I am leaving tomorrow morning on safari! First to Lake Nakuru and then to the Masai Mara, on the edge of the Serengeti. The guide is a friend of Vicki and Geoff's, and I am joining a group Swedes he had already booked. I will end up in Nairobi on Wednesday night and then take a matatu back here on Thursday. Today we ate lunch at the airfield on the edge of the Laikipia Plateau. It is about 45 minutes from here by car. Expats gather there and the Brits have a helicopter training base. We were only a few kilometers south of the Equator! Much of the land we passed through is old lava flow from Mt Kenya. On the way we passed some of the rose plantations in the distance. The flowers are sold ... read more

We left Nairobi Thursday morning for Nyeri. The school sent a driver to pick us up....we had 11 boxes and bags by the time we left! We shopped for the basics here since it is a long walk from the school to town. We have been told that we will have a two bedroom apartment at the Upper School! We traveled in a school matatu (van) from Nairobi, and the driver took the more scenic route out of the capital, passing the ambassadors' residences just outside the city. I was leaning out the window, trying for a photo of these grand mansions when I realized I was pointing my camera towards the US Ambassador's home and the guard was looking very unhappy with me. I quickly put the camera down and hoped we wouldn't be pulled ... read more

We had a wonderful trip to Connecticut and NYC at the beginning of the month, a great road trip to Eastern Washington last week, and a long kayak paddle yesterday to Whidbey Island. We will leave for Seattle on Sunday, and I fly off to Kenya via Amsterdam, with my friend Vicki on Monday. We will be staying in Nairobi for a few days and then heading north to Nyeri, where Mt. Kenya Academy is located. http://www.mountkenyaacademy.com/index.htm Next blog will be from Kenya! ... read more

We have now arrived at our last night in Mexico... Today we took an early bus from Acapulco (at 8:00am) and arrived here around 1:00pm. Except for the loud movies on the bus, it was a comfortable trip with great views of the mountains along the new toll highway. We arrived at the South Station and hoped to find a hotel nearby. We were out of the Lonely Planet guide book's territory here. No listings of any kind for the whole area....We asked several people in the station and got mixed answers: yes, there were a few hotels, and no, there were no hotels around. Finally a very nice woman who worked for the transport system walked us about ten blocks to where we could see the hotels. We are paying about $35 for a beautiful ... read more

Well, we corrected our mistake, and took a bus back to Acapulco yesterday. We are staying at a "beach resort" in the faded grandeur of old Acapulco...we are right on a little beach, in a hotel that has seen better days, but is clean and has a pool, beach chairs (although the Italian Canadians who are here en masse snag most of them at sunrise) and a beautiful view. We are among the youngest people here.....and the least tan...and I mean tan as in leather.... We walked up the hills above the hotel this morning and saw some abandoned properties and some beautiful homes, along with nice family hotels. The salt water is clean, it appears, and everyone is friendly and helpful... We loved Taxco, but the traffic was unbearable, especially since there are no sidewalks ... read more