Beyond satisfied and nearly bursting, we piled into a taxi after dinner and headed for our hotel. As it turns out, there are two hotels with the name "Imperial" in Kisumu -- the original one, and the Imperial Express. We went to the wrong hotel on our fist attempt. Our taxi driver was gone so we asked the desk clerk if we could use the hotel's car to get to our intended destination. After negotiating a price, he agreed and asked us to sit in the lobby and wait. Which we did while eating a bunch of cookies from the desk. The van that took us to the Imperial Express was huge by comparison to everything else we've been riding in -- we each had our own seat, no one had to share. But the trip was only about 2 minutes long -- we enjoyed it while it lasted. The Imperial Express is more modern than the original Imperial and the clerk at the desk, Bellah, put up with our antics of attempting to check six people into three rooms with only three valid IDs amongst the entire group (I left my wallet/money/ID in Sagam -- oops).
After Bellah showed us to our rooms, we met in the lobby to head out to a bar. We planned to go to a place called the Duke of Breeze, which is an ex-pat rooftop bar in the city that both Lance and Aparna have been to before. Our driver (the same taxi driver that we used at the Ethiopian restaurant) did not know where the bar was located, so he asked someone else on the street. A man on a motorbike said he knew the place and to follow him, which Robert (taxi driver) did. We turned down a dark, unpaved road and pulled to a stop outside of a lifeless building. Motorbike-man said the bar used to be in this building but the management changed and it was no longer open, possibly was undergoing renovations. He suggested a different bar and offered to show Robert the way. We drove in what turned out to be a circle, arrived in a parking lot for a large 4 story building with a rooftop bar that was located directly across from our hotel. Cost us 2 USD for a trip around the block. We climbed four flights of stairs, entered a dark wood paneled bar with loud music, sat a table near the windows and ordered more Tusker. The bar was pretty quiet when we arrived, but within about an hour the waitstaff cleared out some of the tables in front of the bar and everyone started dancing. We danced for a few hours as the bar filled up with both ex-pats and Kenyans. A couple of Kenyan guys danced with our group for most of the night. Our favorite was a tall lanky guy wearing a navy knit sweater, who silently slid into our circle and danced awkwardly but enthusiastically.
The next morning, Aparna left early for the clinic while the rest of us gradually woke up, had some breakfast at the hotel (they had great coffee), and took hot showers (finally!). We then split up in two tuktuks -- the boys went to the soccer stadium to buy Gor Mahia jerseys while Molly and I went to Java House for coffee frappes. The boys joined us shortly after and we ate lunch at Java before taking Steve to the airport to catch his flight home. We had a pretty lazy day in Kisumu waiting for Aparna, mostly we ate food (after Java, we had popcorn from the movie theater and Diet Cokes/Pringles from the grocery), shopped at Nakumatt, sat outside or in the car talking to pass the time. Aparna finished later than expected because, although she thought she was going to see patients in clinic in turned out what they asked her to come in for was to participate in a rally for International Women's Health Day. She marched, danced, listened to speeches, and did some cervical cancer screenings. She came back hungry and sunburned. We headed back to Sagam and made it in time for a dinner we had planned to celebrate Fred, Jeffrey, and Jennifer's birthdays at Debora's house (Debora is basically the COO of the hospital, her father is CEO/owner and also owns the property where we live). There was so much food and it was all amazing -- we had chicken nuggets, garlic pasta, chapatis, mashed potatoes, makote chips w guacamole, vegetable curry, and ribs made by Debora. For dessert, we had strawberry cupcakes with chocolate frosting (Jeffrey's favorite) and s'mores bars while watching the movie Shooter on TV.
Sunday was eventful in a very different way. Aparna and I planned to run 7 miles (she is training for a half marathon) and we set out on back roads through the village. At the half way mark, we came to a big road that we thought was the same road that the hospital is on -- we were wrong. After running another 3.5 miles the wrong direction on the wrong road, we stopped and asked a couple of women how to get to Sagam. They pointed back in the direction we had come from and said, "Sagam - it is a long way." Yep, it was. In fact, it was 7 miles away. We walked back along the same route, without any shade most of the way. All I could think about was cold water for about the last 2 miles. Our planned 75 minute trip took a total of 3 hours. We were muddy, sunburned, thirsty, and exhausted when we made it back to the house. I chugged a liter of ice cold water (thankfully, I had put my water bottle in the freezer before we left) and lay on the porch while Aparna reclined on the cool kitchen floor. Then we shared a couple of beers with lime while we made breakfast tacos, including homemade tortillas. After a long shower and a nap in the hammock, I felt as good as new -- except for my very burned neck and face.
Lance in the trunk of the car ("trunk gremlin")
Ethiopian Restaurant
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