"There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it."

5/21/2011. En Route from Nairobi, Kenya to Arusha, Tanzania

Charles Dudley Warner was right, but by no means did I originally perceive this journey to be a pilgrimage. But as is with all things in life, perception constantly shifts according to your evolving past, present, and future.

As I said before, our journey/my pending pilgrimage began at a Jesuit University. I could totally try to think of a philosophical segue to match Jesuit principles with my forthcoming mindset of a pilgrim, but I'm not going to. Here's the entrance to our floor of the building, safety first I guess (until we realized that we were being locked in not out... to keep the bad guys out or the good souls in, I still can't tell):

Pretty bars, I bet if prisons used these the inmates would be in much better moods

I was pretty exhausted at this point, so specific details on how we got on the bus that would take us from Nairobi, Kenya to Arusha, Tanzania are a bit fuzzy, but it happened. Here's a picture of our packs at the bus stop in Nairobi:

I enjoy packing gear and doing inventory of all my travel/survival shit

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again... I love bus rides, car rides, boat rides, any sort of ride. The rougher the road, the better. I didn't sleep a wink during the 4 hour ride, but why would I. I had been waiting for this my entire life, a chance to see with my own eyes what Africa has to offer. And god did it deliver. Here's a view of the countryside at one of the stops we made:

Arrow's pointing the wrong way. Paradise Gallery is literally anywhere and everywhere you turn your head.

This particular rest stop was cute and friendly, and if I remember correctly, this is where our group made its first souvenir purchase (my friend Tyler bought a Massai knife). The vegetation here was everything I had hoped it to be... lush, green, novel to my eyes but again strangely familiar.

One of the more beautiful rest stops I've ever been to.

My friend Rajeev and I

My other two friends who happen to be engaged now, Tyler and Annie

Cool paintings on the back of the building, my question is why would you put these in the back?

Back on the bus, heading full speed ahead to Arusha. Here are some quick thoughts I jotted down during our bumpy drive (it was a nightmare to decipher what the hell I actually wrote): "Some of the trees here look like spindly brown fingers that sprang up from the ground to balance fuzzy green dinner plates. Clouds of dusty red smoke rise slowly above the savanna from both the feet of local tribesmen and from the hoofs of the cows they herd. Tribal women walk near the side of the road wearing shiny silver jewelry and vibrant-colored clothing. It's the little things like these that I have to remember, I cannot forget these little things..."

One of the highlights of the drive was when we saw a giraffe just chillin' on the side of the road. But actually, for me, this evoked an opposite reaction to everyone else. We all scrambled on one side of the van to try and get a good look/picture of the beautiful animal (including me), but amidst all the excitement and pointing, I couldn't help but think that this shouldn't be as rare of a sighting as it is. I don't know, I just had a sudden overwhelming sense of sadness after seeing that lone giraffe. Pathetic maybe, but the fact of the matter is biodiversity is decreasing exponentially in Africa thanks to human interference. And I absolutely despise this.

Live on dude, may you never see people again!

 Alright, it's time for me to continue on with my day, so unfortunately I won't be able to finish this post. But I'll update as soon as I have some more time.