The Cary Family's 2006 Travel Adventures

Click here to read our travel log from Africa
Click here to read our travel log from France
... or scroll down to read our travel log from the entire trip

Saturday 13 May 2006
We began our trip by flying to Detroit and then on to Amsterdam. Both flights were uneventful, and we both found out that crossing the Atlantic Ocean makes for a long trip. I have traveled to various destinations in the Carribean, Mexico, and Canada previously, but this trip marks my first flight overseas. A few years before Stacie and I met, she traveled to London with a friend. Traveling to Africa is definitely the furthest we have both traveled in our lives.

We decided to stay awake on the entire flight to Amsterdam and were rather tired upon our arrival, as we arrived in Amsterdam the morning following the day we left Dallas due to the flight time as well as time zones crossed. I have never been able to find any amount of rest on airplanes before, so staying up on a long flight is not a new concept for me. Stacie is able to sleep anywhere, literally, which is an ability that I sometimes wish I possessed.

Sunday 14 May 2006
After a layover lasting a few hours in Amsterdam, we boarded a KLM flight to Nairobi, Kenya. The flight lasted about 9 hours and we both managed to sleep for a few hours on the plane. We arrived in Nairobi late on Sunday night, then met our driver Sokwa at the airport and drove to the Silver Springs hotel in downtown Nairobi. Although the walls were fairly thin at the hotel, we managed to sleep for a few hours before our early morning flight to Eldoret. The hotel seemed very nice, but unfortunately did not have a chance to eat a meal there, use their swimming pool, or explore the area surrounding the hotel.

Monday 15 May 2006
Our driver, Sokwa, picked us up at the hotel at 6:15am and drove us to the other (smaller) airport in Nairobi named Wilson Airport. Wilson airport handles most of the domestic, local, and humanitarian aid flights to/from Kenya, whereas the larger airport handles most of the international travel. Our brief flight from Nairobi to Eldoret was about an hour in duration and introduced us to the smallest commerical aircraft we have flown in. The aircraft had three seats across, and only five rows of seats. The pilot and co-pilot were in the cockpit, which was open to the rest of the plane and had no door. Quite a change from the post-9/11 security precautions on American carriers.

Stacie's brother Shawn picked us up at the Eldoret airport upon our arrival, and took us to the Indiana University complex which will be our home for the next few days. Shawn and his wife Chero took us to downtown Eldoret, which is a small city but very busy. We had our first look at the matutus - the local taxis where 15 or more people push themselves into a miniwan that resembles one of those contests to see how many people can fit into a telephone booth. We were happy to be in a normal automobile with only a few people. We also visited the open market, where we bought four bags of fresh fruits, bread, vegetables and seasonings for less than $8.00 US.

Today we also visited the Imani Workshops, a program started by Indiana University to help HIV positive Kenyans to live a normal life and earn a living. Many of the people working at the workshop are HIV positive or have a family member that is HIV positive. The workers construct many different types of crafts, artwork, and goods from literally nothing. Some of the items they produce include making paper, using magazine pages to make bracelets and necklaces, and forming clay into pottery. These items are then sold in their workshop's store or through other methods to raise money for the workshop and the HIV/AIDS programs.

We met a few of the students and faculty staying at the IU house, and actually ran into a couple from Colorado Springs, Colorado (Jason's company is located in the same city). Shawn and Chero took us to dinner at the Eldoret Club, the local country club that they joined in order to use the pool and facilities for their children. I finally received my first decent night of sleep since leaving Dallas, and we quickly learned why the beds in Kenya have mosquito nets around them, as we had a not so friendly visitor around 1:00am.

Tuesday 16 May 2006
We began our morning by having breakfast with our neice (Imani, 3 1/2 years old) and nephew (Kippy, 5 1/2 years old) before they headed to school. The kids live about one block from their school, which makes for a convenient walk to drop them off and pick them up each day. Most people may think that the Kenyan schools are primitive; however, Kippy is being taught three languages (Swahili, English and French) and is also being taught computer skills and is reading books. Imani also knows Swahili and English and seems to be picking up on many things that are not normally known by children of the same age.

After breakfast we traveled to the Rift Valley, approximately 1 1/2 hours from Eldoret, which was formed by the collision of continents over many years. The view of the valley is amazing at 9,000 feet in elevation. The Rift Valley runs from Israel to Mozambique in southern Africa, and is a mixture of many different types of trees, animals and plants. Shawn drove us to the Kerio View restuarant for lunch, which overlooks the Rift Valley and provides for a great view of the valley and Kerio River.

Wednesday 17 May 2006
We spent most of the day with Shawn performing work-related tasks for his program. Our morning began with a trip to Mosoriot farm, where AMPATH brings in community members, and those with HIV/AIDS, to teach them about nutrition and how to sustain their own food supply without being dependant upon handouts. The farm is fully functional and 10 acres in size, with many different types of crops and livestock. There was also a food distribution center located on the farm where HIV patients and their families can pick up food and produce once a week.

The farm was built from scratch and has only been operating for three years. The workers grow all types of crops, everything from corn to carrots, as well as bottling milk and performing other tasks. James, the farm manager, gave us a guided tour and then explained the program to use.

After the tour of the farm, we drove to the local AMPATH center in the same town and met with about 30 local chiefs of the various towns and communities around the center. The chiefs were in a meeting but asked each of us for an impromptu speech (apparently Kenyans love speeches, as each of us was given applause after our brief statements). We also received a tour of the clinic, which services HIV/AIDS patients for free. Our primary reason for traveling to the center was to give one of the clinic's workers, a midwife, a new bicycle that someone had donated through the AMPATH program. The lady was so excited to receive the bike, as she currently walks 20km to work each day, and up to 4km to each of her patient's homes. Obviously, the majority of Kenya is below the poverty level, so having a bicycle and not having to walk to/from work is a huge gift.

We ate lunch at the IU house once again, then relaxed in the afternoon before eating the leftovers from the previous evening's dinner party. Bedtime came early once again, and we received more rain around 10pm. One note of interest - most homes in Kenya do not have air conditioning or heating, as the nights are cool and the days are mild. Other areas within Africa are probably much less friendly as far as weather is concerned, but this part of Kenya has remarkable weather.

Thursday 18 May 2006
This morning we spent a little bit of time with Shawn and his family before departing for our safari adventure. It seemed as though we had just arrived in Eldoret, but we both thoroughly enjoyed our time with the family. Our safari driver, Hassan, picked us up at the IU house and drove us from Eldoret to Maasai Mara, which is a game reserve park on the Kenya/Tanzania border and is also an extension of the famous Serengeti Plains. We soon learned that we would be on our own private safari, which was nice as we did not have to mess with other people's schedules or needs. The drive lasted nearly 6 hours but took us through some of the most spectacular scenery we have ever seen in person. We also drove through several towns were tea plants were grown over hundreds, if not thousands, of acres. Some of the tea cities included Nandi and Kericho, where Unilever tea brands are produced.

Police roadblocks seem to be a normal part of Kenyan roads, but being from the United States it is still tough to digest armed police personnel stopping every vehicle on the road. The police look for expired registration, lack of insurance, or any other issues with one's vehicle. If an issue is found, the police will either take a bribe and let you go, or send you to jail to await trial. I suppose money can buy happiness in some situations...

We arrived at Maasai Mara mid-afternoon, and saw many animals such as giraffes, zebras, and impalas before even entering the park. We ate a quick lunch at our hotel in the park (Keekorok Lodge) before heading out for our first game drive this evening. Almost immediately we found a female lion perched on a large rock, about 50 feet from our vehicle. After watching the lion for a few moments, we continued onward and located a few giraffes in the distance. Tonight we also saw hyenas, impalas, antelope, and several species of birds. The highlight of our evening was when we found a male and female lion sleeping in a grassy area. We have never been so close to lions without having a cage or fence between us and the animals.

The Keekorok Lodge is incredible, and much nicer than we anticipated. The rooms are very nice, meals are included in the price of the room, and the staff is rather friendly. The food is pretty good too, considering we are literally in the middle of nowhere (the Maasai Mara Reserve Park is roughly 1,000 square kilometers in size). There are also about 20 hippos who live in a lake on the edge of the hotel's property, as well as a group of wild monkeys running around the hotel grounds. Needless to say, the scenery is quite different than anything we have ever seen before.

Friday 19 May 2006
We awoke early this morning to the sounds of hippos and birds that sounded as though they were outside our cabin's door. We later spoke with a staff member at the lodge, and he informed us that the hippos frequently come up on the hotel grounds to graze and find food, so I suppose our suspicions of how close the animals were to us were not necessarily incorrect. Our first safari today began bright and early at 6:30pm, and we quickly came across a silver-backed jackal, which looks much like a fox in both size and color. We also saw quite a few birds, including falcons, vultures and many colorful birds which are native to Africa.

We also found quite a few impalas, congolis and other mammals before heading back to the lodge for lunch. The hotel changed things up a bit today as they moved all of the chairs and tables from the dining room to the outside area, which was enjoyable for us as the weather was fantastic. The hippos were apparently sleeping or resting as we had no visitors for lunch thankfully. Between our two safari trips today, we read through our Paris guide book and came up with a rough list of what we would like to do once we arrive in France.

Our afternoon game drive got off to a quick start when we found a pack of elephants just outside the gates of our lodge. The elephants were huge, weighing up to 6 tons each. We thought about how lopsided the match between an elephant and our safari van would be, and figured out that we would be on the losing end of such a battle. We also found a male and female lion that appeared to have just finished eating the scraps from a buffalo carcas that one of the lions had previoulsy killed. Several other lions were spotted, including one male and two females together in the middle of a field. Nearby we located a herd of wild buffalo as well as hundreds, if not thousands of impalas, gazelles and an antelope. We plan to eat dinner this evening with our safari driver, Hassan, as this is our last full day in Africa. The adventure has been amazing thus far.

Saturday 20 May 2006
Our last day in Kenya threw us a few curveballs as I woke up early in the morning with some sort of stomach bug. I am relatively certain that my bug was a result of some weird items I ate at dinner last night, but who knows... We have been very careful to not use local tap water, to brush our teeth with bottled/distilled water, and not to eat anything such as lettuce or produce that may have been rinsed with local water and not cooked. We were very diligent with these tasks all week long, so the more I think about it, the more likely I believe my bug was due to food.

As a result of falling ill, we postponed our final safari on Saturday morning while I rested and began to feel better. Upon leaving the lodge several hours later, we quickly found a group of about 10 elephants just outside of the entrance to our lodge's property. Within the pack were two baby elephants that Hassan believed were less than a month old. The wild grass was taller than the baby elephants, proving the babies were quite young.

Our drive out of the Maasai Mara Park was quite bumpy, and a bit uncomfortable for me as my stomach was still nowhere near normal. Fortunately I made it through the drive without becoming ill again. We stopped for gas after two hours of driving and ran into two of the medical students from the IU House, who were headed to Maasai Mara for a long weekend.

As the day continued on, I began to feel much better. Hassan drove us six hours from Maasai Mara to Nairobi, then took us on a tour of the city and showed us many different buildings and points of interest. After the city tour, we still had some time to kill prior to our flight out of Nairobi, so Hassan took us to a local restaurant named The Carnivore. The smell of barbequed meat greeted us upon our arrival, but unfortunately my stomach was not quite back to normal yet so I had to pass on the meat. We ate dinner and Hassan dropped us off at the airport several hours before our flight. I also found an Internet cafe within the airport's shops where I was able to quickly check my e-mail for the first time in a week. We boarded our plan and headed to Amsterdam for the next section of our trip.

Sunday 21 May 2006
Both Stacie and I were able to sleep for the majority of the flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam overnight, which was well needed as I was up sick for the majority of the previous night. We arrived in Amsterdam before dawn, and caught an early morning flight to Paris which was only an hour or so in duration. Upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, Jason's pack arrived rather quickly on the luggage belt, but Stacie's pack, as well as the luggage of at least 20 other people on our flight, took more than an hour before arriving on the belt. After we gathered our belongings, we found the RER train station within the airport and boarded a commuter train towards Paris, and later switched trains at the Gare du Nord station where we jumped on the Metro and found our hotel.

Upon our arrival to the hotel, we found out that our room was not quite ready (our flight landed at 8am) so we ate a late breakfast or early lunch at a cafe just up the street from our hotel. Perhaps I was hungry and feeling much better than the day before, but I continue to believe that the rotisserie chicken that I had for lunch was the best I have ever consumed. After lunch, we returned to the hotel and found that our room was ready, which gave us an excuse to take a nap for a few hours. We have tried to maintain our body schedules with the local time zones, but had to make an exception today since our flights were so early in the morning.

After our nap, we decided to explore Paris in the afternoon and experienced our first authentic French crepe with dark chocolate, and I am sure this will not be our last crepe on this trip! We then ventured to the Eiffel Tower, which was only a few blocks from our hotel and well within walking distance. Rather than paying money to take the elevator and be lazy, we had the great idea of climbing the stairs of the Eiffel Tower. We ascended 328 steps to arrive at the first observation level, and then another 391 more steps to reach the second observation level. I'm relatively confident that we have burned off the calories from that crepe, and then some...

While we enjoyed the view from the second observation platform, high winds and rain showers arrived quickly and required us to take shelter without being able to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The views of Paris from the second level were amazing, and we were able to see many of the famous buildings and monuments within the city. The rain lasted for several hours, so we headed back to the hotel and called it a night. Contrary to National Lampoon's European Vacation, there are several channels on the television, and even a few in English. Sorry to disappoint, but you won't find "The Cheese Channel" on any of the television sets in town.

Monday 22 May 2006
Our first full day in France was busy but enjoyable. We began our day by visiting Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise, a very large cemetery on the east side of Paris. The cemetery spreads over hundreds of acres, and is the final resting place for many famous people including Isadora Duncan, Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin, and Jim Morrison (lead singer of The Doors rock band). Many of the tombs and headstones dated back to the 18th and 19th centuries, and the cemetery was absolutely beautiful. There were also a few gothic and very dark statues and graves, but overall the cemetery was quite peaceful and very quiet.

After leaving the cemetery, we visited the Notre Dame cathedral, where we toured the inside of the church before climbing the towers to see the view from the top. We also viewed the massive bell at the top of the church tower but unfortunately did not happen to run into Quasimoto. The statues and hand carved creatures on and throughout the cathedral were simply amazing, considering the age of the church. We grabbed a quick lunch (sandwiches on fresh baguette bread) before heading to our next destination - the Conciergerie.

The Conciergerie was used to hold prisoners in the 19th century who faced the possibility of execution by guillotine. Marie Antoinette was arguably the most famous prisoner held here, who was unfortunately beheaded oly one day after being sentenced by the local judge. There were various types and sizes of cells where prisoners were held, mainly based upon how much money the prisoner was able to offer the prison wardens during their stay. The smallest, most uncomfortable cells consisted of nothing but piles of hay - no beds, no water, and no ammenties. The largest, most elegant rooms contained several peices of furniture, and the prisoners were provided ample food and water.

After the Conciergerie, we took a stroll along the Seine River, which divides Paris into the Left Bank and the Right Bank, although the river mostly runs east to west separating the city into northern and southern portions. There were a lot of street vendors set up around the Seine River, selling old books, souvenirs of Paris, and various odds and ends. Our legs were aching by the evening so we decided to grab a quick dinner before heading back to the hotel.

Tuesday 23 May 2006
We had every intention of visiting The Louvre this morning, but when we arrived at the entrance of the museum we were informed that the Louvre is apparently closed on Tuesdays (one strike against our Paris guide book). We quickly created an alternate agenda and made our way to the Arc de Triomphe, where we climbed to the top of the monument (I am noticing a trend of manual labor here) and obtained a bird's eye view of central Paris. I have wanted to visit Paris for many years, and specifically the Arc de Triomphe after seeing Greg LeMonde and Lance Armstrong win their respective Tour de France races here over the years.

The view from the Arc de Triomphe was was incredible, the morning was clear, and we were easily able to see all of the major landmarks around Paris including the Champs des Elysees, the famous cobblestone street in Paris where the final stage of the Tour de France concludes. The traffic circle at the base of the Arc de Triomphe brings together 10 different major streets in downtown Paris... What a traffic nightmare!

After visiting the Arc de Triomphe, we walked the length of the Champs des Elysees (alright, this walking/climbing thing is getting old now) and found Place de la Concorde. This location was where public beheadings via guillotine were held many years ago, including the beheading of Marie Antoinette. There are several monuments here, and the area is roughly halfway between the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre.

After our stop at Place de la Concorde, we traveled across town to Les Catacombs. As the name suggests, these were underground catacombs where the bones of millions of Paris residents lie in peace. Apparently the city of Paris, many years ago, ran out of space to bury the dead. The Catacombs previously functioned as a quarry being being converted to their present state in the 19th century. The city of Paris stopped adding new residents to the Catacombs in the late 1800's, but there are still literally several million people buried within. The tunnels were narrow and not very tall. The area where the bones are stored in the Catacombs was roughly 1.5 miles of underground tunnels from the entrance to the Catacombs, which made for an interesting walk under the city of Paris. Quite a unique experience, although eerie and creepy as well. We walked around Paris a bit more before eating dinner at a cafe, having another crepe, and resting for the night at the hotel.

Wednesday 24 May 2006
After yesterday's disappointment with the Louvre being closed, we verified that the museum would be open today and headed there very early to beat the crowds. We arrived nearly 30 minutes prior to the opening, and found nearly 100 people already in line. We believe the line at the main Louvre entrance was probably worse, as most people arrive through the "pyramid" entrance above ground. We had read a hint in our guide book which suggested using the entrance near the metro stop instead.

Our first objective was to find the Mona Lisa before the museum was busy. We were happy to find the painting and spend some time looking at it prior to the main crowd arriving, as the area became very congested within an hour of the museum opening. The Mona Lisa was obviously impressive, but for some reason I thought the painting would be larger. Security is obviously a huge concern, as the Mona Lisa is situated behind two panes of bullet proof glass, and a guard stood on each side of the painting. There are also ropes and barriers around the area, so the closest that a person could come to the painting was about 10 feet. One note of interest regarding the Mona Lisa - it has previously been stolen, and also vandalized, which I thought was interesting considering the security now in place.

We also found the Venus de Milo statue, as well as Winged Victory, both of which were very impressive. Our favorite peice of art, however, was David's painting of the coronation of Napoleon. The painting is enormous, measuring about 60 feet wide by 20 feet tall. Our guide book states that David it took two years to complete the painting.We browsed through the Louvre until lunchtime, at which point we ventured to the Left Bank and found a nice Italian/French bistro. I had been craving a pasta dish all week, and we found a place that served homemade pasta and sauce. The tortellini with meat, and the authentic French onion soup were both amazing.

After lunch we traveled a few blocks to an island on the Seine River, where a miniature Statue of Liberty resides. The statue is much smaller than the one in New York, perhaps 1/4 scale, but was a good sight nonetheless. Afterwards we had time to shop a bit, walked around town, and ate another French original - an eclair. We rested at the hotel before heading back out later that evening to find some street performers near Notre Dame.

We stumbled upon a few blocks of narrow, pedestrian only alleys full of restaurants. We decided upon a family owned Greek restaurant which seemed to have a good atmosphere (how could someone go wrong when they are breaking plates out front?). The restaurant also had live music, dancing, and some very good food. After dinner we strolled by the Eiffel Tower before heading back to the hotel.

Thursday 25 May 2006
We have mixed emotions this morning as we have thoroughly enjoyed our travels during the past two weeks, but are also ready to enjoy the comforts of home. We packed our bags early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and took the metro to the RER train station. We had a bit of an unexpected surprise when we found out that we were on the wrong train - on a track that runs parallel to the train to the airport. Once we found our mistake, we managed to find the correct train which took us to the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Fortunately, we had plenty of time before our flight, but this mistake could have cost us dearly if we had not planned enough time to get to the airport and check in.

The check in process at the airport took a bit of time, but was not too much of a hassle. The airports in Kenya, The Netherlands, and France seem to be much more thorough with their screening than most American airports we have traveled through, and honestly, neither of us minded the extra checks knowing they were checking most people in the same manner. Our flight from Paris to Detroit lasted nearly 8 hours. When we arrived in Detroit, we ate a quick dinner before a thunderstorm rolled through Detroit and they decided to close the airport for several hours. Our flight departed more than two hours late, which made for a long day of traveling. We are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed, seeing our kiddos (the puppies), and enjoying the long Memorial Day weekend before heading back to the "W" word on Tuesday.

Tuesday 30 May 2006
After a few days of rest at home, we were both feeling much better until this past Sunday morning. I spent most of the day in bed with chills, nausea, and an overall feeling of fatigue. The symptoms became worse on Monday, at which point I started looking online and found that I had 5 of the 6 most common symptoms of malaria. Because of Memorial Day, my doctors office was closed and the local urgent care facility told me that lab tests would take 3 or 4 days. We decided I should be safe and travel to the local emergency room to be checked out, just in case.

I spent a few hours in the ER before they took blood, pushed IV fluids, and confirmed my worst suspicions - I have malaria. Not quite the souvenir that I wanted to bring back, but it is very treatable and I imagine that I most likely was stung during our safari in Kenya. I am now taking my malaria medicine once again, but since I have an active case of malaria, the dosage is four times as much as the preventive dose. I suppose I should have finished up my original dose in France rather than stopping the medicine early due to the other side effects I was having. With any luck, my malaria situation should be resolved within a few days, although I was requested to meet with an infectious disease specialist here in Dallas. What fun...