It was a beautiful morning for so many reasons.  1. there was no agenda, no schedule, and freedom to explore. 2. there were adorable, lost dogs to love. 3. there were 2 Maasai (Masai) kids and 2 Canadians ready for an adventure in the forest.

“Dogs are friendly!” I feel like I say this all the time… but it’s true.  American dogs are friendly.

So we set off on an adventure. Jo and I laughed at our choice of shoes… both of us in our closed-toe, slightly fashionable shoes… then Mathayo and Sifa joined us in their malapa (flip-flops).

We set off, following the path and the signs, and sang and laughed and panted. (We’re all terribly out of shape from sitting in the car for so many weeks in a row.)

And soon there was no more path to follow… but instead of turning around, we pressed on into thicker and thicker thicket. We were sure that we could bust through the thorns, scale the rocks, jump the cliffs, and soon we had bruises, scratches, and dirt from head to toe.

Sifa and I switched shoes. (I’m not convinced it was a great idea, but the thought was nice.) She put her size 6 feet into my size 9 shoes, and I fell off the ends of her malapa (flip-flops), and we set out trying to find our way down the mountain… the smallest Maasai (Masai) leading the way.

It was beautiful. We were truly lost. We all felt alive again and enjoyed ourselves immensely.