Kiambethu Tea Farm

Today's adventure started out with a drive about an hour from Lisa's house to a tea farm. The drive was interesting. First we went through the normal Kenyan side show on the way to the farm. Today was donkey day - we hadn't seen them until today. All of a sudden we saw them all over the place - pulling carts (that's why Lisa calls men pulling the same carts Donkey Men), standing by the road, and the funniest thing was seeing a donkey cart standing in line at a gas station. Kristoffer wanted to know how many miles a donkey was going to get per liter! When we got to the farm - it was delightful. But when we got close to the farm the countryside was beautiful - hilly, with many shades of green.

The owner's name was Fionia, she was born in Kenya, but sounded very British! She explained that her Grandfather bought 350 acres in 1910. They have sold off quite bit, and of the 35 acres they still have much of it has been kept as a natural forest. First, after being greeted by Fionia, we were introduced to the monkeys that live there. They are colobus monkeys, and we've included pictures of them. They were so funny. They were teasing the owner's dog - it was quite a show. There were several groups with us. One group was from the Salvation Army and the other was from an international missionary group. While sitting on the porch with one of the leaders from The Salvation Army, she asked where we were from in the States. We told her Massachusetts. She then told us she had a brother living in MA too. Of course we asked where - and the answer was in Andover on Andover St. Would you believe that!?!?!?! Then we had tea with a talk about how tea is grown and picked and then goes to a factory to be processed, then auctioned off. Fiona was about the third person who has hinted about the Chinese and how unhappy they are with them here. We then went on a nature walk in the forest that they have kept. The guide (whose father worked for the farm a long time ago too) knew all about the different trees - it was just the way they found the land in 1910. On the walk a man from the missionary group came up and asked Mike if he was a Red Sox Fan; Mike had his BC hat on, so he knew he had some interest in Boston. This man grew up in Massachusetts and has traveled the world, but continues to be a big fan.

When we returned from the walk, we had lunch in the garden. I kept thinking of Rickey Nelson's song about going to a garden party. Never in my life did I think I would be 7,200 ft high in Kenya eating a lovely lunch in a garden. The couple who shared our table were from Nebraska. He is a doctor and they are living in Peru in the mountains helping people and teaching the Gospel!!! Very interesting. They have 4 kids, two of whom were born in Peru.

We shared a lovely day with people from all over the world - everyone had a very nice time. The only problem with getting there was the road. It was by far the worse road we have been on -and that includes going through the safari ride we took! Grace was also a perfect angel the entire day - she barely peeped or woke up at all!

Here are some pictures from our day, including the donkeys on the ride home!