Here is the main drag in downtown Kisumu itself. You can get almost anything you need along this road, and I got pretty familiar with it. This was taken on a weekend - it's usually much busier and more conjested! Driving is really tricky - you have other drivers, motor rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, dogs, goats, and cows to contend with!
This last time I was in Kisumu, the malaria branch director was on vacation, and let me stay in her house (I think I mentioned that last installment). It was just wonderful. The side door is pictured below - the total house is a lot bigger than what fits in this picture.
And it even came with a cat - here is the much loved kitty cat.
Several MPH students stayed with me as well. We are dinner together nearly every night. I would usually cook dinner, Mike would go out to the garden to get lettuce and make a salad, and Lisa would clean up. We were quite a happy little family by the end! I miss them!
My last weekend, we went to a restaurant right on the shore - you can watch herons and kingfishers from your table - called Tilapia Beach. They have the morning's fresh caught fish all lined up - you pick the fish and how you want it cooked, and presto! I have never tasted fish so fresh and sweet as these - it was delicious!
I also went for a bird watching boat ride one afternoon - here is a stork on the beach of one of the fishing villages.
And here is a tete-a-tete with the Nile Perch - the fish that was introduced into Lake Victoria as a sport and commercial fishing fish, and has since decimated local fish populations. It gets very big, but a lot of people don't like the taste.
My time in Kisumu wrapped up the first week of June. I had an absolutely terrific month - I very much enjoyed all my colleagues, our study participants and their parents, and sitting in a rural African clinic again! The kids were of course all beautiful... 
I got to the lab to look at some of our smears and tried photographing some slides by holding the camera up to the microscope - it works reasonably well. The tiny reddish dots are parasites here. The big purple things are white blood cells.
Here was my staff - two nurses, two clinical officers, two compliance monitors, a clerical officer, a pharm tech, the driver, my study coordinator Chris, and myself!
On the last night, my staff took me out for dinner and dancing. Here I am with Sophie, the pharm tech, and Judy, the clerical officer.
And with Japheth (the driver), Kephas (lab), and Chris (my study coordinator). By the end of the night, they had replaced the local band on stage and were singing and dancing - very fun to watch!!
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