Good & Bad = ALL Worth it.

Kristin Torres
Apr 2
12 min read

Updated: Apr 7

This post I figured I would write about some of the moments that will live with me forever, good and bad.

Good: Monkeys joining us for lunch, sitting at our table.

Bad: Seeing locals / aquaintances pick thru the trash of a 5 star resort. We would often take shortcuts down to the beach with the dogs. More often than not, we would see aquaintances, say hello, while they picked thru the trash for food from a 5-star hotel. Your heart breaks and it makes you wonder about how wasteful we have become, when people have far less.

Good/Scary: We decided to do a self drive across Namibia, which was amazing. however, the cell service was horrible (we paid extra for a GPS in the truck). Namibia is one of the least most populated countries in the world.... Anyway, we got lost somehow, went 5 hours in the wrong direction. When we tried to fix our mistake, we ended up on some off the beaten path route, which basically looked like the set of "the hills have eyes" for a solid 3.5 hours. We'd have to jump out of the truck and open random gates set up on the road for no reason.... The houses/locals we drove by, they looked like they had never seen a truck before. It was a nervewracking, exhilairating 3.5 hours. Terrified we'd pop a tire or break down and these people would probably cut us up and feed us to their cats! But we got back on track!

Good: Devils pool, Zimbabwe. Now I have always been a bit of an adrenaline junkie. This was incredible. Extremely nervewracking, but truly a moment we will not forget. The scariest part was walking on the rocks on the edge of the falls to the pool itself. The rocks were slippery and the current was so strong!

Eye Openning: I don't really want to label this one has "bad", because it's not. I guess it's just another of "normal" I hadn't experienced yet. But looking around us, I could see this was normal for the civilians, so it put me more at ease. Ehtiopia is not a HUGE tourist desitination... We knew this going here. Seeing UN (United Nations) trucks all over was first for us. Seeing military trucks filled with soliders with weapons was new for us too. Then again, seeing children carrying around AK 47's was a new thing for us too.

Good: Seeing kids, babies even on motorcycles. Seeing expat parents send their child to school on a motorcycle taxi. The level of trust is truly eye openning.

Good: Having elephants drinking out of our pool while my feet were in it, in Zimbabwe.

Bad: When all blew up so quickly in the first 3 months,... with our lawyer ripping us off of 10k, Ryan nearly being deported. we were desparate. We had a connection to a young guy who was able to help us. Somehow he had Government access and was able to log into the database to check on ryans residency. Anyway, we were out of options and met this guy in the mall in town. He jumped on the computer of a candy store kiosk to login and begin the process. We handed him our passports and $300 USD. I know, this sounds crazy irresponsible; but this is how you get things done here. Desarate times call for desparate measures. It worked out in the end.

Good: ATV ride in the Namib Desert.

Good: Being picked up by UNILAD, The Daily Mail UK, the New York Post for our trip to Devils Pool and the photos that I shared online of us hanging over the waterfall.

Good: Getting to be able to get out of the safari truck to take photos with balck rhinos in the kalahari desert.

Good: Hunting with the Hadzabe tribe and smoking weed with them! (the tongue clicking tribe). These are some of the very last ture hunters and gatherers in the world. We had to be there at 6 am sharp, or theyd leave without us. We had a translator with us, Georgo. (super impressive he can speak their tongue!) When we arrived, they were smoking weed, they believe it gives them energy. They seemed kind of older, so we didnt question if we wold be able to keep up with them. WELL! this was THREEE HOURS of us running thru thr thick african bush, with 4" acacia thorns, just trying to keep up with them! They hunt with bows and arrows and it was so so awesome!

After the hunt, they shared some of their catch with us, (it still have feathers on it). They showed us how they make their bows and let us practice their bow & arrows. They also shared some of their weed with us, so we got to smoke with them and then joined in their traditional song and dances. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.

Good: Getting to play with adult lions in zimbabwe. cheetahs too.

Good/Odd: Visiting Matruni Waterfalls region, the entire village is drunk basically 24/7. They make banana beer, which basically looks like porriage in a big plastic container and they drink it in communal cups. It's strong and pretty disgusting. When we were driving thru, all the locals kept calling ryan "chuck norris" and we got invited into one of the local bars and into the VIP section, which was basically looked like a tree house some kids wouldve made. While but there drinking our gross banana beer, i noticed a couple of babies sleeping on the floor in the other corner of the treehouse.

Good: Going to a hidden bar out in the mangroves. Had to walk about 3/4 of a mile in the water to get to it. Super cool spot.

Good: Self drive in South Africa. pride of lions in the road.

Good: Soussvlei / Deadvlei, Namibia. Super unique. The trees have been dead for nearly 1k yrs, but petrified due to the climate; It looked like a Salvador Dali painting. We under estimated the hike up "Big Daddy" dune, so with camera gear and all, we started up. With every step, we sunk back 3. It took us forever and once we got to the top, it was very rewarding views but the wind was fierce. The wind kept whipping the sand in our eyes! the run down the dune on the other side into deadvlei was really fun. Once the sun was up and in full swing of the desert heat, it was unbearable.

Good: Pangolin, South Africa. For those of you who do not know, the pangolin is the most heavily poached animal in all of Africa. The wet markets in Asia sell their scales for $4-5k each. It is said to bring you tremendous luck if you are lucky enough to see one, in daylight. Most safari guides have yet to see one. One safari guide had been in the business 25 yrs, had only seen 1 in his entire career. Oddly enough, when we started the game drive, the guide asked what we were hoping to see. Ryan said (as a joke), "if you show me a pangolin, i'll make it worth your while." We set out and for hours we didnt see much of anything. We were tracking a hyena, and then stumbled upon the pangolin. We got to stay and watch the conservancy research team come out to put a new gps tag on her, since she somehow ripped hers off. They decided to put a new tag on her also, and gave us the orginal. Oddly enough, our luck began to change after this.

Bad: Hamer tribe, Ethiopia. (Omo Valley). We were SO excited to go see the hamer tribe. and just our luck, they were doing a bull jumping ceremony. (where a man enters adulthood, he must walk across the backs of bulls, naked). It is a huge celebration, and we thought we were so lucky to witness. Now, Omo Valley does not get a lot of tourists.... And to go see this celebration, we drove about 10+ miles off the ONLY road, deep into the Ethiopian bush. Everyone was hammered, including our guide. They make their own alcohol, and the children all have the extended belly from malnutriution. Before the celebration began, one of the higher ups of the tribe got into an argument with one of his wives. He began to beat the absolute piss out of her, 4 feet from us. She tried to stand up, but she had fallen into an acacia thon bush (thorns are about 4" long). Now why didn't we try to help? Oh you know, EVERY SINGLE PERSON THERE WAS STRAPPED WITH an AK 47, bullets on their waste as a belt around their tribal shuka. The entire night, we were not allow to take photos, these are the tribes that DO NOT want visitors, so why did they let us join this? It was pitch black deep in the bush of Ethiopia, on the border of Sout Sudan somewhere and we had to try to help the drunk guide find our pick up truck to bring us back to the lodge. Sadly, the entire night I could not relax, the entire night all I kept thinknig was, "wow, we could literally go missing tonight and not a soul would know where we are."

Good: Walking the dogs on the beach. There is literally noting to do here, besides go to the beach. Some of my fvorite walks was when we would go to a less crowded beach and let them run free, We would find most incredible shells.

Good: Mana Pools, Zimbabwe. I wanted to check out a safari spot that was a "hidden gem", that does not get a lot of tourists and very, very remote. Tanzania and Kenya are always so crowded due to the Great Migration, so this was a big thing for us to find: "secluded africa". I did all my research & found a spot, Mana Pools that is really only accessible by plane. We jumped on a plane in Zamibabwe, with a "small" connecting flight. When I say small, I mean it was a 3 seater plane: us and the pilot. We flew way past any signs on civilization and landed in mana pools, zimbabwe. This place was more than I can put into words. We met some of the most incredible people also, one of hte most interesting characters, a lady named Barbara who was there in rememberance of her late husband. her husband was a Switzerland Intenraitonal diplomat; she had lived all over in dangerous times: The Congo, Iran, etc with her children. In Iran, her and her children were not allowed to leave their property, for 2 years! Insanely wild life this woman has lived and shes still killing it! Mana Pools the elephants stand on their hind legs to reach branches in the trees and most of the safaris are done on foot. You get up close to wild dogs, lions, elephants, basically everything. It is probbaly one of my favorite spots on earth. We will be back.

Bad: Threatening immigration officers. Not something I would ever think of us doing, but desparate times call for desparate measures. Once we found out our lawyer ripped us off and we got it squared away on our own by some young kid in we met in a mall at the same place i buy gummy bears; We had the last battle of recieving Ryans Tanzanian ID. The immigration officer was working "with" our lawyer i.e. Working for bribery money on they side... So we had to threaten this officer until we recieved Ryan's i.d.

Good: Got to stay in an old train that sat on a bridge in Kruger, National Park. Someone transformed it into a luxury stay, truly incredible.

Good: Getting to meet the last 2 Northern White Rhinos in Kenya. This was amazing.

Bad/Good: Bribing cops. This is our DAILY normal. We are used to it. But, it in all honesty, it can work in your favor when you dont have the right documents to ride a motorcycle and you want him to just look the other way. The police are treated very poorly here and they do not get paid much, so it is almost a nice gesture.

Good/Bad: Nordin, the young Muslim kid with a love for animals. He used to join us all the time on walks and was fascinated the dogs knew commands. He LOVED this, his mind was blown to see them do their tricks. He truly LOVED the dogs. It was competly heart breaking when an older local scolded him on the beach one day for playing with the dogs. (Muslims believe dogs are evil, impure. and they must wash 7x in order to cleanse themselves if they touch a dog.)

Bad: The robbery. unfortunately, it has definitely takena toll on me. I find myself much more apprehensive at times. Oddly enough, I find myself feeling more apprehensive in Zanzibar than I do in Dar es Salaam, which is where the robbery took place.

Good: Bagatelle, Kahalhari desert. We got to play with wild meerkats. Got to get out of the truck to take some up close photos of a rhino. We went horseback riding thru the desert which was really amazing. He even let us gallop, I was so proud of Ryan. He is pretty terrified of horses and i usually make him get on one from time to time. This was his first time galloping and although nervous, he did amazing.

Bad: Beetlejuice and I getting attacked. This was the very first monring here. Not the second or the third. The first. Desparate times call for desparate measures, the vet we found was the only vet. It was more than quesitonable, on the side of a dusty road, no doors, no windows nevermind proper medical tools. He was able to be stitched up, but he was so sick from one of the punctures, it ruptured in the bed. He was so, so sick. I remember feeling so helpless, worrying he wouldnt make it. 5 weeks of reovery physically for him. Then about 8 months of working with him EVERY day to get over his fear of big dogs that approached us.

Good/Bad: The moment we realized the developer was not ever coming back and we needed to finish it ourselves. Super scary moment... However we are thankful we recognized it and began a lot of the repairs ourselves and decided to sell immediately. We were the first to sell.

Good: Gorilla Trekking, Uganda.

Funny: Being served scrambled eggs a shitty plastic bag for our meal in Ethiopia.

Good: Meeting the hadzabe tribe (tongue clicking tribe): Got to go hunting with them, even though I cried every time they killled something, it was pretty increible to watch them do their thing. To meet them and smoke weed with them was truly an incredible experience.

Good: Meeting the tribes in Omo Valley. These tribes truly want to be undistrubed by modern society. The Karo Tribe was incredible, so warm and welcoming. These tribes do not see a lot of visitors, but welcome with open arms when they do get them. We would have security and a translotor for each tribe we visited, it was truly an increible experience.

Bad/Unique: Driving around Omo Valley before you reach the tribes, all locals are strapped with an AK47. It was extremely intimidating at first, but we got used to their normal and were comfortable around them within just a couple of days. Seeing a child carrying an AK47 that was larger than him, but waving to us with a big smile, is an image burned in my memory forever.

Good/Bad: Storming in unanounced to our real estate office, unanounced to rip him a new ass hole in front of his lawyers and colleagues. He tried to screw us over so badly and we had to put up with his shit service for way too long. Calling him every name in the book, proving his corruption with texts, screen shots and contract.... felt pretty bad good. Sad he had to push us to this level of anger, but it felt pretty good when the table of lawyers and colleagues all looked at him for explantation and he just hung his head like a coward, felt truly incredible. Perfect timing, as all the lawyers present, looking at our contracts, screen shots and text messages, we didnt have to fight too hard. We won our case.

Good: IVF is a very emotionally, physcially, mentally and financially draining thing for anyone to go thru. Going thru it multiple times takes a warrior. But, I was so grateful how laxed the whole process was, in comparison to how it is done in the states- where most people never even meet their embryologist. Mine on the other hand, would sit and chat with me, even gave me a Cairo keychain as a gift of luck. (He is Egyptian). The day of my embryo transfer, him and the doctor allowed me into the lab prior to the procedure, and said, "do you want to see your babies?!", I was shocked, I couldnt believe it.... They allowed me to see them on the microscope. This would never happen in the states. I am so so fortunate for this moment, it will stick with me forever.

Bad: The failed IVF attempts. While I am so thankful it exsists, I would not wish it on anyone. The emotional, physical, psychological and financial toll it has on a person is not for the weak. I feel greatful I was able to help out families donating my eggs when I was younger, because now I truly feel what they went thru. I try to see the good, even in bad situations. Without suffering there would be no compassion.

Good: Evanse, a good friend of ours and one of the hardest working people we met here. One day when he was over, he seemed stressed and he finally explained to us he hadnt been paid in 3 months. (This is very common. which is disgusting. Foreign investors come here and promise pay and a lot of times dont. Africans are desparate for a job, so they take the job in hopes of being paid, rather than not taking a job and not making money.) We decided to give Evanse a small job to do in our villa (he is extremely talented with electrical, plumbing, basically everything). And we decided to pay him a full months salary. Seeing him, a friend, breakdown and cry hard, absolutely crushed the both of us. They deserve so much more. I wish i could bring Evanse to America and give him more of an opportunity to put his talents to use.

Good: Feeding wild hyenas deep in Ethiopia with the "hyena man". Got to feed them from a stick with meet on the end from my mouth. (notice the kitty at my feet!)