Woke up to African Rap music outside my window. Had me a very nice shower and very tasty breakfast. As luck would have it we were right next door to a mall that hosted a Maasai market every once in a while. We braved the market place. "Hey mister come look at this!" "Sir, I have what you need!!" "You American?!?" "Sit here and I'll give you a fair price" (Yeah right)
So keeping an eye on my friends I entered into a lively negotiating session over a wooden giraffe and some Maasai paintings. His original offer: $325. Is it rude to laugh in someone's face in Africa?!? Well, 15 minutes later. I was done, as was ready to walk away when I noticed they wouldn't let my friend Jenn walk away. (Carlos was getting upset!!) So long story short: Carlos got all his stuff for $20 once I started pushing some of them away.
We loaded up the van and off to Ilmamen we went. The word of the day: Diversion. There are no traffic laws in Kenya apparently. No street lights, they drive on the left side of the road, and everything outside of Nairobi is one giant pothole. I swear we drove over a cliff at some point. Driving through some of the worst roads I've seen, we saw the sign "Diversion" (Code for Detour into the freaking ditch next to the road!!) We make it to Ilmamen. Straight out into the dirt paths, 3 hours from Nairobi, whose instruction included "Turn right at the dog." No electricity, no running water. A hole for a bathroom. God: You've done it now.
That evening we drove in to the site of our conference that started the next morning. Walked in to the church and were joined by various Maasai women and pastors. They sang for us. I knew instantly I was where I needed to be. The people were beautiful and loved God immensely. More tomorrow.
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