January 15th

We had to wait until 8 a.m. for the Safaricom cell phone sim card office to open,  so I could purchase a plan. It felt nice sleeping in and the place we stayed in last night was quiet. My only minor complaint is I got electrically shocked when I turned the hot water on this morning for a shower.  Just outside of town I bought chapati beans and matoke (cooked unripe bananas) for breakfast. The rest of the day was peaceful aside from one incident. A man yelled for me to stop my bicycle near a shop. I continued riding past him and he proceeded to sprint after me. The ground was flat and I easily outdistanced him.  I wasn’t too concerned because he was smiling,  but I still didn’t like being chased. I understand that people often have questions they want to ask but I don’t always feel like stopping to answer. Often I like to keep going once I have a good pace. Most of the day was a gentle uphill until we reached Maseno. People were overall very friendly.  I had a number of people wave and ask me where I’m headed. I also stopped to talk with another cyclist heading south, named Tania.  From Maseno we descended 400 meters over 20 kilometers into Kisumu. On the outskirts of town we were able to negotiate a reasonable price for a hotel room. We went searching for dinner and found an appetizer of lentils inside fried crispy dough. Two nice Kenyans named Lillian and Paul showed us a restaurant where we bought chapati and beans. We talked with them  over dinner and learned that they are both in school. They both would like to visit the United States one day, but say it’s extremely difficult to get a visa. Talking with them both tonight made me think again about how fortunate I am to have been born in the United States. We have met a number of people on our trip who talk about how much they would like to emigrate to America. In other news there was a recent terrorist attack in Nairobi. Our friends, the Canadians, were nearby but fortunately were unharmed. We still have 4 days before we will arrive in Nairobi. Hopefully the violence has subsided by then.

The view from the roof of  our hotel in Busia Kenya

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