Nice catch!

Local fishermen showing off some of their morning catch.

Lake Baringo Island Camp

Our tents are big canvas tents on concrete floors, each with a bathroom and a little front porch, under big thatched roofs. The photo is of Bryan's tent.

Bird watching boat tour

We saw many African birds and a crocodile!

Video of Bryan

Not sure if this will transfer ok to the blog. If so, here's a video of Bryan paddling into the late afternoon sun.

Balsa fishing boats

The islanders go fishing in boats made of balsa wood. Bryan was volunteered to try it out. He got plenty wet on his backside but was a good sport.

Village tour

Many of us crossed over to the village side of the island and took a "tour". We visited the local school. It is a day school for boys and a boarding school for girls. (Being a boarding school for girls helps to keep the families from marrying off the girls too young). They have 239 students and 12 teachers. Diana and I played some volleyball with the girls.

The third picture shows a typical village home.

The last picture shows local fish being smoked.

View from our tent

Pre-sunset view from our tent.

On the boat

On the boat toward Lake Baringo. The water level is 7 meters higher than it used to be due to heavy rains this last year. Two tents and the reception tent are under water now. It's very hot here down in the valley but it is beautiful. This afternoon many if us will visit the local village for some sightseeing and culture.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

That's no chicken. That's an ostrich that crossed the road in front of us!

School bus

> Here's a school bus in the town of Kabarnet, on the way to Lake Baringo.
>

Iten lookout

We stopped at the "Iten Lookout" for the view of the escarpment of the Rift Valley. Hey school kids, for a geography assignment, search "Rift Valley" on the Internet and read about the size of it and the string of lakes along the valley, including Lake Baringo, where we are headed today.

Iten, Kenya, high altitude training center

This is where many Kenyan Olympic marathon runners train...

Saturday morning

The docs performed rounds on yesterday's surgery patients. All have now been discharged to go home.

Here, we are gathering for our weekend getaway to Lake Baringo, down in the Rift Valley, where it will be much hotter.

Pharmacy

Yesterday I started getting a scratchy sore throat. (I blame the lady with the hacking cough who was sitting next to us on the flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi.)

So I stopped in one of the many little pharmacies in Eldoret for some throat lozenges. The pharmacies are small and everything is behind the counter. You can't just pick up things and take them to a cashier. So I asked for throat lozenges for a sore throat. They offered me a choice of a couple of flavors, and then asked me how many I wanted. That's how many things are sold here. To make them more affordable, you don't have to buy the whole package. For example, I've seen where one can buy a single cigarette. Anyway, I splurged and bought an entire package of 16 lozenges for a total of 250ksh, about $3.

Dinner at Siam

Friday night we had dinner back at Siam. The owner/proprietor was taking our orders and didn't ask Susan. He just said, "sizzling beef", which is her usual order. Yikes! We are even predictable here and we only come once or twice a year. She showed him though. She said no, she wanted the beef and broccoli this time.

The bottom photo includes Christopher, our "staff bus" driver. We always invite him to have dinner with us. It's the least we can do since we are taking him away from his family all evening every night. He must think we are crazy though listening to our conversations.

Imani workshop

On Friday, one of the significant surgery cases was canceled which freed up the schedule some, so I escorted Todd, Kristina, and Bryan to the Imani workshop. HIV+ women become artisans here and make various items for sale around the world (and become financially self-sufficient in the process.) They make their own parchment paper and use it to make journals, notecards, picture frames, and decorative bowls. They make their own beads in a variety of styles and then make their own jewelry with them. They also buy fabrics and make a wide variety of bags, stuffed animals, and other gift items.

Some Indy friends may recall we had a party/fund-raiser at our house last summer where their products were sold to raise funds for the IU-Kenya ENT program. These funds are now being use to provide surgeries this trip.

Would you like your change in coins or candy?

Yesterday I bought a few things in a grocery store. When I checked out, they didn't have small coins, so they gave me a few pieces of candy... Um. Ok.

Don't take a hot shower for granted

We are lucky to have warm (not hot) showers at IU house. I've enjoyed hot water and showers when on safari or at a hotel in Nairobi, but the Kenyan homes I've been in may or may not have indoor plumbing at all. If they do have plumbing, for water they have a single water line and spigot in a bathroom and the kitchen. They don't have hot and cold water, they just have "water". At IU house the showers are equipped with shower heads that are also mini water heaters. They have a power cord going to them. They heat the water while it is passing through. They only turn on when they have water in them. The trick is, finding the right water pressure to get the warmest possible shower. If the pressure is too low, the heater shuts off because it thinks you've turned off the water. If the pressure is too high, then it can't keep up and the water is still pretty cold.

North of the equator

The entrance to IU House shows the lat/long coordinates. If you enter them into google search, 00 30.37'N, 035 17.31'E, it will show our location on a map. It might not be dead-on but will be fairly close. Note that the first coordinate shows that we are just a bit north of the equator. 

Sent from Kyle's AT&T iPhone

Laundry day

IU House has two washing machines and clothes lines for drying.

For a mere 300ksh per load, the staff here will do your laundry, including ironing! That's about $3.40 per load. Can't beat that!

Plant quiz hint

What kind of tree? Here are photos of the flowers.

Thursday pizza delivery

Everyone is exhausted now, so for dinner Thursday we had Mama Mia's deliver pizzas to IU House. Cold Tuskers and warm pizza was just what the doctor(s) ordered. Get it? Ha!

Thursday

Surgeries lasted until about 8:30pm last night. At one point in the afternoon, Susan broke away to see a few more potential surgery patients in clinic and then round on post-op patients with Dr. Sisenda. While checking on this post-op boy, we gave him a matchbox car which he found to be very exciting.

I acted as Susan's scribe in clinic; she dictated notes to me (for patient files.) On rounds, I was a nursing assistant to Susan, providing her with gauze and tape as she re-bandaged patients

Plant quiz

Can anyone guess what this tree is? We have this plant at home, but it certainly doesn't grow into a tree!

Can't tell? I'll post another hint tomorrow.

Hospital grounds

The interior hospital grounds are quite beautiful. There are open air covered walkways connecting the buildings together.