Cows and goats and sheep, oh my! Or: Maasai Land Or: Why my boots will never be clean again

So I am literally minutes off the bus returning from Oldonyo Sambu, which is a Maasai village near the Kenyan border where my friend Peter has been living and working, building desks for the local school. The Maasai are a very ancient tribe, one of the only tribes in the area that is not of the dominant Banutu racial group, and also some of the last true nomads in the world. They used to survive almost entirely off of cow's milk and blood, taken from the still living cow, as they didn't stay in one place long enough to plant crops. Things have changed somewhat, but Maasai children still herd cows, goats, and sheep, and cows are still the most prized possession for most families - no birth, death, circumcision or marriage is complete without some level of sacrifice. Also their jewelry is amazing. And the kids are hysterical. 

Yesterday was spent mostly wandering the market, which is apparently the biggest in the country - Maasai travel for days to participate in it. There were no other mzungus there - this is really not a tourist spot. The wares were mostly vegetables, traditional cloth for clothing or blankets, beads, and then a huge area of live animal sales. The entire area is so dry and windy that small twisters erupt everywhere, sometimes developing into funnels that touch the sky - which is both very cool and very intimidating to be close to!

Live animal sales, cow section

The market with a small twister overhead, which blew through the market moments after this was taken.

Thankfully, it was less powerful than this sucker, which would be downright painful.

 I stayed for the weekend in Peter's boma, or mud hut, which he has to himself but usually sleeps a family of seven or eight, plus several animals, depending on the weather. The animals still wander in and out. 

The outside of the bomas, subdivided within into several areas

The entrance to Peter's "room"

My "room"

Ahem. So that was wonderful for one night but I cannot imagine sharing that space with my six theoretical Maasai brothers and sisters. And a fire, and some goats, and a cow or two, and a bunch of chickens. Of course. Anyway, we spent most of the time between the market and dinner being amused by the kids, who are absolutely hysterical in any language. Below is a video of them performing and a bunch of general pictures of them - also check the photo gallery for some artsier shots.

I'm told the (goat) kids are used to this! Their panicked baaas would tend to belie that...

Kids and kids

Daniel (5)

Then the apocalypse came. Seriously, it was insane - it went from mild, sunny, beautiful weather to aggressive rain (the first of the season!), howling wind, encroaching darkness, and just general pain for anyone unlucky enough to be outside.

As the skies darkened behind them...

A VERY inadequate representation of the insanity that was unleashed, but the best I could do.

Yeah. A good time to have dinner with Peter's host family and turn in for the night, I think! This morning, we went to see a traditional healer, which was fascinating - this woman took over from her husband, who died last year, and showed us various traditional remedies stored in calabashes, or dried gourds, and described the rituals used with them. Some of them were pretty close to Western meds - i.e. charcoal ground up and used to cleanse the kidneys. Others I would pass on, particularly the face-paint-herb-love-potion. No thank you!

Our medicine woman

The entire experience was incredible and gorgeous and deeply, deeply African, no frills, hiking the two miles to the market and back like everyone else. Which leads me to why my boots will never be the same.

They were black once.

Eh. Worth it.