Fitness weekend
I'm in an amazing location, the other side of the lake to where I stayed in 2007 when I was last in Kenya. I signed up to the fitness weekend and had no idea how I would get here but thought it would be fun and a way to meet new people. I got a quote from one of my taxi drivers - about £75, but then it is 2 hours from Nairobi and was all set to go, but then Karina the instructor sent a note out to everyone to give us instructions - so I sent a note back to all asking if anyone could offer me a lift and very kindly a lady from the UN offered.
So I met up with Dawn who works on the PR side, an American who has been here for four and half years with her family and then later her friend Ronja joined us, also at the UN, a beautiful Sudanese lady. So in our big UN white 4x4 and an hour and half late we set off. Clearly the UN is a massive organization (10 000 including dependents) so there was a lot of shop talk, but not an issue as I was re-living the journey I used to take many times.
We arrived just before dark, the last 20km on very bad roads, taking over 2 hours. And arriving half an hour after the first class had started -pilates. So we quickly changed and joined them. I didn't think to spray mozzie repellent as I was in a rush and quite covered up. But in 20mins I acquired at least 20 bites, many on my legs and bum so through trousers! They were big big mozzies going in for the kill including a bite of my lower lip which caused it to really swell up last night. Very attractive when meeting new people. The other people on the weekend is a British guy with his kids who has been in Kenya about 7 years and is now in property, and three women who are friends and family of the owners of this beautiful rustic lodge.
Saturday started off with a run up and down the airstrip - about 30 mins. We used the airstrip as it was the best place to avoid the buffalo but we literally were running among giraffe and zebra! A first for me and also passed a jackal, antelope and a baboon...not a bad start to the day. A delicious hearty breakfast and some reading time sat enjoying the view, birds chirping, animals grazing - and a few chats getting to know the others. Then onto circuit training - quite hard and the sun was out but doable. A dip in the pool then a really delicious lunch - all home grown. Then one of the best massages I have ever had followed by a snooze (it also started raining) and then toning using the bar method - lots of little moves that hurt and this time plenty of mozzie spray. Exercise over for the day but more scrumptious food for dinner , good conversation and those after dinner games by the fire. So lots of calories in but lots out too and early to bed and early to rise!
Day two starts early at 6.45 for a smoothie and then an hour and half hike up a hill and across a ridge with beautiful views of the lake and mountains. Back for a well earned brekkie in the garden and then my second massage, just as good as the first one. Then field training - 45mins of running and intervals - a bit boot camp without the shouting. Then more food and scrumptious lunch followed by pilates and stretching but by this time the aching had definitely begun. I got a lift with the trainer back to Nairobi and was pleased when we got out the car she was also aching! Good trip back to Karen and then I just used a local taxi to get me back to my place. The road was solid but my taxi drove on either side of the very long static queue making our way up the line either on the wrong side of the road or on the pavement (well side of the road). We then turned off the main road as the traffic was still not moving, and started moving up a forest road. I knew we were going roughly in the right direction but was a little tense. Then we came out in Kibera, the big slum in central Nairobi. Still a bit nervous as not the best part of town to be in as it was getting dark, but I knew it wasn't far from us. But I got back fine, paid the money- refused to pay extra he asked for - I'm getting tough. And got back for a 30min turn around to go out to Kitengela, a town about 45mins outside Nairobi where I was to be based for 4 nights to shadow a Fairtrade audit of a flower farm. Exhausting!