break almost everyday. I've seen children, babies covered in flies who couldn't even cry. I've watched as people found out they would have to live with HIV for the rest of their lives. And I saw boys not even old enough for puberty living on the streets begging and sniffing glue. These weren't easy things and won't be easily forgotten. I wish I could've done more while I was here.

This has been a sobering and humbling experience and much more deeply personal than the last time I came here. I forged so many relationships that have forever changed me. Maybe thats why I've always been so drawn here. Africa has a way of attracting people for a myriad of reasons and returns them home much changed from when they left. But alas it's off to Europe and to the next part of this journey.

It's about the people

I have less than a week left in Kenya. It's hard to imagine that. I can still remember sitting with Carl in a computer lab at Penn State over Christmas break and deciding to go to Kenya. I remember so many days of planning, searching for flights, and still managing to not actually have anything set in stone until we actually left. It's been a crazy, fun, adventurous, frustrating, and rewarding five weeks so far. The ups have greatly out numbered the downs and I've had the privilege to spend time with, talk to, and work with some amazing people. I met a Zimbabwean university student on a bus to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe that made enormous sacrifices for his education. I shared a room at Victoria Falls with a British Medical student who wants to work as an optometrist somewhere in the developing world. On our train to Dar es Salaam I met two South Africans headed to climb Mt. Kenya on a sustainability mission. They carried all of their climbing gear, around 80 kg each, and only travelled by public transport. You can check them out at www.kape2kenya.com . We shared a cabin on that train with a British university student and a 40 something Swiss man who lives in East Africa. Our first night in Kenya we met a Canadian MBA student who loves baseball so much that he recreated the 1986 world series with kids in a Nairobi orphanage. The video went viral and was featured on MLB.com,  ESPN, Yahoo Sports, the NY Post and the Toronto Star. He didn't stop there though, he set up a website to raise money for these kids. You can see it here along with the video:  www.behindthebag.com . For the last three weeks we've been sharing a room with two soon to be nurses from Philadelphia in the house of a Pastor wholives never ceases to amaze us. Without the two of them our experience wouldn't be the same. We've dealt with a lot of frustration together, we've laughed, played hearts, and drank tusker. We even cooked italian food for our host family together. We couldn't have imagined better people to spend our free time with. Back to the pastor, he's incredible. He goes to school, he's working on a degree in theology, he farms watermelons so as to not be a burden to his church, and supports 116 families living in a garbage dump. He seeks sponsors for their kids to attend boarding schools around Kenya (let me know if you're interested), his wife teaches the women how to weave bags that are then sold in the US,  and when he has the funds he pays for fresh water to be trucked in. We spent the weekend on safari with a guy named Travis travelling the world just because he could and he completely sold us on the idea of making our next vacation destination Utah. Travis, through talking about his travels taught me the importance of wonder; of being amazed by the littlest things in this world.

I can't even begin to talk about the wonderful people I've spent the last four weeks working with at the clinic. When I'm in the VCT I'm amazed by Irene's ability to counsel people and look on them without judgement regardless of their HIV status. She's confronted with that painful ten minutes I described in a previous post multiple times a day, five days a week and still manages to keep a smile on. During our downtime we had some enlightening conversations on the differences between our countries and just life in general. Speaking of smiles, Chris, one of the lab techs, is always up for a laugh. He's a guy that makes work a fun place to be and helps the time to pass quicker for workers and patients alike. Just today he taught me how important it is to do even the smallest of things for others without question because ultimately, to borrow from Old Crow Medicine Show, we're all in this together. Whenever Chris randomly leaves the lab, Evelyn, the other lab tech, and I have great conversations. She treats me like a son and has taught me so much about Kenya, its shortcomings, its highlights, and how it will look in the future. She's the most professional Kenyan I've met on this trip and its because of the persistence of people like her that this country will continue to improve. The time we spend talking each day is always a highlight. One of the nurses in the clinic, Catherine, is one of the hardest working ladies I've ever met. Each day she shuffles back and forth between her patient load in the TB office and giving vaccinations and immunizations to children. Any time there is a hole somewhere she manages to fill it without shirking any of her other duties. I'm going to miss this place and all these people more than I can adequately describe. I never thought I'd have formed so many meaningful connections in so short a time.

I came here to help and to serve and that stuff means a lot to me but these people mean more. It seems all these people that I've mentioned are working for the same things. They're all seeking to understand something foreign, something strange and different in order to improve the world in some way. The best part is they're all doing it by utilizing their own passions. Their using baseball, humor, smiles, and climbing to change the world. Mother Theresa says to find the place where your passion meets the worlds greatest need and I think these people do this everyday. They've given me great examples to live by and (as seems to be the theme) I can't put words to how thankful I am to have met them. As this experience wraps up I couldn't be happier with it,  frustrations and all.

Development in Kenya

We're pretty settled in and past the halfway point of our stay in Nakuru. Sorry for so few posts. My phones been broken and finding/using internet can be a chore. Anywho new post:

Kenya finds itself in a very crucial place of its history. In 2008 violence marred the post election climate driving thousands from their homes and costing some their lives. Kenya has come a long way politically since then. In October 2010 they passed a rewritten and updated version of their constitution which greatly increased the individual rights and freedoms of the people. Since I was last here in 2010 many improvements have taken place. Roads that I travelled in 2010 that consisted mostly of broken concrete and dirt have recently been paved drastically decreasing the transit time to major cities. New buildings have been erected and are currently springing up everywhere. Wireless coverage is found everywhere and 3G data can be found in most populated areas. Sanitation is improving with squat toilets being replaced with washrooms with running water. Farmers have begun using drip irrigation to conserve water and large scale farms even use GPS assisted planting. This country is improving rapidly and the people play an active role.

Last Friday I went out into the community I work in with a Public Health and Safety Officer. We went to lumber yards and restuarants to check for permits and safety certificates as well as to check working conditions. When a place failed to meet minimum standards a formal citation was written and issued. Rechecks are done two weeks after the citation is issued. Their standards are high and closely resemble western ones especially for restaurants and bakeries. We had to close a restaurant because of poor sanitary conditions. In order to reopen the proprietor would need to install washrooms, raise the roof in the kitchen, and have some sort of running water. These are very expensive changes and at first I felt a bit frustrated with shutting this man down for lack of infrastructure. The office however explained to me that by being tough on one person it softly coerces others around to improve their conditions. Doing development this way allows for a more gradual adaption of new policies. While one person suffers others can learn from it and plan for these new improvements. If left to their own devices people would not spend money on improvements.

In the same way the clinic we work at is improving. The national government employs two of the clinic workers, a lab tech and the public health officer; the rest are employed by the local government. The federal employees are well versed in updated policies and procedures and have a certain air of professionalism about them. These are the individuals being used as examples for the other nurses and techs. They uphold high standards and aren't afraid to reprimand those who don't. Improvements in much of the public sector are happening top down. The national government is training the most able bodied individuals and sending them out to the provinces to be examples to everyone else.

Not surprsingly when on safari in Maasi Mara last weekend I had 3G data coverage. I tweeted a picture of a lion from the middle of a game reserve. It's tough in that area to get a cold drink or a hot shower but not wireless networks. The mobile infrastructure in Kenya has led to many new innovations, most notably MPESA. MPESA is a banking program that works through text messaging. With it people can transfer money between accounts, pay bills, give money to friends and family and even buy more phone credit. In 2011 an estimated 20% of Kenya's GDP was transferred through MPESA.

The improvements in Kenya are not going unnoticed in the international community. China and a host of European countries are investing heavily in the area. By 2016 the world bank estimates Kenya will be a middle income nation boosting it out of 'developing' status. What an awesome time for Kenya.

Maasi Mara

A few weeks ago we went on Safari. I wrote this and never posted. Enjoy.

Feet away from our van sit four lioness silently stalking their prey. In the distance sits a majestic Tope, perched on a rock, looking out for his children and women as they grazed. The lions kept their distance and creeped into formation. Everything was going according to plan until a van moved exposing one of the lions to the male Tope. He ran and his herd followed. This is life in Maasi Mara. A place where humans can come and interact, albeit from a distance, with extraordinary wildlife. Humans can at the same instant provide cover for a hunting animal and completely ruin its plans of attack. These lions seemed to shrug it off easily enough and regrouped, scanning the plains for another potential meal. As the sun began to fall between the mountains we had to wait until morning to see if these lions had any success.

We didn't come across this pride the next day but saw at least three others including one napping next to the carcass of a wildabeast. The day started with a search for the ever elusive cheetah. As the fruitless search wore on we found ourselves mere feet from a pack of giraffes, some hyenas, and large herds of gazelle. By mid morning we had moved into the heart of Maasi Mara characterized by large swaths of open grazing lands in the area between two ranges of hills. Here we happened across a herd of elephants intent on protecting a new born from our sight. As we drove on the elephants watched with ears at attention ready to force us away. After eating a surprisingly delicious boxed lunch we walked along the banks of the Mara river viewing countless hippopotamus almost completely submerged. As we approached a bend in the river a 7 foot crocodile slid off the bank and into the water. This bend will play a crucial role in the annual wildabeast migration that begins in July. It's at this junction where predators sit and wait for easy prey. The rest of the afternoon provided more of the same; a relaxing yet exciting ride through one of earths greatest natural environments.

Early the next morning we set out for our final game drive. We reached the park in time to see the sun emerge from behind the distant mountains. As we drove away from our first view point our driver noticed something perched on a far off hillside. These could be cheetahs. I quickly took a picture zooming in on the image as far as I could. Confirmed, we headed fast in their direction. We were the first van to arrive. The morning air was cool and these cheetahs looked hungry and ready to hunt. Cheetahs shy by nature and once more vehicles showed up they disappeared into the tall grass. Upwind from where the cheetahs disappeared sat a large herd of gazelle. We waited between the tall grass and gazelle for the predators to emerge. After thirty minutes, nothing. We moved on. Not so long after we stumbled upon a large pride of lions, twelve strong lying in some tall grass. They were hunting. Some Buffalo anxiously stood guard in the distance. Before we could see a kill however we had to head out. Our created world beckoned and we had to leave this raw, untamed nature behind.