So much for local transportation. Of course, there are buses and trains here in Kenya. But I wanted to try something Kenyans use all the time ... matatus. They're like buses, but they're private. They follow no particular schedule or places for picking up and dropping off people. Not to be confused with matata ... which is Swahili for "mess" ... although the two must be related somehow. At least that's what I thought after this trip.

Imagine this. I was one of 30 people crammed into and onto the matatu. It was about as big as a pick-­up truck with a cab on the back. The sun poured in the windows, turning us all into a pile of sweat. It was miserable.

I tried to keep focused on anything else but the heat. A headline on a neighbor's paper stopped me short. "Scientists agree: Greenhouse Effect Changing Climate." I couldn't read all the small print because I was dizzy from the heat. Climate change ... greenhouses ... effects on living things – all these words swam in my molasses-like mind.