Weekend in Chuka

I have come to realize that left to myself, reading tends to be more enjoyable than cooking or cleaning.  I still love cooking, and I can actually enjoy cleaning, but it turns out that what I love most about these two things is doing them for other people.  It turns out that I am more likely to visit a friend and cheerfully clean their stove than to clean my own, and I am certainly more likely to appreciate cooking a complex meal when I am sharing it with another person.

Being busy during the school term, I have only really visited Matt, and usually have only gone away from my site for one night at a time.  During the same time period, I have found my house getting dirtier and my meals getting simpler.  This has been common for me towards the end of the school term.  Teaching has now finished though, and I hopped on the bus with Matt to visit a Peace Corps volunteer in Chuka.

Chuka is a beautiful 3 hour bus ride from Maua.  It is literally on Mt. Kenya, although much below tree line.  The area where she lives is as pleasant as she is and features cool rivers twisting and turning through deep canyons that are leading them off of the mountain. Although the rivers are big by Kenyan standards they are mere streams by American standards.

While we were there we ventured downhill to the river, which included a 100m+ elevation change.  I felt so energetic, that I jumped and ran down the steep grade.  The weather was so beautiful, the place peaceful, and the company warm.  Maybe I should mention that I just reread Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, which has kindled a little of the zen lunatics playful outlook inside of me.  It felt great getting out to a place where no one was watching me so that I could shed my fear of conforming to Kenyan norms and let these feelings flow from me without inhibition.

When we got to the bottom we found a beautiful, clean, and quiet river.  AND, there were not any other people there! which is amazing, considering that at every other river I have been to in Kenya I have had the company mothers washing clothes.  This river, as you can see in the picture, is far below the rim of the valley, which is where the road and houses are.  Inside of the valley there were only crops, and being on a  Sunday all of the farmers were in church.

Matt and I waded through the river and hiked cross country to a waterfall that I had seen as we were descending.  Then we came back to the river, and finding that there was still no one around we decided to swim!  It was more like wading, as the river was only a few feet deep, but we took off our shirts, and were free! 

I meditated on a rock, letting the sun dry my back, and I remembered how it feels to have absolutely no worry in the world – it felt GREAT!

I need to remember that there are appropriate ways to be free even when I am around acquaintances or people that I do not know.  Heck, I already stand out quite a bit, a little laughter and jumping around cannot make the one mzungu stand out too much more.

I returned to school on that high note, tired, sun burnt, and ready to be with my students; but also ready for the term to end so that I can meditate more and figure out how to keep the energy and the zest with me.