The Road To South Africa

Seven hour drive in a Prado with 4 adults and 4 kids. Sounds like a recipe for disaster but it went really well. From Maputo through Swaziland and into South Africa the roads just keep gettin better and better. And now we are in a small resort town called Zinkwazi. Th Everything looks and feels like we could be in any town in North Georgia. You can even drink the tap water and eat fast food.

MAPUTO

Took 7 hours to get to Maputo. The flight was horrid. We made 5 stops, up down up down. There are hardly any direct flights within Africa.

But maputo is wonderful. Sort of on the cusp of traditional Africa and the first world with a dash of latin America thrown in. We were there visiting bob and juliete for one day. bob has started a coffee shop business right across the street from his house.

Election Adventure

Hi everyone, we are about to embark on another adventure. This one is the get-the-hell-out-of-Dodge-before-the-presidential-elections-happen-in-the-third-world-country-you-are-living-in vacation adventure! Yes folks, no one know what will happen around here before and after election day which is December 27th. Our gardener has asked to keep his only mode of transport, his bike, in our compound for safe keeping. The weekend gardener asked for an advance so he can pay transport for his family to their rural home for safety. People are a little nervous about it all. So we are outta here!

We actually have quite the trip planned. We’re going to visit our Atlanta friends and neighbors Bob and Juliet who are now living in Maputo, Mozambique with their two kids. We’re going to travel around a bit with them and another family. We leave Kisumu Tuesday the 18th and spending a day in Maputo, then driving to South Africa to a place called Zinkwazi in Durban and staying a the Nautilhouse then on to Drakensburg to the Royal Natal National Park where I’m not sure where we are staying and then to Phophonyane Falls to spend the New Years and eventually back to Kisumu by January 3rd.

Hopefully I’ll be able to blog from my phone while we are out running around.

Ya know, there really isn’t THAT much difference between a first world election and a third world one. You still have the candidates buying votes, inciting voters, lying, cheating, etc. same here. Only here it’s a little more obvious. And there is a lot more violence in the trenches.

Luke And Darth, Best Buds

Max's Star Wars illustration.
Darth on the left, Luke on the right.
They seem to be having a pretty good time!

Promised Pics of Watamu Beach

left: me with the 6 foot sailfish I caught (and threw back).

right: kids on the beach

left: me and Kayla

right: Max, Clare and Esther, after

Clare and Esther had their hair braided

left: the walk from our rental house to the beach

right: Esther on the snorkle boat. It had a glass bottom.













left: part of the rental house

Disconnected

Sorry for the long silence. Due to a lightning strike in our neighborhood which fried the microwave hardware that gives us our internet connection at home we have had no internet for 3 weeks now. And for people who are addicted to the internet this is serious! I am still able to post from my phone though.

lets see, whats the news, well Kayla has been in almost constant travel mode for 6 weeks now and that is really wearing on us all. There was a big marathon here for World AIDS Day which i ran around video taping.

And Max had his 5th birthday party at the pool per his request. Photos to come soon.