"strangers on this road we are on, we are not two we are one"-the kinks

on our way to albuqurque, eric wants to show me cadillac ranch in amarillo, tx. 

Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, U.S. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm, and it consists of what were (when originally installed during 1974) either older running used or junkCadillac automobiles, representing a number of evolutions of the car line (most notably the birth and death of the defining feature of early Cadillacs; the tail fin) from 1949 to 1963, half-buried nose-first in the ground, at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

we hop the fence and head out to these cars in the middle of a farm field.

i think those pants are still muddy 

it was pretty cool to see. so off we are, set out for albuqurque.

i have never seen landscape like this.

so then, on my leg of the drive, of course, we are just cruising along and all of a sudden, POP! the tire blows out. we are in the middle of nowhere. within minutes, super hot cop, katie earle shows up. she was just the sweetest thing. she says we are in a bad spot to be pulled over, that the local AAA lady is a jerk, jacks up the prices. she recommends a tire place, makes some calls. she waits with us, averting traffic from our path. she also gives food recommendations. we are in the town of tucumcari, nm. 

it is like straight out of the movie 'cars', complete with our own tow mater, bobby. 

he loads up our van and we pile in his pink cab that has 'all-rite towing' spray painted on the side. tow mater bobby drives us through town, pointing out 'murials' painted on the sides of gas stations. he drops us off at the tire place and in no time, we have a $20 used tire on the van and we are back on the road. yeee haw, muthafuckers.

we get into abq and get settled in at karl's house, as he is the main reason for our trip, his marriage to the charming megan. there is a lively party at kingsley's house, where i get to meet all types of eric's friends from college. you know you are out west when you can get acupuncture at party!

the following day is in fact the big day. the calm coolness of karl makes me reconsider marriage, only briefly though. he is quite handy; cutting the door for the newly finished bathroom mere hours before his nuptials. i get dropped off at a hotel to catch a bus to the volcano where the wedding is held. as i walk up the volcano, which is really just a small mountain for all of us yankees, i see my beautiful baby and his guitar. 

go tell it on the mountain, nassau

the few songs that eric was requested to play, neil young's 'albuqurque' and the kinks 'strangers' would remain in my head for the rest of the weekend.

the view from the top

mini: this little girl was our love child!

all the peeps climb up the volcano for the weddin'

the bride and groom make the trek up the center of the volcano together as their friends and family await them.

they recite poems and love and before you know, they kiss and we are all walking back down the volcano. it was really beautiful.

we then go over to hotel albuqurque for the reception. 

the amazing: Lee

we would be scolded for attempting to 'swim' in above pool later in the evening.

it was beautiful and charming, much like karl and megan. all in a attendance were kind and friendly. i collapse into our trailer home at the end of the night. worn out from entirely too much fun.

the following day, was like an after-wedding brunch that went well into the evening. i was impressed with the burquenos commitment. they know how to brunch!

complete with burritos and a mariachi band! they rocked!

much to the disappointment of the children, this indestructible piñata was for adults: stuffed with mini liquor bottles!


we played music and foosball in the afternoon sun. i love it here!

the next day, we took a trip up to a native american reservation, the acoma pueblo.

A federally recognized Indian Tribe, Acoma Pueblo has a land base covering 431,664 acres and is home to 4,800 tribal members with more than 250 dwellings, none of which have electricity, sewer, or water. In 1629, construction began on the massive San Esteban del Rey Mission, a Catholic mission.  Both the Mission and the Pueblo are Registered National Historical Landmarks.

Acoma Pueblo is built atop a sheer-walled, 367-foot sandstone bluff in a valley studded with sacred, towering monoliths. Since 1150 A.D., Acoma Pueblo has earned the reputation as the oldest continuously inhabited community in North America.  The mesa-top settlement is known worldwide for its unique art and rich culture.

it was so peaceful up on top of the mesa. this town is even older than lamu! so primitive, but the people, who have to deal with tours going through their little town were surprisingly super nice. i suppose they have had great lessons in tolerance over the years...

it was a really cool thing to experience. it felt like we boarded a time machine!

we decided to climb down, which was a great idea as we got to see a different perspective of the pueblo. climbing the mesa was always the traditional way of entering acoma, but they now have a road. occasionally, weather prohibits travel on the road, so the 'stairway' is still used today.

the next day we took to regroup from all the activity of late. there is a wonderful co-op down the street and it was so nice to do some cooking again! i am getting to be pretty damn good at the art of the laundry in the sink method. we cleaned out the trailer, organized our gear and just sort of relaxed. we then decided to go for a bike ride to a nearby nature center to see about volunteer opportunities. barely on the path for a half mile, eric veers off for only a few minutes to get his tires covered in goat heads! also known as the puncture vine...and for very good reason: when we pulled the thorn-looking things out of eric's tires, you could hear the air escape immediately. sucks! we then take the following day going to the bike shop. they have special goat head resistant tires. no way! i am sure we will be back again when they strike my purple beauty. along with the bike shop, we proceed to go to the plentiful thrift stores in town. i scored an awesome book on all natural cosmetics and some sweet communal sunglasses. (i claimed to have bought all 99 cents of them for eric, shhhhhhhh). as we admire our purchases and relax in the trailer, plans are in the works with my new friend, flo to accompany her to a knitting group she attends. and it's wednesday: girls night! (i will always love you, mini! our GNOs will always be in a separate chamber of my heart!) she also teaches belly dancing class afterwards. despite it being an advanced class, my new motto is 'always say yes' so i do. the knitting group is great, we stop at a cute yarn store and then head over to a coffee shop in knob hill to work on our wares. LOVE! despite never attempting belly dancing, i go to a dance studio with some lovely, although very dedicated dancers. i look like a total moron, but who cares! it was fun! i think i may have to add: learn belly dancing to my list of things i want to do this year. it is really adding up so fast...sometimes, i catch myself wanting to shove my whole life into this 'free' time i currently have. ahh, the ever elusive balance! how i strive for thee! i must remember that i have a lifetime to master the autoharp (and at this rate, i'll need it!) and that by design, i will prioritize the things that are important.

right now those things are:

-make thank you notes for africa donors

-learn how to play the autoharp

-maintain this blog (kind of, ugh!)

-learn to crochet some badass socks

-practice sign language

-ride my bike as much as possible

-love my partner fully

and of course, more is added every day. but it is all so exciting. we are sort of plotting our next bold moves: hot springs, hiking and the long awaited visit to santa fe are on the horizon. i feel so inspired, healthy and most importantly, very happy! i wish the same for all of you!

"let's get together and feel all right"-bob marley

ok, i feel like i have to summarize the rest of the trip. my life has already moved forward…and one of my goals is to stay in the moment. i need to catch up to the present time…life is happening right now!

the musical collaborations that took place at the orphanage were so incredible. a major part of the program was music can cross all boundaries, but to witness it first hand really drove home the notion. despite experiences, age, gender and even language; people can come together through music. music is the international language. when this teenaged girl sought eric out and then asked him if he could play kenny rogers 'the gambler', i couldn't believe how into it she was. she knew all the words…even more so than eric! i would have never guess that country music would be a hit in kenya?

the days were long and hot with rehearsals and sound checks. it gave me time to document it all and of course, fall in love with more kids. it was beautiful to watch the collaboration of some of the young guys in the updeno choir work with eric. john, dustin and wilford picked up ''ll fly away' so fast. the harmonies were tight.

the kids recited a poem about how AIDS has affected their live that was very touching.

to be able to watch the upendo choir all afternoon was such a treat. this group from tanzania, dressed to the nines with multiple changes, had such great spirit. 

these children, from another nearby orphanage had their teacher ask eric if they could touch his beard. they were adorable. 

my man, jimmy!

the next day was the big concert at the wida motel. 

another long day, but the concert was a total success

tee shirt swap. hey, traxler tees!!

ok, so this where our african tale comes to a major turn. jesse, eric and i had gone out with our new friend andrew. we did some drinking and ate some late night food. i took a pepto before i went to bed, feeling a little rough, but just figuring i had drank too much. when i wake in the morning, i feel incredibly nauseous. as i am searching for the pepto, my mouth begins to water. i vomit in my hands as i run to the bathroom. i then vomit again in the bathroom. as i walk back into the bedroom to inform eric that i was just sick, i ask if he can find the pepto for me. before he even has a chance to look, he grabs his mouth and runs to the bathroom where he become audibly, violently ill. we are scheduled to catch a flight to lamu today. in fact, a taxi is on its way to pick us up. i figure we got sick,  got it out, we should be fine. feeling rough, we load our packs into the cab, say our goodbyes and we are on our way to the nairobi airport. i have now learned that being in a cab in downtown nairobi may be the worse possible place to be feeling sick. driving all crazy…i feel like i need some air and puffs of smog and dirt blow through the opened window. eric and i are holding hands, praying silently to keep whatever evil contained. i squeeze his hand quickly as if to indicated that i could contain no more…i tried to make it out the window of the cab, but the evils strength was too strong. as i am vomitting into my hands and all over myself, eric, the gentleman, removes his straw hat and offers it as a barf receptacle. i then get my head out the window and proceed to vommit out of the moving cab. the driver is still weaving through traffic, oblivious to my upchucking in the back seat. when he finally does realize, he pulls over. i immediately exit the cab, crawl on my hands and knees in desert-y sand, with fully intact pieces of kale stuck to my face. i can hear talking….eric and the cabbie are frantically cleaning up the mess in the car. when i sort of come to, i look up to see two men with machine guns in my face. they have some sort of military looking uniform on. i glance up and their is a military truck, you know the ones with the canvas awning tops? a bunch of young men, with machine guns are loaded into this truck. it has 'police' hand painted on the bottom. they seem to be checking if everything is alright, as i am sure a white woman on her hands and knees on the side of the road looks rather suspicious. however, one of the young machine gun toters has this sort of attitude as he tells us we are not allowed to stop on this road. eric, concerned and stressed responds with a shrug and a 'ok'. the next few minutes were an awkwardness that is indescribable. basically, he wanted us to pay him off. pay him to 'let' us go on our way. we hand over 500 shillings and i instruct the cabbie to drive, now. the young machine gun toter then demands that we give him our newspaper. are you fucking kidding me? i grab it and hand it to him. 'you'll fee better now, madam' says the other one. whatever. we are headed again, to the nairobi airport. i am such a mess, literally and physically. i tell eric, please, can you just get us on the plane? can you take over and make this happen? cuz i am out. and he does. knight on white horse style, eric takes care of it all. as i am sitting by the gate, i decide to take some more medicine. i then head to the bathroom, to clean up properly before getting on this plane. i vomm again. medicine is out. while on the plane, i vomm again. barf bag for the lose. 

look kids, kilimanjaro!

we land on manta island. the sun is incredibly bright, there are a bunch of cats at the airport. lamu cats, referred to as 'paka' in kiswahili, look different. they have distinct ears, are very long and slight. this was my test that i would fail: don't pet random stray animals on foreign islands. well, ya win some, you lose some. we then call aswif, a guy that was recommended to us through friends of friends. he is there to pick us up. we board the 'i'll be back' and are on our way to lamu island. 

aswif, always chillaxin'.

you would think that after a full day of vommiting, riding on a boat would be torturous, but actually, it was nice to have then wind in my face. i am pretty out of it for our arrival on lamu. aswif takes us to a house and we negotiate a deal. $22 a night for a house with a view of the indian ocean. i love this place immediately.

but i am still  mangled from whatever 'bug' we have caught. however, if you are going to feel like shit, it might as well be in paradise, right? our house has a gigantic bed with mosquito netting on the inside, but it also has this ornate bed on the porch. this is where i will spend the rest of the day. it was actually really peaceful, despite feeling like i could vomm at any minute.

cout sicky-face

visiting lamu island is like boarding a time machine. this ancient, islamic island has no cars but donkeys. the 'roads' are like small dirt pathways, alley ways between buildings, so concrete surrounds and obstructs your view of anything but what is directly in front of you. as you turn the corner, you may literally run into a pedestrian, a donkey, a heard of cats or a women in a full burka, which they call bui-bui. the textures through out the small town of shela are all natural and simultaneously ancient. 

paka!

they are also know for making their own sailboats called 'dhow'. i guess 10-15 years ago, it was still motor less, but now, for whatever reason, they have added motors to their traditional sailboats. they work and build them right on the beach, with plenty of paka around. 

pakas! i made a simple kiss noise and cats began emerging from every crevice!

kitties and donkeys

baby kitties!

the following day, still a little queasy but feeling so much better. we stroll the town of shell, one part of the island. it is divided into shela and lamu town, a 30-45 minute walk connecting the two. that evening, we decide to take a sunset dhow ride with aswif and his boys. they choose the original sailing methods, discuss the history of the islands, point out mangroves and their love for nature.

saleem! when i asked if i could take his picture, he posed and said 'peace, love, haukna matata'

mangroves!

sunset over lamu

we then go across the chanel to the island of manta, where we were told by a lovely british girl who has my exact birthday, day and year, the a man called frank has people over on wednesday and sunday. wealthy expats have built large homes, this one had a little 'restaurant' and bar. they served all fish, which i am sure was delicious, but we opted for a tusker dinner instead. 

we then sat on comfortable beach lounges, gazing into the ocean. 

puppy!

when all was said and done, i commented to eric, "i think we just hung out with muslim hippies?"

the next morning, we got up early and decided to walk to lamu town. i wore my long skirt, purchased at goodwill before our trip for this very spot, trying to be respectful of the islamic culture. i made sure to be all covered. we walked on a dirt path in the blazing heat.

suddenly, the road disappeared and became only ocean! i hike up my skirt and trudge through. i see women in full buy-bui just walking right through. fascinating.

i love the paka!

through out our exploration of lamu town, eric and i muse about the need for a recycling program and animal welfare. some of these donkeys and pakas look real rough. 

we then meet a young man, francis, who asks us to come to his art studio. we weave in through a concrete maze to this little spot deep within the town.

francis

francis shows us his wares, jewelry, pipes and other various things he makes from the coconut shells he finds on the island. he introduces us to isaac, a painter. 

we sit in the back with them, have a safety meeting, and discuss world affairs. through their thick accents, i find myself translating their english to eric. we buy a few things, but they keep giving us more items, wanting to give eric beads for his beard.

i apologize for my disposition as i am totally overheating. francis returns with a hand painted butterfly that he would like to give me to fan myself. it is beautiful. i say that we are in search of a new hat for eric as the sun is so oppressive and eric lost his in the vommitting epidemic days prior.

we set off with francis who says he will take us to his friends store. 

this town is surreal, complete with running water/sewage going through the town.

we get some fresh juice and giggle about things that may or may not be lost in translation. note to self: passion fruit and lime juice makes your face feel funny.

the fan francis gave me and the very tart juice

i got a bag full of fruits and veggies for $1.20

we then finally give in, to take a guided walking tour with a black man with blue eyes named istanbul

i find lamu town overwhelming, fascinating and smelly. 

we opt for a ride back with aswif to the much mored 'chillaxed' shela. we continue our exploration and adoration of the many paka!

we reluctantly leave lamu, back to manta to catch our plane back to nairobi. i thoroughly enjoyed what eric and i affectionately referred to as our 'honeymoon' on lamu island. if you are looking for a getaway, you can't get much further away than the pole, pole, sawa, sawa lifestyle of this island. tourism is a major part of their economy, they are waiting for your mzungu ass to visit. they constantly remind us that they are a peaceful people, not to be confused with the image of muslim culture we are fed through our american media. the whole experience was beautiful, serene and completely relaxing. exactly what we needed after all our hard work with the kids and the bustling pace of the nairobi city. 

when we get back to nairobi, we make a talked about dream, drunken indian cook out, a reality. dave, a third generation indian kenyan takes us to his local spot where he teaches us how to make authentic indian curry.

i should have taken notes…the whole experience was wonderful. appealing to all of the senses, we enjoy alcohol and banter.

we then have to get a cab to the airport to head on home. i am sad to leave such an amazing place, such an amazing experience. the traveling home is long and grueling. the jet lag is real and strong. we hazily spend our first few nights home tired and completely unaware of time. waking up at 4 am, conceiting and getting up to face our tasks of preparation for our next journey out west. 

we have a lovely bonfire the night before our departure, where dear friends come in and out to wish us well on our journey. everything feels like a daze right now. i am continually made aware of the changes occurring within me. from my tolerance to life on the road and some of the discomforts it can bring to my interaction with random strangers, i find my personal growth to be immeasurable. i feel like i am settling into my own skin, my own body, my own self. i have a stronger sense of calm than i can ever remember. not for a moment have i regretted this major life change. if anything, i wish i quit my job and sought out my own interests long ago. you can't teach this and you can't buy it. i finally feel like every day is a blessing and a gift and an adventure, just waiting to happen. i am excited and content to start each day and rarely feel disappointment in anything i encounter. disappointment held such a long standing place in my world, it feels incredible to dispose of it. 

we head to st.louis for a gig, where we are surrounded by great friends. i love that eric can see his college buddies and i can see my bff, jessica in this town. it was a magical night and one of those gigs that makes me completely understand why eric chose 'musician' as his occupation. we then head off to joplin, mo. we see some remnants of the tornado. the black thorn pub is a super chill and i am able to post my first african blog at the bar. we are graciously welcomed into the home of doug from the ben miller band. his house is so charming. we finally get some extended sleep, it feels wonderful. we go on a lovely hike in the morning with doug before we set off for oklahoma city. for whatever reason, the 4 hours to okc seems like forever. we arrive at the most wonderful home of artists tara and randy. their are people coming out of every where, everyone interesting and captivating. they have a magical back porch where we all gather. intellectual discussions on politic comense as men are preoccupied by building a fire. it is always so inspiring to be around like-minded people. i feel like i have known them all for years. we get another good night sleep. we wake early in the morning, walk to an adorable, quaint coffee shop to start our day. we have a 9 hour ride to albuquerque today. the landscape is quickly changing. finally, the long awaited trip to albuquerque, with the promise of rest and relaxation. and a chance to regroup. my mind is racked by all that i want to do, it is this time that i will organized my thoughts and make some plans. or not at all and just try different stuff. i can't wait to go to santa fe. i have dreamed of this for so long…about 7 years…and now it is finally here. my feelings of happiness are intense and embraced. 

pura vida. hakuna matta. va bene. ce la vie.