First 3 days!

I am officially in Kenya, and, it’s been amazing so far!

I arrived in Nairobi late in the evening on the 2nd. The part of the trip I have been most warned about, Nairobi airport was quite easy. All my bags arrived in one piece and Clara’s (my friend who I am staying with in Nairobi) driver was waiting for me at the gate.

My first step onto Kenya soil was filled with the scent of smoky air, Kenyans yelling at each other in Swahili and cars everywhere.

Once we got in the cab, we drove about 20 minutes to Clara’s house and watched the last seconds of the Ghana Uruguay game. Bummer. Then I tried to sleep, but my body is totally out of whack from jet lag, so I mostly stayed awake thinking about how amazing it is that I actually made it here!

The next day we woke up and Clara took me to downtown Nairobi with her friend to go wedding dress shopping and spent the next couple hours walking around downtown Nairobi, taking in the sights We went to Masai Market- a beautiful park square filled with dozens of craftsmen selling beautiful items. Everyone greets you- “Jambo Madam, hello Madam, please look at my beautiful things! I give good price!” The had intricately designed shoes, paintings, jewelry, and sculptures.

We then went to Tin Tin, a huge restaurant and catering company that Jamie, Claras fiancé family owns, and had delicious Chinese and Indian food with the family. The kept bringing heaps and heaps of food, prawns, fried shrimp, chicken, fish, mussels, etc. (I ended up eating of the veggie Indian buffet that they had prepared for all the Indians who were there for the World Sugar Expo 🙂 )

Driving (or being a passenger) in Nairobi is absolutely terrifying. There is NO way I would get in the drivers seat. There are no lines, no one obeys traffic laws, motorbikes everywhere cutting people off. Yikes a rama.

Abe and Joseph (my good friends from highschool who I am climbing Kili with) arrived on the 3^rd. Its so great to see them. Clara took us to an awesome outdoor bar to watch the Spain/Ugaguay game.  Everyone was rooting for Spain, and even I, the non-football fan, enjoyed myself fully. The atmosphere was so lively and fun and everyone was cheering and chanting. We made some good friends with Claras friends who work here in Nairobi. One of them convinced me that he was voted the 72nd most influential Kenyan, and it’s true, Clara confirmed! Apparently his sister and him wrote a one hit wonder a couple years ago and gave all the proceeds to charity. I will contact him and find the song and post on the blog.

Yesterday Clara took us to the Indian part of Nairobi and we ate at an outdoor Indian market. The minute you sit down at a table, about 9 waiters surround you, throwing menus at you, convincing you that MY FOOD IS BEST, MADAM! Clara knew the best one, so luckily, we got away with some ease. We ate garlic nann, fresh squeezed tangerine juice, some sort of vegetable korma, and some chips and salsa! (and good salsa, at that!)

Love to all,

Molly