"You leave bags here, and you come eat"

The rest of us all made it safely to Kenya, too, without any complications. Back-to-back eight-hour flights are not easy, but we were well-fed and the seats have those cool neck roll things that you can adjust to keep your sleepy head from rolling sharply one way or the other. The 10 of us in the main group arrived in Mombasa around midnight Sunday (local time, which is all relative when you're in Africa) and Howard, Lynne, J.J. and Alex came together Monday morning.

Right now, we're halfway through the matatu ride from Mombasa to Tarasaa, where we will spend the better part of the next three weeks. The Internet is painfully slow, so it will be difficult to provide daily updates, but we'll do our best. Pictures will probably have to wait until we get back.

We're all ready for some sleep, but it's safe to say that nobody is starving. An unofficial count had us eating 10 times in a span of 36 hours, thanks to that bizarre feeding schedule on international flights. Then when we showed up at the Presbyterian Guest House in Mombasa to stay the night, we had our first taste -- literally -- of Kenyan hospitality.

Though everyone preferred to check into the rooms and crash underneath the mosquito net, we had one more meal to eat. The friendly woman at the front desk didn't seem to mind that we were tired and full. They had food to share with us, so "hapana" was not an answer.

"You leave bags here; then you come eat," she said twice, the second time in response to the useless "we're fine, thanks" we mumbled through polite smiles. It's nice to be welcome.

--Dave