We left Webuye village on motor bikes early on our last morning there. The cool morning wind made my eyes water, and I took mental snapshots of the scenery as I rode past. Our ride ended at a bus stop where we would ride to another town to meet up with a driver Maureen had arranged for us. We then had a three hour car ride to the city where we would say goodbye to Maureen, and Daniel and I would head off to our next Kenya destination, Lake Nakuru.
During our car ride, the scenery began to change. The roads became hilly, and curved, and the valleys got deeper and more vast. At various parts, we would see groups of people selling either sugar cane, roasted maize, or assorted fruits and vegetables. If you even slowed down a little bit, they would run up to your car, tapping on the windows, talking in Swahili, wanting you to buy something. At one point of the drive, we started getting kind of hungry, so we slowed down when we saw a group of guys selling roasted maize, a popular Kenyan snack, and bought a few to snack on. While at this stop, I had a group of people that had run up to my window, and were selling fruits. They all crammed together at the window, each one trying to gain my attention to show me what they were selling. "Jambo!" I said, and they all got excited and said it back to me. We had just greeted each other in Swahili! The lady closest to my window said, "We want to hear your accent! Talk more!" I laughed, and talked with them for a little bit, then said goodbye as we drove away. I love when we as people enjoy and appreciate each other's differences.
We sat back and just marveled at the scenery. We went through valleys filled with trees for miles, passed by large farms with people harvesting crops or tending to animals, and through small towns where people would be huddled outside of the convenient stores probably just catching up with each other. At another point in our trip, we stopped on the side of the road midway through this amazing valley. Maureen wanted to buy from a vegetable stand a group of women had set up. As soon as we started to pull over, the women ran to our car and started banging on the windows, yelling their prices. I was a little alarmed at how aggressive their selling tactic was, but Maureen sat so calmly in her seat and would ask for a price of something, and then take her purchase. Daniel and I were so entranced by the scenery that surrounded us, we decided to grab our cameras, and take advantage of the moment. It was pretty cold out, but we were too amazed to notice. After taking a plethora of pictures and feeling confident that we had at least somewhat captured the beauty, we got back in the car and continued our journey.