Last weekend was absolutely perfect. I spent a good portion of the time exploring some local shops for unique African antiquities (of which there are several great places that will quickly suck your money dry!), and the other half taking a short roadtrip outside the dusty metropolis known as Nairobi to visit a bush glass factory and have a sundowner picnic along the Rift Valley. Since I could spend hours typing about my less than stimulating attempts at finding the perfect ceremonial food box from Zambia, or seeking out a scary wooden mask from Congo for my brother, I figure my time/typing would be better spent talking about the bizarre, unique, and beautiful Kitengela Bush Glass Factory and watching sunset on a rock in the middle of absolute nowhere, while we played “Mystery Science Theater” with a local Masai family who was so curious about our eating activities that they sat and stared at us for nearly an hour while we ate. So here goes :o).
Sunday started with a trip to the local coffee shop, Java, for Erica and I to pick up our obligatory double skim lattes (coffee is SO good here!). Then we (Sabrina, Erica, Eric, Carrie, and I) drove beyond the boundaries of Karen and into the bumpy “wild west” bush area surrounding Nairobi. Kitengela Glass, as their website says, is reached over an “atrocious road of rocks and gullies in the dry season”, and quite an awful road it is. It did help that we passed several wild zebras along the way, which made for interesting scenery. The company has several outlets in Nairobi proper, but the factory itself is worth the headache (literally). Situated on open land overlooking a valley, the factory is one of the most original places I’ve ever seen. Imagine mud hut structures randomly placed in the “bush”, wild animals (turkeys, goats, donkeys, etc.) roaming about, beautiful sculptures made of glass mosaics, bright glass bottles hanging from the tree-tops, basketball hoops hanging from a tree decorated with glass pieces, and several interesting clay structures for sitting, displaying wire designs and of course, colorful glass. I’m certainly not doing the place justice in my description, which is why I took several pictures. It was a dream come true for my sharp L lens, as every angle afforded me the opportunity to capture beautiful color and sharp glass detail, highlighted by “bush” bokeh.
We spent a few hours wandering through their fancy glass gallery, where they feature one-of-a-kind pieces set off by a mud room painted white with several windows. The floor is all shiny glass mosaics and mirrors, which kept disorienting me and caused me to bump my head or feet into some of the art (oops!). In the center was a green pond with lilypads, with a metal shaped ladder leading to the roof. We took turns climbing up to the roof, seeing more unique sculptures placed at the top, and taking in some of the beautiful views. After grabbing up a few special pieces I thought might look good with my kitchenware in the states, I followed the group through the workshop to see one of the artists painting and several glass projects in the making.
The very special thing about Kitengela, is that all the glass is recycled locally, and the artists spend much of their time training local Kenyans to mass produce commercial glassware (which is still very unique since each piece is handblown and seems to have a special story about it). Seeing where everything was made brought the process full-circle for me, and I loved being nosey as I wandered through the different rooms with signs for painting, unfinished stained glass windows, and colorfully painted rows of drawers filled with materials (paint, glass, I’m really not sure!).
Next we went to the bead shop, where colorful glass beads hang from strings, sit in little canisters, and provide beautiful glass prisms for where the light shines through. I was entranced with everything in that little hut (yes, another one made of mud!) and had to restrain myself before I had seen everything in their main shop, so I could pick and choose based on all the merchandise information :o).
Next to the bead hut is a cute little outhouse, also decorated with glass mosaics and a funky green door. If you go inside you’ll find a lidded loo that when opened reveals colorful glass mosaics in a beautiful rainbow pattern. I have never quite seen such a gorgeous toilet in my life! A clear blue glass bowl catches the water from the faucet, and the whole rooms seems alive with light as everything reflects any fragment of light available.
In the main shop – the largest of all mud domes – houses the main kiln, which runs entirely on oil.
Eric got a lot more of the details about the process itself, but I was a bit entranced by the colorful glass bottles, wine glasses, and large glass dishes. Colors of blue, green, orange, and grey ignited the darkened room. Large glass footprints absorbing the sunlight outdoors, glowed from the ceiling, sparking more light on the numerous chandeliers and glass baubles hung from the windows and doors.
I finally settled on 6 more wine glasses to match the ones I had already sent home with Ben, a glass cheese plate, and an olive dish (for my newfound obsession with olives). I also bought a small orange vase and a pink glass mosaic mirror mobile for my bedroom. When we finally had all the boxes of glasswares packed up in the car, it began to feel extremely ironic that we were about to tramp across one of the worst roads in town, carrying pounds of freshly-blown glass. Luckily, as far as I know, everyone’s purchases made it home safely.
We continued back to the main road, leading out to the Rift Valley, near the house I stayed at back in the early Spring. At the turn off for the valley proper, we drove for what seemed like nearly an hour more, over an absolutely horrendous road that seemed to go one forever. It must have only been about 15 km, it just was really that awful. We drove past Masai villages, wild zebra, herds of goats and cows, and your occasional family walking home from church. Some of the views of the valley and the passersby were so gorgeous, I had to stick my entire body out the window as the car lurched forward. Erica had a strong handle on the back of my jeans, in case I flew out the window :o).
Finally we arrived at “the rock”, a beautiful clump of boulders in the middle of some of the most gorgeous landscape. We climbed to the top, unloaded our coolers and baskets, and indulged in a fairly decadent bush picnic, complete with fresh roasted chicken, insalata caprese, Russian salad, pasta salad, fresh spicy salami, cheese, olives, grapes, rice krispie treats (made with local, pink marshmallows in the shape of tiny “Peeps”, and white chocolate macademia nut cookies (my contribution!).
Soon after we laid out the food, a local Masai family came by and two young boys climbed nearly the entire summit of the rock to sit by us and just watch. It was pretty funny, as we could only imagine their confusion to all of our food in containers, the weird shapes, colors, and smells, and the way in which it was all presented. We laughed, they laughed, and finally their mothers called them down off the rock, where a large group of about 8 formed to continue the role of audience.
The slowly drifted lower in the sky, and the light was perfect for a few spectacular landscape shots – some of my favorites of Kenya thus far (don’t I say that every week?). When it was time to pack up our cooler, I volunteered to share cookies and rice krispie treats with the family, and watched as they eyed the strange items nervously, but eventually took large bites out of the sweet desserts. Even though I felt uncomfortable taking their picture, I managed to sneak in one unnoticed as we climbed into the car.
The sky couldn’t have been more gorgeous, and neither could the memories.
