The VIP ballers we obviously are

There are worse ways to spend a day than at the airport, being bumped from cancelled flight to cancelled flight for 10 hours.  It might take some time to think of them, but they exist.  For instance, I could be spending the day at the DMV.  Or, as someone else aptly said, I could be on a free vacation in Somalia with my new pirate friends.  Here, I am at least equipped with bookstores, internet, and plentiful candy.  And as I endlessly scuttle back and forth between far ends of the terminal, periodic Johnnie Walker Black Label signs encourage me to just "keep walkin."  Positive motivation all around.

I'm waiting to go to Zzzzanzibar!  (Maybe a Z or two extra in there). But while I'm here, I'll try to catch up on some Marsabit festivities, namely the wedding.  No, not this wedding in Nairobi; I got invited to a second one, if you can believe it.  It seems that the honor of my presence is very much in demand these days.  A few weeks ago, we were invited by our friend Jeremy, the one who fought the leopard and won, to attend his uncle's wedding in Logo Logo.

Apparently, Samburu weddings now happen twice: once in the Christian church and then again in traditional manner.  I was a bit concerned about what to wear until I remembered the swath of traditional Samburu fabric I bought at the Camel Derby in Maralal.

Where's the muzungu?  With my Samburu style, you can hardly spot me!

We got picked up in the morning in a white landcruiser (as always) by Jeremy and an entourage of 9 other adults and 5 children.  In a single vehicle.  For 2 hours.  But the best part was rolling into Logo Logo.  Someone had made a 90s hip-hop mix of Toni Braxton, TuPac, and Dr. Dre for the journey, and as we pulled into the small village, like the VIP ballers we obviously are, the driver turned up the volume to blast Mariah Carey.

The church wedding had all of the typical accouterments: church, pews, hymns, priest... only twice as long because the entire service was given first in Kiswahili and then in Samburu (double the amount for me to not understand), and also twice as hot as the entire town of Logo Logo seemed to be invited.

Pre-chaos church

Indoor wedding happenings

Just a standard wedding... sittin' and people watchin' in the pews

In fact, so many people tried to attend that ushers kept kicking the young ones outside to make room for the elders (I was either an exception to that rule or didn't understand anyone telling me to move).  Subsequently, kids and adults alike built pebble towers with which to peer through the high windows.

The hottest event to hit Logo Logo this year

I spy...

And the decorated get-away car for the happy couple:

Limo Land Cruiser

Unfortunately, out of the 2 ceremonies, we were only able to see the Christian church portion.  One reason was that the ceremony started so late and took so long that we needed to get back on the road to Marsabit so we wouldn't be caught out after dark.  The other reason was that a rival tribe had reputedly stolen 200 camels the night before and the morans (The young men warriors of the Samburu people) were all out of town avenging the theft, and were thus unable to perform the traditional wedding dances.

Livestock thievery vengeance... the ominous cloud above all happy occasions.