Uganda yesterday.

 We rode to Kampala 2 days ago from Kisumu, crossing the border from Kenya to Uganda. 

The day was fucking insane. It feels like a week. The border crossing was NUTS. No rhyme or reason and many hours to get through but we did. I

I'm shortening the accounting of events here. We rode for many hours through fields of food and cool cows with giant horns and meridians full of Marabou storks that look like dinosaurs especially when they take flight. 

We passed trucks and carts full of bananas

and motorcycles full of chickens or incredibly well dressed locals and got up into the mountains and then... the rain. Holy shit the sky opened and dumped so much water down for about an hour that we took refuge in the garage of a gas station... with the rest of the town. 

This is our group at the first equator crossing. I'll add the hiding in the gas station garage photo when my phone decides to join my team, she's been extra bitchy since the rain bath.

Cari and I hopped in the truck and let the boys ride through Kampala on their own and thank God we did. They fought through crazy traffic, roundabouts with 6 unmarked lanes and untethered goats for good measure, spilled at least one bike and arrived harried and full of piss and vinegar, but laughing and happy to be there.

We ended up at a cook hotel with a revolving restaurant at the top where we watched thunder and lighting strikes over the city with our dinner. I also think we were the only group at the hotel. It was eerily empty.

In the morning we rode out of Kampala which was also nuts, dumped our bike, lost a rider (he did manage to drop a pin and be reunited with us later in the day) and took the most nuts bumpy dirt road up a mountain with villages of people who ... chopped up rocks? not sure why. The road was wet and dusty at the same time, rocky and full of grooves... we basically 4x4'd on our bikes. Got to the prettiest lodge I have ever seen, the bird nest resort, looking over lake bunyonye. 

that's me in the lake. John had to double check it was safe to swim in... hippos? I asked... nope. urethra fish lol. But it was safe so Chris and I jumped in.

He's so cute!!

That fucking road, man. My poor ass. 

I think we are caught up now? I missed some things but every hour here has a full day's worth of adventure. I am so, so lucky. Miss you guys though.

working backwards; it's been crazy.

 Right now I am in Rwanda in a little cabin in the jungle. It will drop to 12 degrees tonight and the locals are panicked that we might freeze to death. In this room we have a radiator, a fire in the fireplace they have lit and built into a bonfire, 2 heavy down duvets on the bed, extra blankets. I'm roasting, lol. 

Every day since we hit the bikes has been better than the last and that is saying a lot. The people here, my God. The sweetest,happiest folks I have ever met. Children run alongside the bikes and everyone is smiling and waving at us and it's so clean here! There is a mandatory acts of service here for people of age .. Umughanda. On the last Saturday of every month every able bodied citizen 18 to 65 must improve the area through cleanup, planting trees, repairing public structures, clearing bushes... read up on it. It's beautiful. During those 3 hours all shops are closed, no cars are on the road, everyone just makes Rwanda better... and you can tell. It is spotless, no garbage anywhere. The communities are so close socially and so welcoming and proud of their areas.. I could live here. And I am saying this in a room with no water because TIA - this is Africa and something went wrong lol.

there was dancing... we danced.

it's all mountains and valleys and terraced tea plantations and visually moved me to tears.

this is where I'm staying right now.

people in the villages all wave as we pass.

The children are just glorious sweet happy little souls

Our crew.

I guess I should talk about the crew. 

Abbotsford bike show 2022 we met John Ayers of Ayers adventures at a booth. He talked us into coming to Africa with him and I am so glad he did. The impact that man has had on our lives will never be measurable, the gratitude everlasting. This is John today. Happy, laid back, responsible, and such a ridiculously huge heart. He's kind of cool, I guess.

The ride here was up and down mountains over the curviest roads I've ever seen, and at a good, solid pace if you have a death wish. We had a great, exhilarating ride right up until we were nearly ended by a semi truck, at which point I hopped in the van and let Chris carry on with the group. It was the first scare of the trip and really nobody's fault except the semi with failing brakes. 

To get here we crossed the border from Uganda today and that went really well and that is surprising. The borders here are... random. One of our group managed to exit Uganda without entering Rwanda... She just hung out nowhere. They took her back to get her stamp lol. Cool trick though.

 We all just had a wonderful dinner and are really coming together as a group. This is a beautiful things here and I am so lucky to be a part of it.

Nairobi!

 We took the red eye to Nairobi and arrived at 5am, pretty tired. Egypt Air is not impressive, but it is still better than Air Canada. We slept until like noon and then contacted Sonya's friend, Alex, who took us around. He tried to talk us into a restaurant called Carnivore, but it was clearly a tourist trap, so he took us to his favourite place: Nyama Choma at the Exit 11 Inn and club. It was.. incredibly Kenyan. a dirt lot full of food stalls all making the same dish... barbecued goat. We were definitely the only tourists and stuck out a bit. It was awesome. Couldn't walk past the stalls without people literally putting goat meat into your mouth with your fingers. (and we only eat with out right hands now.) Tried the local beer, Tusker (and they bring you 2 if you order one because they're practical like that) and got served the best damn unknown wilted greens 've ever had, a huge share platter of goat, the maize porridge that is the "spoon", unreal goat broth in a mug, and sausage that I liked but Chris did not.

Then we were gonna go dancing but the clubs here are 24 hours and don't get hopping until 2am. so to bed and a meat coma.

Woke and Alex picked us up and took us to Hell's Gate national park but first a quick stop off at a scenic overlook absolutely full of school kids who all wanted to touch my hair lol. It was gorgeous there.

Then into Hell's Gate, which is a huge gorge full of life. We rode mountain bikes 8k through fields and mountains and waterfalls and herds of zebras and goats, saw giraffes and monkeys and baboons, and wandered down to the bottom of the gorge where the river is low right now. It. Was. Awesome.

The whole area is super geothermal with vapour and hot waterfalls and sulphur and it was so, so super cool.

After that we went to Lake Naivasha. It's a huge lake outside the city full of hippos and herons and ibis (I learned that Egyptians called them the "sacred ibis" because they were the only thing that ate locusts)

and the shores were teeming with zebras and giraffe and life.

 We fed tilapia to the Fish Eagles that look a lot like a bald eagle but with a brown stripe on the wing, and saw kids net fishing off the rocks.

This is Jamal, the cutest little co captain ever.

The trees are full of comorants and herons and ibis.

hippos sound very much like sea lions.

the lake rose so much a bunch of the acacia trees died.

Alex, us, and the Captain.

The prettiest monkey I have ever seen. Colobus monkey.

Barbecued tilapia for dinner and the guys played pool while I wandered the village. I saw puppies, pet a goat, let kids take a million photos with me and touch my hair, helped a guy carry water to his hut, showed the kids that I could, in fact, ride their bicycle, chatted with farmers on the farms, got asked if I was lost a thousand times, then headed back to the boys and then home.

Until tomorrow! And Cari and Russ arrive tonight!