Tonight is the traditional indian party.

There she is~

Future husband and wife

Looking forward to many nights of celebrations!

Finally we are at the final destination, Mombasa. We are here to attend Aleena and Samir's wedding. 

I designed a logo for the future husband and wife.

Dee brought his daughter to meet us which was a really nice surprise. She was so beautiful and quite big for a one year old. Both Andrew and I felt sad to leave here because we felt such a connection with the people here, especially Dee. I think he shared the same emotions as we were leaving. We hope to keep in touch and have him visit us in the States some day. He's a very bright young gentleman who never gives up and always stays positive. I believe that his dreams will take him to places far in life. We miss you already… 

Our guide, Dee became a good friend. He is an amazing man. He shared with us what life in Kenya was like, growing up and wanting to become a doctor. He sold 10 of his cows to go to medical school in Nairobi. He wanted to become a doctor so that he can help his people with their illness. He attended medical school for 2 years and had to drop out because his sponsor disappeared. Then, he decided to get a job so he went to school to become a tour guide. After he passed the test he's been working here for the last 7 years. During those times, he met a someone from the States and fell in love. She wanted to sponsor him to go to the States so he got accepted at an university of Georgia. However the Kenya embassy denied his visa so his dream got crushed once again. Now he's married with a one year old daughter and lives in the Masa village. His favorite music is Celion Deon and he loves to sing and dance. Life threw so many curve balls at him but he's the happiest man I met.  

We offered Dee a glass of beer and he told us that he can't have a beer nor did he want to. I asked him why and he told us because his two older brothers never had alcohol. In order for him to try new things, his brother had to have started them first. Then he has to wait a year or two to follow their steps. His brothers never tried alcohol because his mother didn't want them to. Simple as that. The word of a mother is that strong. I admired their respect for parents and elders. How do I apply that to my kids??? 

The food here is fantastic but I felt so stuffed with such big portions. I felt guilty not being able to finish my plates… especially here in Africa. So I kept asking for an half portion for me.

So then our waiter brought me two plates of desserts. Oh boy.

African dance

It is a long tradition with the Maasai warriors to jump. It is said to be a sign of manhood and strength, and is a great competition amongst the young men.
I was absolutely amazed at how high they could jump, this guy must be about three feet off the ground from a stand-still position.

The lion hat

our friend Dee, the best jumper in town.

Gate to the village

The women sang around me

and we danced, chanting what sounded like, "daddy, daddy".

I think they liked my dancing too. Hard to tell though whether they were laughing at me or with me. haha.

making fire

We went inside one of their houses.

The first room we saw was for baby cows.

Inside of this tiny hut, we sat in a small dark room that was both a living room/bedroom and kitchen. They had no electricity. The guide explained the room structures and what a day at the village is like. It was a mind boggling experience. Hard to believe that they actually live here. 

Then we were lead to what's called their "gift shop".

They were so pushy and pressuring us to buy everything we looked. 

Honestly, I would've loved to have bought more stuff but because they were so pushy, I was confused and withdrawn from buying. 

After a warm cup of tea with homemade biscuit at the camp, we set out for a morning game drive at 6 a.m. Since there's no phones in the tents, one of the staff came to our tent to wake us up. 

Stunning sunrise