Impressions of Africa: Kenya

Impressions of Africa: Kenya

Kenya has beautiful mountains.  The valleys are much wider than those I observed in Uganda.

Kenya is more arid than Uganda, and flatter.  The rice patties and banana trees have been replaced with cornfields.  The chicken sticks replaced by roasted ears of corn.

Acacia trees are present everywhere. It is the landscape I picture when I think about Africa.

I bought a bag of native oranges to snack on. They were green, like a lime, but still orange on the inside.  They were tarter than orange oranges and had lots of seeds. Not my favorite, but not bad.

I was able to try traditional Kenyan food.  There is a plate of chicken, one of lamb, chapati, ugali and greens.  Chapati taste and looks a lot like thick flour tortillas.  Ugali, the white squares, taste like corn tortillas.  We ate the meal with our hands, dipping the breads into the sauce. It was delicious.

Fun facts about Kenya:

Kenya produces something like 70% of the worlds cut roses.  There are flower farms everywhere.

The best Kenyan runners come from Eldoret.  They think the high elevation, cool temperatures and that children in the area grow up running 6 to 12 miles every day to school and back may have something to do with it.  I saw Kenyans running along the steep roads.