Welcome to Kenya

It turned out to be quite a long day on Saturday 6/16.  I thought it was going to start with a low key brunch  in the company of my partner Kimberley and her husband Josh.  Brunch it was but we had quite a mob of her family and friends there to see her off.  I felt like part of their extended family right off and was really enchanted by how they took me in and the friendship I immediately felt with them all.  There were some toasts and lots of goodwill wishes to carry with us.

  

Kimberley Burbidge                   Dorothy Aikins

The flight From London to Nairobi turned out to be pretty long sleepless night.  We left at 8pm,  flew all night, and about 6am we landed and found our way to the customs area.  We had gone to great lengths before leaving to get "special passes"  for our Visa's so we thought it would be a breeze through the entry point.  Kimberley had the foresight to have us fill out regular visa applications anyway and that turned out to be a pretty smart move.  About an hour later when we got up to the officer it turned out he had never heard of a special pass - so tourist visa's it was!   No problem, we were good to go.  No one cared about looking in our bags and a driver from our apartments was waiting for us.  Pretty easy overall for the two of us.  Our colleague Dorothy would not be so lucky on her journey.  She was traveling directly from RDU and as a result of delay missed a connection.  She was rerouted though Istanbul from Zurich and ended up coming in about 10 hours late, a tiresome journey.  We collected her about 4am and all was good in the end.

Driving from the Airport to our apartment was my first sight of the city and I will be struggling to convey a holistic impression of it.  Some areas of the city look like any common inner city area you might find in the states.  In other places it is an understatement to say it is quite different.  I am sure I will be continuing to describe those differences in future posts, but here is a starter. 

Scaffolding, African Style.
Yes, those are just sticks tied together

Everywhere you go there are buildings in various states of construction.  Lots look to have been started and then halted mid stream.  Many of the unfinished ones seem to be occupied as you can see clothes lines and various possessions in the open floors.  The little motor bikes are absolutely everywhere and they have no limits in the traffic.  No matter if the lines of cars are stopped, the bikes will be zipping around and in between them all.  The also can carry the most magnificent burdens.  I saw one with 5 full sized auto tires wrapped all about the driver one afternoon.   

There are small markets all over the city that sell an amazing variety of goods.  Here are some photos that I just took from the car as we drove past.  We will no doubt be getting to know these better as we get the opportunity to explore on foot some more.  There are also food vendors and a favorite seems to be grilled corn on the cob - Reminds me of the State Fair! 

Something that has been a surprise has been the guards who search everyone as the enter any public place.  We are searched every time we enter anywhere that might have a crowd - including shopping malls and grocery stores.  We were even searched before entering Church today!   Men and Women always queue into separate lines for the search.

Ok, that's all I have on the city for now.  On an upcoming post I will have some pictures from the Giraffe center on the outskirts of town.  Until then

 See you later!