Have you ever been to Iten, in Eldoret, home of heroes? If you haven't done so you should. (News: Kenya Airways now flies daily.) I love Itten because I love the romance of the cold and the lure of the fog. I love the green hills and the endless mystery of the land.
I love the main restaurant and bar at Kerio View Hotel, as crumbly as it may seem to first-timers, with painfully obvious African artwork and sculptures and Maasai tablecloths. I love the constant call of the fireplace at night and the high ceilings and view from the stained glass windows during the day.
It's a place where you can sit and work, or sit and stare out at the distant clusters of villages in the valley and wonder about the lives of the men and women there and whether their children dream of anything but gold medals and universal adoration.
I broke all my travel rules by visiting Kerio View Hotel more than once. I was there for the fourth time last week. I love the short quiet drive from the airport, then through the chaotic hustle and bustle of Eldoret and on to the scenic farms, the green hills past athletes with zero body fat running gracefully down the side of the road like human cheetahs. It was raining constantly when I arrived, and it rained all night.
If you like solitude, get one of the cottages facing the cliff. It's compact, but what extra space do you need when you have so much flexibility in your mind to imagine, create and sponge?
Their best feature is their balcony overlooking the cliff and valley beyond. Fog rolling towards you in the evening. It's the place to finish reading books. Nights can get disturbingly lonely in your cold bed, but don't think about that, think about how Daniel feels about that whale.
On Sunday morning, while I was eating breakfast, the restaurant was playing the best local gospel music by artists I had never heard of; Angel Benard and Cristina Chouchow. It was exhilarating.