The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World.

398 Pages·2010·2.34 MB·English

by  Baggett Jennifer

The Lost Girls
Three Friends. Four Continents.
One Unconventional Detour Around the World.
Jennifer Baggett
Holly C. Corbett
Amanda Pressner

To our parents, for always supporting us
on our journeys, no matter how far-fetched
or far-flung.
And to all the other Lost Girls out there
trying to find their way.
“The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may
also be the beginning.”
—IVY BAKER PRIEST
Contents
Epigraph
Map
Prologue: The Lost Girls,
Maasai Village of Oronkai, Kenya

1. Jen, Iguazú Falls, Argentina/Brazil (Nearly two years earlier)
2. Amanda, New York City (March–August)
3. Holly, New York City (March, three months pre-trip)
4. Jen, Lima Airport/Cusco, Peru (June)
5. Holly, Inca Trail, Peru (July)
6. Jen, Amazon Jungle, Peru (July)
7. Amanda, Lima, Peru (August)
8. Jen, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (August)
9. Holly, Salvador, Brazil (August)
10. Amanda, New York City (August–September)
11. Jen, Kiminini, Kenya (September)
12. Amanda, Kiminini, Kenya (September)
13. Holly, Kiminini, Kenya (September)
14. Jen, Kiminini, Kenya (October)
15. Holly, Northern India (October)
16. Jen, Southern India/Shraddha Ashram (November)
17. Holly, India/Shraddha Ashram (November)
18. Amanda, Goa, India (November)
19. Jen, Vientiane, Laos (December)
20. Amanda, Laos (December)
21. Holly, India/Shraddha Ashram (November)
22. Amanda, Thai Islands (December)
23. Holly, Boston, Massachusetts/Cambodia (December–January)
24. Jen, Sapa, Vietnam (January)
25. Amanda, Hanoi, Vietnam (January)
26. Jen, Bangkok, Thailand (February)
27. Holly, Bali (March)
28. Amanda, North Island, New Zealand (March)
29. Jen, South Island, New Zealand (March–April)
30. Amanda, Sydney, Australia (April)
31. Holly, Sydney, Australia (April)
32. Jen, Hunter Valley, Australia (May)
33. Holly, Australia (May)

Epilogue: Santa Catalina, Panama
(More than two years later)

Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
Map

PROLOGUE
The Lost Girls
MAASAI VILLAGE OF ORONKAI, KENYA
W
e weren’t sure what we’d just heard or if there had been any sound at all, but
the three of us felt a palpable shift in the atmosphere. One by one, our footsteps
slowed to a halt. We stood frozen in the grassy clearing outside our hut,
watching tiny knots of people push their way down the hillsides and into the
valley below. Some were carrying staffs, and most were draped in brilliant
swatches of scarlet, eggplant, cerise, and cerulean. The fabric pressed against
their long limbs and billowed back out again, like wind filling dozens of
spinnaker sails.
The three of us had encountered plenty of unusual scenes during the four
weeks we’d been volunteering in rural southwestern Kenya—chickens riding
shotgun in matatu vans, locusts for sale as snacks, children helping to birth
calves during school recess—but we had yet to see anything as extraordinary as
this. Brief snatches of words, almost like chanting, drifted through the fields all
around us. As the sounds grew steadily louder, pulsing in a call-and-repeat
rhythm, Emmanuel and his wife, Lily, our program coordinators, emerged from
inside the hut and stood beside us.
They smiled when they saw our expressions and explained what we were
witnessing: the people streaming down the hillside were Maasai, a seminomadic
East African tribe that was one of the most colorful—and certainly the most
recognizable—in this part of the world. Many were friends and neighbors, but
others had traveled long distances, some from days away, to reach our host
family’s farm.
Emmanuel and Lily, both members of the Maasai, had suggested that we
come during this particular week in October, so our visit could coincide with a
traditional ceremony performed on the crest of a hill near their home. We’d
arrived as scheduled—but still hadn’t had any idea what to expect.
“It’s almost time,” Lily said softly. “Come, let’s get prepared.”
She ushered us back inside the hut and showed us a small table covered with
handmade jewelry. She selected three elaborate oval collars packed tightly with
rows of turquoise, cobalt, and royal blue beads and gestured for us to put them