Baboon

A baboon just walked through my camp. 

Yep, no big deal. Huge baboon, just chilling out next to someone's hut. At least I've overcome my largest fear of Kenya on my first day here! And it's not even lunchtime yet!

I have much more to say but that's all I have time for right now. A random moment I had to share. 

Bridget, this is for you: they're not as scary as they look on TV, but they are much, much bigger. Fuzzy but enormous.

That was this afternoon. Other than that little report… today has been great. We woke up early to find Mt. Kilimanjaro towering above the camp, beautifully covered in snow. We started off with some "the hazards of living in Kenya" orientation lectures which included phrases such as “if a monkey gets into your banda (hut)” and “if a rhino starts chasing you, run in a kind of zig zag; their eyesight's not that great." Oh, another one I liked: "You don't ever want to face off a monkey. Monkeys WILL come after you." Great. Then, when it couldn't get any better, we learned that Baboons have giant canine teeth, then proceeded to encounter one in the yard on the way back from lecture. 

Later in the day we went to a Maasai town called Kimana, which is very close to our camp, and wandered through their Tuesday market. It was incredibly fascinating. The people just look amazing. The colorful beads, the earrings, and their brilliantly colored clothing is beautiful. The market was very crowded and interesting, and a little overwhelming, with all of the Maasai "mamas"clustering around us and relentlessly trying to sell us their beaded jewelry (which was beautiful). After the market, we came back exhausted and somehow decided to play a few hours of soccer with the guys in the staff here. It was so much fun that it was worth the complete exhaustion I feel right now. I better go to sleep- I'm on breakfast duty at 6am tomorrow!