By Tracie Thorson

I think last time I wrote from Kampala Uganda I ended up staying an extra couple days. One of my friends from volunteering showed up at the hotel I was staying at (we didn't plan it) so it was a nice surprise. She's from Seattle too.

We went out to an Irish Pub that night - it was full of expats and local prostitutes. It made for an interesting eve of people watching. THe next day we went to Jinja (about 1 hour from Kampala) to see the source of the Nile. We stayed in a grass hut on a bluff overlooking the raging Nile. It was one of the most incredible sites I have seen - I felt so small. The area is very peacefull, you hear the Nile below, locals singing, the smells of crisp clean air and local food being cooked over coals up and down the road. I got up early to watch the morning mist on the Nile glistening in the rising sun then took the best shower ever - the stalls only had 3 walls leaving you with a fantastic view of the nile and trees around you. We went and saw the actual spot where Speke in 1862 made the famous "discovery" of where the Nile begins its 4,000 mile journey north to the Meditteranian sea.

I caught a flight from Entebbe Uganda to Nairobi. In Entebbe I stopped at a beach along Lake Victoria - it blows me away how huge this lake is! Local fisherman were bringing in their catches of fish and shrimp. I would not eat seafood from the lake though - it's not even good to swim here due to a nasty bacteria. I caught a flight in Nairobi to Mauritius that same night. Catching this flight was a pain in the ass - the Nairobi airport was so chaotic when it comes to planning. I was waiting at the gate for my flight, it came time to board but the plane didn't show up. Turns out the plane pulled up several gates down. So we walked down to the gate where the plane was, the airport guy carried the air Mauritius sign with him and hung it at the "new" gate - very official. I had to carry my huge backpack and drop it on the ground next to the plane before boarding - that's luggage check in.

Mauritius is located in SW Indian Ocean, 42 miles in lenght & 29 miles at its widest part. It's a small, yet gorgeaus island. I spent Monday 24th touring Port Louis - the capital city. Tuesday I took a catamaran sailing tour along the east coast with some quality beachtime on Ils aux Cerfs (a nearby island). I did some snorkeling, but it looked about the same as Zanzibar. I enjoyed hanging out on front of the boat watching the scenery, go by sipping my glass of wine. I'm on vacation!

The next day I took a tour of a tea factory, Bois Cheri, then visited the crocodile and tortoise park - the tortoises are so huge. Turns out they farm the crocodiles, it was sad to see the room where the crocs are kept right before slaughter. They do use just about every piece of the croc. This is primarly an export item. Saw how they make rum from sugar cane and almost gagged when they handed me a straight shot to try - it's much better mixed with pineapple juice. Friday morning we got a phone call, the health authorities were looking for me. Apparantly they need to do malaria testing on all those visitors coming from Africa (did I tell you that on the plane ride to Mauritius that they sprayed insecticide to kill any bugs that might be on us - it was so thick) Put the words Needle and Blood together and I nearly pass out...so here we go, driving to the health authority office.

The health office is better looking than the one I went to in Arusha, TZ, he pricked my thumb with more force than necessary so it felt great! He opened a wooden box and pulled out a glass slide for collection. There was on old rum bottle on the desk and I swear that the cotton ball he gave me to stop the bleeding was soaked in rum. Ok, I'm done. Padmini, her parents and I went to a sacred lake for Hindus, Grand Bassin. I was fortunate to participate in their prayers and offerings to this sacred sight. I have left out a million details. It's challenging to capture it all in an email. That evening we were invited to a Haldi - the first day of 3 for wedding celebration. We all wore traditional clothing, although I was dressed similar I still got plenty of stares as the foreigner which is completely understandable. We had a nice dinner there - you eat with your hands here, 7 types of curries are searved on your banana leaf (no plates to clean) you use Puri (bread) to eat with. It was an amazing day of learning about the Hindu religion. Sunday was Mothers day here. We spent the afternoon at her aunts house.

I'm back in Nairobi, arrived Sunday night. Today I went to the Karen Blixen museum. The movie Out of Africa is based from her book. The town is called Karen and it's still full of mostly Europeans living there. You drive through and it almost feels like you are in England with grand estates and Tudor style houses. She was an impressive women with much tragedy. I also fed some giraffes - it's just something you do here in Kenya.