Nairobi, Kenya, 01 April 1987:   Jambo!  A birthday has become just a day to contemplate my own mortality.  Actually, I'm thankful to have made it this far (sometimes wondering whether I would) and to feel so healthy.

I'm having breakfast right now.  Like every other meal in Kenya, it often includes french fries.  I'm getting french-fried out!  Also served at every meal is something they call tea, which is actually only about 30 percent tea, 30 percent sugar and 40 percent milk.  I'm looking forward to food in Europe again.

Although they are a minority of less than ten percent of the population, Asian Indians seem to be running about 70 percent of the businesses in Eastern Africa.  They tend to be educated and successful, but in spite of their relative weath, I haven't heard much prejudice or animosity expressed toward them ... although Idi Amin once kicked them out of Uganda.  Perhaps, it is because they are often philantropic and generous.  Their temples often provide shelters for the homeless.  Last night, I watched as the Indian manager of a fast food restaurant bought ice cream cones for all of 19 street beggers (women and children) outside his shop.  I'm not sure if such benevolence is typical, since such folks sometimes have to accumulate wealth by not often giving it away.

The other day I went to a little known newly established national park called Hell's Gate.  They still don't charge for entry since there are no fences or gates up yet.  Unlike other national parks, they permit you to walk through rather than drive through, since the wild animals (gazelle, antelope, baboons, zebra, giraffe, ostrich and a variety of colorful birds) are not considered dangerous.  Walking through by myself, I found the animals to be more shy than in parks where they frequently see tourists in vehicles.  None of the animals would allow me to approach to within 50 meters of them, which was close enough to enjoy a good and unthreatening look, but did not permit the wide angle lens on my camera to do them justice on photographs.  Had I known what I later found out, that a number of lions had recently been spotted in the park, I wouldn't have walked through the park and certainly not by myself.

The following day, I climbed Mt. Longonot, going from 6000 to 9000 feet in altitude and back.  It is an extinct volcano that erupted about 90 years ago and produced one of the world's largest craters.  The views inside the crater and outside to the Great Rift Valley were spectacular.  By the end of the walk, however, I was dehydrated and a little sick.  It took a couple bottles of soda and a few glasses of water to replenish my strength.

The weather continues to be perfect here.  Nairobi's rainy season is overdue, which is fine for me.

The U.S.S.R. and Athens are next.  Brenda is gone now, and I'm on my own again after 11 weeks traveling with her.

Kwa Heri (Goodbye),
Daktari

Moscow, USSR, 6 April 1987:   Dobrahyay ootra!  (Good morning!)   I arrived at Moscow International Airport at 5:00 AM this morning after a 12 hour flight which included an hour stop in which we could get off the plane into the airport at Aden, South Yemen.  Some of the food provided on the plane and here at the hotel has been very good while some has been mediocre, but it certainly has been plentiful.

Because I am only a transit passenger and have no visa for the U.S.S.R. this time, I am not permitted to leave the hotel all day, except for the three hour tour of Moscow provided for us, during which we were likewise not permitted to leave the bus.  The temperature today was between 30 and 45 degrees with a little snow remaining, but there are still people out ice fishing on the Moscow River.  This is really quite an amazing and beautiful city, and I think the people of Moscow have much for which to be proud.

I was very pleased to contact by phone two friends here, one woman who was and interpreter during our "peace workcamp" last year and another whom I believe to be the prettiest woman I ever met.  Unfortunately, the officials would not permit them to come to visit me at the hotel.  In spite of that, they seemed very happy to hear from me.  Geez, it was great!

I heard that they showed our video of the workcamp on television in Boston.

Doh sveedahnya (Goodbye)!

Athens, Greece, 16 April 1987:  Kali mera! (Good morning!)   Santorini is debatably one of the prettiest of the hundreds of Greek Islands.  It is a huge dormant volcano that long ago collapsed and left a spectacular caldera with high cliffs and commanding panoramas.  The buildings are almost exclusively cement painted white with blue trim and many blue domed churches.  The beaches are of natural black volcanic sand.  The village steets are narrow and have a laid-back atmosphere.  The business of this and most of the Greek Islands is almost exclusively tourism.

My latest group of compatriots are a Canadian guy and girl and two British girls.  The girls will remain here looking for work, of which there is plenty, while the Canadian guy and I will head for a couple days to Ios, which has the reputation of being the world's party island.

Due to boat strikes, a common occurence here, we were stuck in Athens several days longer than we may have liked.  Still, I had a good time playing guitar at the youth hostel bar in the evenings.  At first they offered me only my accomodation and drinks for 3 hours of playing each night, but since I more than doubled their normal business, they paid me some money as well, and when I return next week they offered me my meals to boot.  The only thing I don't like about it is that, since I never had proper voice training, trying to sing loudly without a microphone is very abusive to my voice.

The weather has not been cooperating lately.  It's the coldest I've been since the top of Kilimanjaro.  Even Moscow was warmer.

Yahsoo (Goodbye)!
Dionyses

Athens, Greece, 24 April 1987:   Kali mera (Good morning)!  While I was on the beautiful islands of Santorini and Ios, I daily faced the following kinds of dilemmas:  Should I have an Amstel or a Carlsburg?  Should I have the Italian spagetti or the Greek souvlaki?  Should I go lie on the beach or go later after hanging out at the pool hall with my traveling buddies?  Being a decadent lush is not always easy, as you can see.

Athens, Greece, 29 April 1987:   Over the weekend, I went to Delphi out of a guilt complex for being such a decadent lush and not taking in more ancient Greek culture while I'm here.  After awhile, one Greek ruin looks like another, but what makes Delphi so special is the spectacular setting in the mountains overlooking the Gulf of Corinth.  The ancient Greeks thought that Delphi was the center of the universe and built a temple to the god Apollo there.  For me, it was a pleasant diversion from noisy, smoggy Athens, and it gave my singing voice a break.

Tonight is the twelveth and final night that I will play at the Festos Youth Hostel bar.  It has been the principle high point in a month which has had a greater number of low points.  Among the downers has been the loss of my camera and a multifold replacement cost, the loss of my warm blue jacket, the boat strikes that limited my time on the islands, the failure to receive money by wire and paying double to forward it, the bad weather, the flat tire I had to pay for on my rent-a-car, and the expensive and sometimes unnecessary international phone calls.  This has been a costly month of screw-ups, but I remain undaunted and ready to move on.

Love and peace,
Deano

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