Into Kenya!!

We have arrived at the Rehema orphanage in Bukura, Kenya safely! On Tuesday we flew from Zanzibar to Nairobi, via Mombasa, where we had to stop and get our visas. The visa process was cumbersome, but we made it back on to the plane... they didn't leave us behind! Once we arrived in Kenya, we were met by Paul and Tony who drove us from the airport to 'Mates Guest House', where we were to spend the night. Quite an interesting 'guest house' as it was located in what seemed to be a fairly busy area, and our door had a massive lock on it. Inside, the room was simply two single beds with mosquito nets (as the room was quite infested with mosquitoes) and a bathroom that was what might be referred to as a 'wet room'; there was a toilet and a sink, but the entire room was used as a shower. Despite the sketchy condition of the room, both of us muchly welcomed the HOT shower!!! We had not had a hot shower in over 2 weeks and it was pure heaven.
The next day, we were picked up early in the morning by a driver who took us to the Nairobi Game Park. This was a wonderful experience, even though we didn't see any lions. We saw a ton of Zebras and Antelope, Gazelles and Giraffes, as well as some Water Buffalo and Warthogs, Baboons and Monkeys, as well as a very large Rhino. I think there were some others, but we can't recall right now. We were there from 7am until about 11am, after which we stopped at 'The Best Hotel in Nairobi'!!! It was called the Palaris, and we had lunch and went to the airport.
We then flew from Nairobi to Kisumu, where we realized that we were getting increasingly remote in our journey, as the airport terminal was about the size of our house, and we had to pick up our luggage outside! During the flight we realized how green the western part of Kenya is compared to the eastern parts: When we flew from Mombasa to Nairobi, we noticed that all of the land was brown and the rivers had no water in them, but flying from Nairobi to Kisumu the land was all green and lush! When we arrived in Kisumu, we noticed that there was a big difference in temperature as it is not nearly as hot here as it was in Zanzibar... only 30C!!! We were met by a driver who took us out to Bukura. We could write a blog on this drive itself, but needless to say it was a very bumpy ride! About half the way was on a dirt road that was more dome shaped than flat, while driving at night with people walking all over the roads and no street lights... it was crazy!
The orphanage is great... there are 31 children now, after we picked one up in Kakamega on our first day here. Please ask us about this story when we return, it was truely heartbreaking. The babies are so much fun to play with and rock to sleep, there is always someone to hold! There are three boys over the age of three who I (Ryan) have been connecting with as there is not much male influence around. So it looks like we are going to be spending a lot of time with these kids over the next week.
We may not get much opportunity to update the blog while here as the internet is not as available to us, but we look forward to sharing stories when we return!!
Hope everything is well back in Canada!