It is true what people say about mountains. You soon learn that once you start mountaineering, you can never run away. Not ever. The only way out is in. It is how Cristina Nord has got Mt Ololokwe, the Alps, and Satima under her thumb.
‘I started hiking in my mid-20s, and I have always loved it madly,’ she says. The Director of Goethe-Institut has the big three in her sights: Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya, and Mt Elgon.
When she is not climbing mountains, she is scaling the pages of books-the axes she uses to break her mind free.
Recently, she completed a 1,200-page novel by German writer Peter Weiss, The Aesthetics of Resistance.
In our age of short attention spans, she is an ascetic, resisting and renouncing the siren song of convenience.
‘In the present world, there is more the danger of under-intellectualising everything,’ she says. ‘Many people look for very simple answers to very complex questions, which can be misleading.’
What is it like to live your life?
I like being in Kenya, and I study Swahili, but I’m struggling, also because I’m learning the sanifu version of it. Also, when I’m not working, I like being in the mountains. I’ve made a few attempts on Mount Kenya, but failed because of the very bad weather.
There was a lot of snow, so we only managed to reach that pass between the Chogoria route and the Sirimon route, which is at 4,600 metres. I’ll retry it.
Has there been a noticeable change in your life since you started hiking?
I started hiking a long time ago when I was in my mid-20s, and since then I have always loved it madly.
Like this August, I spent a bit of time in the Alps, and I really do enjoy it. However, I realised that I have grown a bit older and no longer have the stamina and the strength I had when I was in my mid-20s. Sometimes I wish I had come to Kenya 15 years earlier, because then by now I would have climbed Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, Elgon, and whatnot.
How do you keep yourself going despite the circumstances of climbing the mountain?
Good question, because when I did Elephant Hill for the first time, there was a moment when I was like, “What am I doing here? Come on.” And that was before reaching ‘The Tail’ end, that steep part. I was really struggling; I had difficulty breathing, and my legs felt very weak.
I know that I do have quite a lot of willpower, which makes me push through. However, I also have an assessment for situations that might turn dangerous. Then for me, the decision to not proceed is also not too hard to take. But in a situation like climbing Elephant Hill, it is willpower. I can see that ultimately, I can do it.
What is the most useful thing you’ve learned about life from being outdoors?
That you can do with very little. That being able to limit your focus to an activity that is, on the one hand, very easy-walking-and on the other hand maybe sometimes a bit challenging because you need to scramble, or it’s raining cats and dogs and you still need to go.
I think that you can adapt to that and have the most stunning experiences. That is a lesson learned.
Over New Year’s 2024, we spent four days hiking Loita Hills, camping in tents with Maasai guides, without electricity, running water, or sanitary facilities. I remember crossing a swamp to find fresh water, where we took a quick bath. It was one of the most amazing experiences I’d had in a long time. Those memories help put everyday frustrations into perspective when I’m back at my computer [chuckles].
Where have you gone that surprised you the most?
The Amazon. My colleague was based in Salvador, which is a very beautiful Brazilian city. I had the fortune to visit him quite often while he was there, and we travelled quite a lot together in Brazil.
One time we did a prolonged boat tour for four days on the Amazon River in the northern part of Brazil. We started in the city of Manaus and went upstream from there, but it’s not exactly the Amazon; it’s called Rio Negro. Eventually, we stayed for four days at a place where, in the river, there is an archipelago of islands. That was just the most surprising landscape.
I think the reason why I connected so immensely with that landscape was also that part of my studies were Latin American literature and culture. I had read a lot of novels and cultural theory that deal with the jungle as a topos. I was in a place about which I had read a lot about, and that was something which made me connect.
Where do you still dream of going?
I would love to go to Senegal and spend time in Dakar. I think I would also love to spend more time in Nigeria, going to Ibadan for instance, and more time in Lagos. And one of the islands in Lake Turkana, like South Island or Central Island. Then I also have to admit that I haven’t been to a lot of national parks. I would also love to go to the Mount Elgon area.
You mentioned your intellectual life. What book has most influenced the way you understand people?
[chuckles] That is a very difficult question for someone who’s read countless books. I can say that Latin American literature has influenced me-the way someone like Jorge Luis Borges works with a very interesting sense of alternative realities.
During my time at university, I was very familiar with texts by Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno, post-structural thought from France like Jacques Derrida, and feminist theory as well.
When I was 25, I read that famous book by Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, which was also important, at least back then. There is another French philosopher called Michel Foucault who was also important for me. He wrote a book called (Surveiller et punir: Naissance de la prison), Discipline and Punish.
There, he describes how the prison system was developed in Europe, starting in the 16th century, and how the system of punishment was transformed from a punishment that would try to repeat the offense-like if you steal, someone cuts off your hand-to a different type of system. He would not describe that as a linear progress, but in a more neutral manner.
Do you read differently now as compared to your 20s?
I definitely do read differently, a bit to my dislike. Simply, I no longer have that time. When I was a student, my life consisted of reading. Now my life consists of managing this place, which is a great thing to do, but at the same time it comes with several challenges.
I’m sometimes so tired that when I start reading, I fall asleep.
However, going back to the willpower thing, I still manage to read fewer novels, of course. I just finished, three or four weeks ago, a novel that had been with me for a couple of months, a 1,200-page novel by German writer Peter Weiss called The Aesthetics of Resistance. I was very proud that I managed, even though I have a lot of things on my plate.
I also try to read Kenyan literature or literature about Kenya. Currently, History of the Hanged by David Anderson who wrote about the 50s and the state of emergency in Kenya. Living here and doing the job I do, it’s my positive obligation to learn more about Kenya and get acquainted with Kenyan writers.
Does reading about the world diminish its experience of it?
No, it enriches it, because there’s the saying: the more you know, the more you see.
Is there a danger to over-intellectualising your life?
I don’t know exactly what over-intellectualising would be. I’ve always been someone who enjoyed thinking, and thinking further, and seeing how that enables you to go beyond what you’ve already known.
Currently, in the world we are living in, there is more danger of under-intellectualising everything [chuckles]. A lot of people look for very simple answers to very complex questions on many levels, be it political, societal, or about how people live together. I think that is very misleading.
In which part of your life do you allow yourself to be messy?
[chuckles]
With the books next to my bed haha! On Sundays when I’m at home, and to a certain extent on my desk, which I probably shouldn’t be because we have clean desk policies. At home, my computer is a bit of a mess.
You spent time as a film critic. If your life were a movie, what do you think the audience would be shouting at the screen?
Haha! What would they shout? Well, in Germany nobody shouts when going to the movies! Some might be a bit intimidated, without me wanting to achieve that. Some might be a bit dissatisfied because the way I’m leading my life does not tick too many boxes, and others would maybe applaud precisely because of this.
What is something you believe more strongly now than you did 10 years ago?
The importance of understanding others, especially those who do not share your views. The importance of understanding the world as an interconnected place in which isolation does not lead anywhere.
Before coming to Kenya, I had lived in Central America for a year and travelled a lot in Latin America. But seeing the differences between Kenya and a place like Germany is a very concrete experience which makes me think a lot about different perceptions. At the same time, there are a lot of things people share worldwide; that’s why I say it’s interconnected.
Climate change is one example: Africa bears consequences of industrialisation it did little to drive. What happens in Europe affects Kenya, and vice versa. I’ve learned to appreciate this interconnectedness not just in theory, but in everyday life.
What habit has most improved your life?
Being less strict with myself. I still am, but learning how to be less demanding helped. Do you know this Freudian scheme of the ego, the id, and the superego? Keeping your superego in check is a good idea. It can be a nasty creature, and very gluttonous, as it never gets enough. When I was in my mid-20s, I was not so good about it.
I became a bit better, at least I hope [chuckles]. I don’t work on weekends, except for occasional events we have. I want to be very open towards people, not judgmental, which is one of the things Kenya taught me.
When I go to Germany now, at the beginning I enter a store and say, “Good morning, how are you?” and people look at me as if I were utterly crazy! That illustrates how warm Kenyans come across when you’re coming from a place where that type of friendly, open, welcoming behaviour is not the norm.
Which advice that you got has stood the test of time?
Try to keep your superego in check, in the sense that you need to listen to yourself. You are not a machine. You can’t go on tirelessly all the time; you can’t be alert 24/7. You need your breaks; you need your rest. Maybe that’s something that comes with age.
I’m 57 now, and I realise that I still have a lot of energy, but not the way I had 30 years ago.
What do you splurge on?
I do like food and wine, and exquisite food like strange combinations of tastes. Not particularly luxurious ingredients like lobster, but when I’m in Berlin, for instance, I enjoy going to places where you get locally sourced food cooked innovatively, pairing
it with nice natural wines.
What is your most Kenyan habit?
Nyama choma! And when someone says “Good morning,” I automatically say “Good morning,” even though I’m elsewhere. In Germany, if a moderator comes to a panel and greets the audience, people wouldn’t greet back, which is totally normal here, and I tend to do it everywhere now.
What’s your idea of a great weekend?
Hiking an Aberdare mountain peak on Saturday and doing nothing on Sunday. Or a regular weekend: going to yoga on Saturday morning, reading a bit, meeting friends in the evening, and the next day doing a relaxed hike somewhere in Kiambu, or swimming because I like swimming a lot.
Who do you know that I should know?
Suhaib Ibrahim, a Sudanese filmmaker based in Nairobi. He was one of the co-directors of a beautiful film about the outbreak of the civil war in Sudan called Khartoum.
He’s really cool and nice, knows a lot about filmmaking, and also about making ends meet and thriving when circumstances are dire.