9/1
This past weekend we attended the Rift Valley Music Fesitval on Lake Naivasha in the rift valley. The group of us from Mpala (Matt, Julia, Sally, Georgia, Tyler, and Sally's visiting friend Maggie) left MRC on friday afternoon and took the long matatu journey to Naivasha. We arrived just at dusk, set up our tents and then headed straight to the music fest, which was adjacent to our camp. Well actually first we were hungry. We were ill prepared for good eating as no one had a stove. I had brought Todd’s old cliff bars for breakfast (Todd is now GF so he gave me tons of bars), and chips and bread and peanut butter for lunches, but what to do for dinner when you are shopping in Kenya AND have no stove. Well, we all ended up just buying Ramen with the thought that we’d just eat it cold. But when we got to the campsite, we found out there was a restaurant. Having the tricks of the dirt-bag backpacker up my sleeve, I told them that we should head up to the restaurant and sweet-talk them for some hot water for our ramen. The nice people at the restaurant obliged, and in the end, as you will see, it turned out to be a good deal for them. The restaurant was an open-air place. There was one corner area that was big enough to fit about 12 people. It was in a U-shape and instead of seats, it had these huge giant pillows and then a low table. The pillows were insanely comfortable, and we could all sprawl out, which was very nice after our long and bumpy matatu ride and would be great after long nights of dancing.. The food, it turns out was pretty cheap, so we also shared a plate of nachos to go with our ramen. We called that room the VIP lounge.
The music fest grounds were pretty cool with a main stage and 2 minor stages, lots of art things and other booths, all on the shores of the lake. The first night we all had fun dancing the night away at the smaller stages where they were playing more reggae and reggae/hip hop style music. We only stayed out until about 2am, but the festival kept going each night until 6am. So being adjacent to the festival, made for a bit of fitful sleep, not to mention I didn't have a sleeping bag (just blankets) or a pad.
The next day we did a lot of chilling in the morning. We went back to the restaurant, to our VIP lounge so that everyone could get their coffee. I just had my cliff bar…and some more ramen. Breakfast ramen is quite tasty. We spent a long time just relaxing in the VIP lounge before heading back to the campsite where we explored a bit along the lake. The music started at noon, and when it did we came back to our tents and tossed the frisbee around a bit. Then everyone pulled out their blankets and we rested/slept on the grass in the shade of the giant yellow-fever acacia trees. In the afternoon, we had a strange snack. Matt had brought a British military rations box (similar to an MRE), so we concocted some weird snacks out of the unusual things in the MRE. After our snack, we headed over to the festival to check out what it looked like in the light. Around 8pm, we left the festival and headed back to our VIP lounge for dinner. Instead of ramen this night, we ordered pizzas, which were really amazing. We spent a couple more hours resting at the VIP lounge before heading out for more dancing at the festival.
The next morning, we of course headed to the VIP lounge so everyone could get their coffee. But the breakfasts also looked amazing, so we all ended up getting breakfasts. Sally and I split something called the “Monster Breakfast” which was truly delicious. We then basically lounged in the VIP lounge and back on the grass at our campsite until it was time to take the matatu back to Nanyuki.
It was funny b/c when we arrived back to Mpala, there was a large group of about 20 sitting in the outside dining area. We saw them as we approached in the van, and Matt said, “it must be the Spanish class already” (the country, not the language), and all the occupants of the van let out one large collective groan. We had grown used to a small, tiny group of people at base, so it was tough to see new people. But the class is only on Mpala for about a week, so it will soon be back to our little quiet research centre.
-->
This past weekend we attended the Rift Valley Music Fesitval on Lake Naivasha in the rift valley. The group of us from Mpala (Matt, Julia, Sally, Georgia, Tyler, and Sally's visiting friend Maggie) left MRC on friday afternoon and took the long matatu journey to Naivasha. We arrived just at dusk, set up our tents and then headed straight to the music fest, which was adjacent to our camp. Well actually first we were hungry. We were ill prepared for good eating as no one had a stove. I had brought Todd’s old cliff bars for breakfast (Todd is now GF so he gave me tons of bars), and chips and bread and peanut butter for lunches, but what to do for dinner when you are shopping in Kenya AND have no stove. Well, we all ended up just buying Ramen with the thought that we’d just eat it cold. But when we got to the campsite, we found out there was a restaurant. Having the tricks of the dirt-bag backpacker up my sleeve, I told them that we should head up to the restaurant and sweet-talk them for some hot water for our ramen. The nice people at the restaurant obliged, and in the end, as you will see, it turned out to be a good deal for them. The restaurant was an open-air place. There was one corner area that was big enough to fit about 12 people. It was in a U-shape and instead of seats, it had these huge giant pillows and then a low table. The pillows were insanely comfortable, and we could all sprawl out, which was very nice after our long and bumpy matatu ride and would be great after long nights of dancing.. The food, it turns out was pretty cheap, so we also shared a plate of nachos to go with our ramen. We called that room the VIP lounge.
The music fest grounds were pretty cool with a main stage and 2 minor stages, lots of art things and other booths, all on the shores of the lake. The first night we all had fun dancing the night away at the smaller stages where they were playing more reggae and reggae/hip hop style music. We only stayed out until about 2am, but the festival kept going each night until 6am. So being adjacent to the festival, made for a bit of fitful sleep, not to mention I didn't have a sleeping bag (just blankets) or a pad.
The next day we did a lot of chilling in the morning. We went back to the restaurant, to our VIP lounge so that everyone could get their coffee. I just had my cliff bar…and some more ramen. Breakfast ramen is quite tasty. We spent a long time just relaxing in the VIP lounge before heading back to the campsite where we explored a bit along the lake. The music started at noon, and when it did we came back to our tents and tossed the frisbee around a bit. Then everyone pulled out their blankets and we rested/slept on the grass in the shade of the giant yellow-fever acacia trees. In the afternoon, we had a strange snack. Matt had brought a British military rations box (similar to an MRE), so we concocted some weird snacks out of the unusual things in the MRE. After our snack, we headed over to the festival to check out what it looked like in the light. Around 8pm, we left the festival and headed back to our VIP lounge for dinner. Instead of ramen this night, we ordered pizzas, which were really amazing. We spent a couple more hours resting at the VIP lounge before heading out for more dancing at the festival.
The next morning, we of course headed to the VIP lounge so everyone could get their coffee. But the breakfasts also looked amazing, so we all ended up getting breakfasts. Sally and I split something called the “Monster Breakfast” which was truly delicious. We then basically lounged in the VIP lounge and back on the grass at our campsite until it was time to take the matatu back to Nanyuki.
It was funny b/c when we arrived back to Mpala, there was a large group of about 20 sitting in the outside dining area. We saw them as we approached in the van, and Matt said, “it must be the Spanish class already” (the country, not the language), and all the occupants of the van let out one large collective groan. We had grown used to a small, tiny group of people at base, so it was tough to see new people. But the class is only on Mpala for about a week, so it will soon be back to our little quiet research centre.
 |
| our camp |
 |
| breakfast ramen for me at the VIP lounge |
 |
| why we love the VIP lounge |
 |
| Matt's face says all you need to know about the VIP lounge |
 |
| Lake Naivasha |
 |
| MRE snack time |
 |
| our unique dip we made from MRE's, random canned goods I brought, and ramen of course |
 |
| Julia, Tyler, and I got mohawks for the music festival |
1 comment:
Thank God for the VIP lounge!
Post a Comment