Nairobi Fun..

Nairobi is like Toronto but bigger, much bigger. It has a population of over 4 million people. So for those of you who aren’t used to the big city, it can be a bit intimidating.

Thankfully I lived and worked in Toronto so the big city, thousands of people everywhere, in Nairobi didn’t scare me. And traveling to Nairobi by myself and touring Nairobi by myself didn’t scare me much either. Although in Toronto, there is a comfort in seeing the CN Tower in the skyline. You always know what direction you are going in when you see that tall, skinny tower on the waterfront.

So Sunday night, I boarded the luxurious Easy Coach bus and prepared for my nine hour travel on crappy roads from Kitale to Nairobi. I sat at the front of the bus, beside this very tall and large man. I had the isle seat. I text messaged Daniel saying that I wasn’t going to get much sleep as I know I can’t really sleep sitting up and I for sure couldn’t lean my head against this man’s shoulder. Definitely not!

About 5 hours later and not a wink of sleep, we reach Nakuru, which is just over half way between Kitale and Nairobi for a 15-minute stop. I get back on the bus to see my seat partner is now sitting in my seat. He asks if we can change seats; I wanted to kiss the man; I was so excited. Ah, I can sleep. Maybe it’s because I could sort of lean my head on the window (as it smacked off the window over every pothole and bump in the road – which was about every 2.4 seconds). And I slept; it was wonderful.

I arrived in Nairobi at around 6:20 in the morning. The sun was starting to come up and the streets were already crazy busy with people getting to work. I had about 2 hours before the place I had to be at opened so I sat in a little restaurant outside the Easy Coach office and waited.

Then the time came, I did my trek down Moi Avenue (the road that separates the good side of Nairobi to the bad side of Nairobi), then turn down, Mama….something or other. I studied the map that Daniel had done up for me while I was waiting in the restaurant. I wanted to look like I knew EXACTLY where I was going. I refused to look like the crazy white tourist. Thankfully I decided not to carry my camera around my neck that day and the safari outfits that every white person seems to wear when they come to Africa. :-)

There it was - the office building I needed to get to. It was a bit of an intimidating building; guards with guns and a metal detector as you went through the doors but hey, honestly, it was cool!

I meet with the guy I’m to meet. We do the first step in the process we are supposed to do and then we find out that the second step won’t be ready for about 2 to 3 days. But the guy I meet knows that I just traveled all the way overnight from Kitale so he says, “Let me see what I can do. Give me two hours.” So I walked over to this restaurant that Daniel and I went to one time and ordered breakfast. No sooner had I gotten my food, my cell phone rang. It was the guy telling me to come to his office.

So I get there (eating my food really quickly and not drinking my tea) to find out that they can’t get it all finished today and that I’ll need to come back Thursday. He was very apologetic, knowing I had just come from Kitale. So I headed back to the place I started from (Easy Coach office) and grabbed a shuttle. It’s basically a matatu (11 passenger van) that goes from Nairobi to Eldoret. I found one right away that was almost full so I bought a ticket and got in….in the back…..the very back.

Within 10 minutes, we were off. I was in Nairobi by 6:20 am and out of Nairobi by 10:20 am. Amazing!!! The way home was crazy; the bumps and potholes, when sitting at the back of the shuttle, are so much more…bigger and a bit more annoying. I must have been airborne about 15 times, my butt literally coming off of the seat.

Thankfully, I had this really sweet first-year law student sitting next to me and she and I ended up chatting for most of the ride. We shared stories, chocolate and shoulders to lean on when tired.

After arriving in Eldoret at about 4:45 pm, I went to the parking stage to get a van taxi to Kitale and thankfully, there was one there waiting for passengers. We waited for about 15 minutes or so and we were on the road. I was heading home….to my bed and to my friends. I missed Kate, Amanda and Daniel.

I made it home, yesterday, around 6:15 p.m. And the fun thing is, I get to do this all over again, starting tomorrow night. To Nairobi, run around the city, back to Eldoret, then to Kitale. And thankfully that will be it for a long time….hopefully!!!!

So that’s my Nairobi adventure. It was nothing exciting but I did it by myself. And not for a moment was I scared, nervous or freaked-out. I actually liked it…but ssshhh, don’t tell anyone. :-)

Anyway, lots more going on that I’ll get to soon.

Love you all.
xoxoxo