Today we set our sights for Lake Bosomtwe! According to my Google maps, it’s about 5 hours by car, although I heard that this depends on what route you take and what shape the roads are in. Either way, it should be an adventurous trip. Driving is often a good way to get to see and know a country. After…
In March of last year, I visited the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. I had purchased a MuseumCard which gave me access to a slew of museums in Amsterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands, and I had been methodically going down the list and visiting each one. The Allard Pierson is an archaeological museum with a permanent collection that contains…
Today we woke up earlier than usual. Sunday is a very important day of worship for the residents of Lalibela, and the procession of people heading to the church for services is an awe-inspiring sight. Our hotel knows that tourists like to watch the processional, so they had breakfast prepared early for us. Hailu came to pick us up at…
My friend Mike is very into comics, anime, and graphic novels. He raved about this re-imagining of the life of the cartoon character Snagglepuss. Treated as serious subject matter, the collection takes us through the McCarthy era and blacklisting, Stonewall (yes, Snagglepuss is gay!), the Rosenberg executions, Marilyn Monroe’s relationship with Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller, and many aspects of…
Accra, Ghana. 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday – After clearing customs and getting my suitcase, I met my driver holding a Mission Rabies sign, and we were off to the Agoo Hostel, where I can chill out and relax for a bit. At 7 p.m. I’ll have dinner with the other Mission Rabies Ghana 2020 team members who have arrived.…
As funny as it is epic, John Mulaney’s Saturday Night Live lavish musical about analyzing the health-risk limits of corner store bodega items returned this week with “Airport Sushi” – A journey into what happens when you order the pre-made sushi at Laguardi Airport. While the song and dance number is hilarious, the arc de triumph is when David Byrne…
We woke up early, had breakfast at our hotel, and then met our guide, Haliu. We rode into town in a tuk-tuk while he gave us the history of the churches. – There are 13 churches. They are divided into groups. There’s the northern cluster, which we were going to visit in the morning. In the afternoon, we would explore…
Today we fly to Lalibela, to see the famous rock churches tomorrow. Along the drive from the airport to our hotel, at large crowd of people were marching in our direction. It was a funeral procession. When someone from these villages passes away, the entire community mourns. I discreetly managed to get a video of the procession from inside the…
Mark’s main interest in life is food. He is a big-time foodie, spending nearly every evening watching cooking videos, thumbing through cookbooks, and perusing cooking blogs. When we go into a bookstore, he visits one section and one section only: the cookbooks. There is a travel video blogger named Mark Wiens who makes videos which are a perfect mix of…
The flight from Mombasa to Addis Ababa was only 2 hours, 15 minutes, and passport control was pretty fast. This hotel offers a free shuttle service, so they were waiting when we arrived. A nice big van, just for me and Mark. This hotel, the Golden Tulip, was pretty nice. Accommodations in Addis run the gamut, from major luxury to…
Once upon a time, I spotted a sexy, shirtless young guy on the dance floor of the Roxy. I looked at him, and he smiled at me, but we didn’t speak to each other. Later that week, I exchanged pictures with a guy in an aol chatroom. Lo and behold, it was the guy from the dance floor! He lived…
Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya after Nairobi, and it’s on the coast. There’s city stuff to do, and beach stuff to do. In all of the guidebooks that I had read, they recommended staying at a beach hotel and NOT in the city proper, as there are potential safety issues for tourists. Diani Beach was the recommended…
Mittens 2005 – 2020 On Thursday night, January 16th, my dear cat Mittens lost her short battle with colon cancer, two months shy of her 15th birthday. My history with cats is long and wonderful, and this ends another touching chapter in that personal history book. Next month will mark 20 years that Mark and I have been together. When…
Our first full day in Nairobi was a memorable one. We woke up early, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, and then Uber’ed it to another hotel, the Kenya Comfort Suites, in downtown Nairobi. It was the meeting point for our tour. On tap this day was a tour of the Giraffe Center, followed by the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. About seven…
Our departure day finally arrived. Our visas were in order (I had taken care of that online, through the e-visa program), our bags were all packed, Mittens was safely nestled into her hospital cage (see the last post), and we were ready to go. It’s a very long flight to Nairobi: 14½ hours. I had selected our seats for the…