First Glimpse of Najile

This week we joined the country reps (our bosses) on a one day trip out to the village/community where we'll be living. The trip out from the comfortable climate of Nairobi to the much warmer dry Najile, took us about 2 1/2 hours each way. We drove Northwest up to around 6000 ft before the road turned and we began to descend "The Escarpment" which is essentially the place where the highlands drop steeply down 1500-2000 ft to the Rift Valley floor to the west.  The view was vast and felt historic as I took in for the first time the ancient and famous geological feature I'd heard about  for many years. For a little glimpse to why we went out to Najile with the Country Reps this week, see the second part of their blog post. 

This is Mt Suswa.  Our very "own" volcano whose summit (according to Google earth) is about 10 m from our blue roofed house. This photo is still a little ways from our destination. Though not in this picture, we saw hundreds of Maasai sheep and goats (they look nearly the same), some cows, some herdsman and the lovely Thomspen Gazelle.

We arrived at our future house. We all, including the current inhabitants decided that the house was a little run-down and could use a handyman such as Doug. Beside that, we were excited to see the place. Its a lovely spot and has a breezy open design. The following pictures, where I seem to be the only one around, are simply Doug following me on my little "check out the place" tour. 

This small building is a lovely outhouse- actually has a seat- not a squatty like most around.  Our house does have an indoor seat, but it needs a bit of fixing. Thankfully, Doug has the background of entirely re-doing the plumbing in the house back in Minnesota so I have lots of hope for anything that doesn't work!

This is the dining room and the kitchen is at my back and the back light is from the backdoor with the adjacent water tank that  you saw in the earlier picture.

I turned and looked into the kitchen and out the backdoor.  To my right is a hallway that leads to three small bedrooms (each with just enough for a single or double bed with walk space), and a bathroom.

One last view of the place looking north.  There's an attempt at a carport which needs some work. We also decided that we'll need to get what around here is called a "slasha" (sort of like a machete) to do a little trimming- particularly of things close to the base of the house. 

This photo is for my ornithologically inclined friends and family. This nest and its inhabitants are in the tree directly out the back door.

Another highlight of the week was sharing Ethiopian food with some dear friends who live and work in Nairobi as well. We knew them from back in Minneapolis. It has been such a treat to hang out with them regularly- to get a break from language, to be in a home instead of a guesthouse, and to build some friendship and share support. Just a note- I have found my all-time favorite soda. I'm not a huge soda fan, but this delight is called Krest Bitter Lemon- a combination of what in the states is called Tonic Water and lemon. Its amazing. Plus the use of cane sugar instead of the fructose sweeteners used in the US allows me to be able to enjoy it! Woohoo!

One last fun shot to depict our friendly local banana slug. We see their shiny slime paths tracking all over the place here at the guesthouse.  Also, I planted some Moringa Tree seeds yesterday in two plastic containers and set them outside our door. You can't keep me from planting for too long... I was given a whole bag of the seeds of this miracle tree. Maybe I'll get a forest going...