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Camping life


We took a wrong turn in the morning or missed checking the map. So we cycled 30 km in the wrong direction, it started raining and we had a punctured tire. But luckily we hitchhiked back to where we started with the first car we waved in.

We knew we would not make it to Kissumo so instead we cycled some 30 km and asked to camp in a garden.

We made ourselfs understood by charades and the family laughed a lot. We later found out they actually spoke english.

The man of the house was not home at the time and the girly part took of to the village. We had a walk around and were soon greeted and invited by Pamela, a mother of four boys. She, her husband and her brother and the kids opened there home to us and showed us around. So we talked about there living as farmers. They had some land in the valley growing sugar canes. The house they live in is of concrete, with a thin tin roof, the size of a small Stockholm one room apartment.

The house has two rooms. One dining/livingroom and one bedroom with a multistory very wide bed. The windows are naturally ventilating, some had windows others not. The cost for building this house, 600 USD is half of the cost of Fredriks decorative legowall back home in Sweden.

They were all happy and you could tell that Pamela is a great mother. She invited us to the kitchen to see. The kitchen is a separate building, a small 2 m wide circled hut with a straw roof.

Pamela cooked tee. We played and danced with the kids. They loved watching photos on our phones and played a long time with the camera taking photos of each other. We were invited for supper and Pamela milked the cow, a thin calf drank in between. Then we took the fresch milk to the hut and coocked a delious meal of ugali and a green vegetables. All over the open fire. The smoke filled the hut and it was cozy.

One of the children was standing next to me, in love with my soft hair, patting my head like I was some cat. I loved the moment.

We all ate together with a lot of smiles and laughter.

In the night we slept great in the tent. At three in the mourning the father came home, he had probably been drinking. So the short hi, is it ok if we sleep here, became a 5 min concersation which we constantly were trying to end. Then when he left us, he soon came out again and brought his madress. I want to sleep like you outside and protect you he said, he talked a litle more till Fredrik had had it and said "let us now say a prayer and have a good nights sleep" It was a short prayer and the amen. Then we all slept.

In the mourning we woke up. Christian , the young blood, loved his night of camping. Fredrik who is the old man had a sour back.

The children of Pamela came and made sure we came for tea before we left. They loved our bicycles and we gave them all a ride while we walked with the bicycles.

After tea we had a beautiful day riding to Kissumo. A lot of nice downhill riding. The tempreature is higher in this area and it was a good 30 degrees when we arrived in the afternoon. The guys from the Kissumo Round table club greeted us. They had been waiting for a couple of days. We had been invited to join them in there medical charity but unfortunatly we were delayed. But now we were here and what a welcome! Cold beers and cheers as we roled in. Then they loaded ghe bicycles on a pick up truck and drove us to one of their houses. We each took a shower and as we did we washed our shirts we had worn during the day. We got dressed and put our recently washed shirts on, wet for another ten cool minutes before they dried in the warm weather.

We were taken for a late indian lunch at a restaurant and later to the beautiful boat club to see the sun set in the Victoria lake.

Then we went for dinner and late drinks in a club. If you wonder where the best looking women are in Kenya, Kissumo is where to look. Many times our eyes were ready to pop out, even before having some good beers.

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