This evening, I am pre-writing a post for my blog while having intentionally locked myself into my bedroom…
After a day of school visits (every time I think I have visited every school in the area, another one is around the corner), John, Paul, and I were invited to The Greenhouse, which is a beautiful home belonging to a British man named Simon. Following tea at The Greenhouse, we took a bumpy car trip to Lake Elementeita, which is in Masai region of the Rift Valley. We arrived just as the sun set and had a chance to walk around the lake to look at the flamingos and pelicans. Hundreds of these birds flock to this saltwater lake for food each day, and many Kenyans come to enjoy the birds and the hot springs just off the lake. The doctor at the travel clinic sufficiently scared me away from taking a dip in any type of water here due to some horrible worm bacteria, so I enjoyed the hot springs from afar, but Paul, John, and Sammy enjoyed getting their feet wet in them!
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| African Sunset |
Back to why I am locked in my bedroom. Remember the beautiful fruits and vegetables I mentioned buying at the market? Well, when I returned this evening, I was fortunate to have two friends walk into my cottage with me. I immediately noticed a small garbage can was tipped over on the floor near the door to the kitchen. After picking it up, Simon opened the kitchen door to check on things and told me that it looked as if I had visitors. Hmmm. I was hoping it was someone who had come to start up my stove and refrigerator, but from the tone of his voice, I knew better.
I inched towards the door (still a bit nervous about mice since the mouse we found in the last cottage I stayed in here), and peeked in. The floor was covered in dry pasta that had been stored on a top shelf in the cabinets. My mind went to mice right away, until I looked to the right and saw two half-eaten tomatoes on the counter and a large avocado with the pit exposed. That could not be the job of any mouse I had ever heard of! In addition, my other large avocado sat, half-eaten, ON TOP OF the refrigerator.
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| Hmm...? |
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| Originally, there were 8 tomatoes in that basket! |
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| When I saw the avocado up on top of the refrigerator, I knew... |
Monkeys!!! The carrots and onions weren’t touched (apparently, monkeys aren’t into eating their veggies?), and they must have run off with my mango and a loaf of bread, because I didn’t see evidence of them anywhere!
Into the bathroom I went, only to find a bag of medicine torn open and laying in the middle of the floor and open tissue packets strewn around as well. After checking the entire cottage, Simon and Eric left me, and I took my necessities for the evening and bolted up the stairs. I’m not really afraid of monkeys; I just don’t want another surprise this late in the evening! Cleanup will occur in the morning. I wonder how those sneaky monkeys were able to get in, and how did they open the door handles?!? I have to laugh as I type this though… I am, after all, in Africa! Monkey business is just part of life here!
