Morning walk to see the Caribbean Ocean, and checked out Salinas Grande
Had breakfast at Mango Cafe and visited Capilla de Guadalupe
then family breakfast at Loncheria El Chefcito
explored Playa Norte beach
lunch at a loncheria
explored Playa Norte area…
Airbnb host, Eva took us on a tour on her golf cart to Punta Sur…
then she took us to dinner at Cockteleria Mininos II, with freshly caught fish and ceviche mixto, to finish the day…
Early morning jog around the island, greeted by a gorgeous sunrise at Punta Sur
then headed to El Chimbo’s beach bar…
then explored the Mayan ruins, Punta Sur Trail and Statues park….
dinner at Tacqueria Erika’s Tacos, Tortas y Gringas food stand….
then off to music and dancing at Rinconcito Kahlo…
started day with church at Capilla de Guadalupe, and breakfast tacos to go from cochinita
rented a golf cart and explored the island starting with lunch at Loncheria Alexia y Geovanni at Mercado Municipal
then some dessert at Juanita Cafe, with Chiapas coffee grounds to go…
explored the island some more….
returned the golf cart and explored some more…
started the day watching the beautiful sun rise at Punta Sur
then enjoyed Kin Ha for most of the day…
then explored Hidalgo avenue, for some churro grande and happy hour margaritas
Dec 25 – Travel from Du Quoin
Travelled from Du Quoin for St. Louis Lambert International Airport and parked car at The Parking Spot 3 lot.
Southwest flight had stopover at Houston Hobby Airport and will land in Cancun International Airport.
Took shuttle service by CARM Transfers from Cancun airport to Puerto Juarez and boarded the 7PM Ultramar ferry to Isla Mujeres.
Had Christmas dinner at Mocambo Lonchero in Isla Mujeres, then took taxi to Casa Espana.
left Airbnb home around 10A, boarded public bus to ferry terminal
boarded Ultramar ferry and shuttle to Cancun airport…
then wait for plane for St. Louis and then drive back home…
Our Kenya trip was born out of side conversations during a few visits with Fr. Joseph when he mentioned he was going to his home in Kenya for the first time after over 10 years in the United States.
Fr. Joseph arranged the places to visit and arranged transportation and accommodations. The trip was an adventure in my opinion. We get to see different kinds of landscape, temperature, people, food, tribes and culture. We got lost a few times and have to ask directions a few times. Our vehicle (a Nissan Urvan) went to areas I never thought it could go, but thanks to the amazing skills of our driver.
Below are the “explorers”; (myself [doing the selfie :=)], Tony and Marites Jones, Isla [missed one week of school, Edward aka Edu [our driver], front row: Francis [missed 2 weeks of school], Beth from Herrin, back row: Mitchelle, and our beloved Fr. Joseph.
Click on the link to get to pictures of each day. Click home to get back to this page.
Feb 27: Day 1 – Nairobi; discuss itinerary, get Shillings
Feb 28: Day 2 – Nairobi National Park, and Bomas of Kenya
Mar 3: Day 5 – Visit to Fr. Joseph’s Home Town
Mar 4: Day 6 – Kisumu Museum, Mt. Kit-Mikayi, Dunga Beach along Lake Victoria
Mar 5: Day 7 – St Teresa of the Child Jesus Cathedral in Kibuye, Kisumu, Chepkiit Falls, Meetup with Fr. Walter in Eldoret
Mar 6: Day 8 – Lake Bogoria, travel back to Nairobi
Mar 7: Day 9 – Visit Kibera slum in Nairobi, and to Fr. Joseph’s apartment
Mar 8: Day 10 – Downtown Nairobi, Visit to Mother House of the Little Sisters of St, Joseph
Mar 9; Day 11 – Visit with Rhea, Visit with Sara, Depart Nairobi
Below is a screen shot of our trip:
Our Travel to Nairobi, Kenya starts with about a 6+ hours car ride (including Chicago traffic) from DuQuoin, IL to Chicago O’Hare International Airport. We left DuQuoin around 7AM CT and arrived in Chicago with a lunch break at Jollibee along Elston Ave.
We flew British Airways with stopover at Heathrow Airport in London, and after delay in Heathrow landed in Nairobi around 11PM local time on Feb 26th, and got out of the airport after midnight with Fr. Joseph waiting for us at the arrival gate.
1st day was mostly rest due to getting to bed early dawn. late breakfast/lunch at Savelberg Retreat Center in Nairobi, our home for the next couple of days. We discussed what we will be doing in the next few days and the places we are going to go.
After lunch, we visited our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Church in Nairobi. This is where Fr. Joseph celebrates mass every so often. The church is very close in distance to Savelberg Retreat Center.
We visited a nearby mall to get money changed to local currency, bought groceries and water. Went to liquor section of Carrefour market to look for local spirits and accidentally broke a bottle like a kid (..ooopsss!) Gladly, the manager considered it an accident and just wants us to buy something and discovered the Amarula, which is a spirit from the Marula fruit from Africa which the elephants and other animals love to eat.
We had a good time after dinner chatting and drinking the Amarula and another spirit (which the latter we discovered after the bottle was almost empty that it had an expiry date which was July of last 2022, hahaha!).
We went on a safari trip to the Nairobi National Park, right inside Nairobi. You can see the city buildings and landscape in the horizons where the animals lived.
Pictures of animals are in a separate post here.
Outside the park some Maasai people hang around for tourists to have pictures taken to earn a living….
Oh, the places you'll go... 