Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Thankfully I woke up feeling way better this morning after a solid 10 hours of sleep. I am not about to let myself get sick right at the beginning of a trip! Bad body! No!

I really wanted to get out into the fresh air and stretch my legs, so it was perfect that we had planned to head over to Karura Forest for a walk. Beautiful children’s play areas and tennis courts dotted an otherwise wild green landscape. We walked on overgrown red earthen paths, underneath archways made of trees and along the edge of a lily pond. Much of the forest is full of exotic plant life that is currently being replaced and restored with indigenous species, so a lot of it seemed to be in a transitional state. My favourite part was that in the middle of the forest there was a peaceful little café that we sat down at for breakfast and Kenyan tea, chatting the morning away.

For days Pauline has been looking forward to the Nairobi National Museum, and I had a laugh when she informed me that ‘there’s a snake park next door for you.’ I’m always happy to go into museums but I have a considerably shorter attention span for them than she does, and a snake park sounds right up my alley! I did end up going through the whole museum with her, and she joined me at the snake park while I ooo’d and aah’d over all the snakes and reptiles. I particularly enjoyed when one of the employees asked if we wanted to hold a snake and we both looked at each other like ‘I will if you will.’

Mild panic.

We hopped in a cab towards our next destination, not really realizing it was rush hour and it turns out that any traffic laws that people might follow at other times of the day basically do not exist at this hour. Literally cars just go into oncoming lanes of traffic to get further ahead in the line and then just cut back over, often missing each other by only a few feet. Other drivers go right up on the sidewalks (which barely exist). Medians don’t mean anything at all, people just drive right over them into the wrong lanes. Every single person drives so close to the car in front of them that you can’t even see the license plate. There are no posted speed limits, and no lines on the road. What would be a single lane in Canada has 4 cars abreast here and I just cannot fathom how you learn to drive in this. Chaos! Insanity!

We arrived at the National Art Gallery, (I know! Two museums in one day!) and I have this image of myself basically falling out of the car bedraggled and a little sick from the chaotic ride. But Pauline? She didn’t even notice. She has informed me that growing up in Thailand means that kind of driving is just normal.

We spent an hour perusing through art from all over Africa before I started getting pretty hungry and the museum was due to close soon anyway. We were excited to head to Nairobi Street Kitchen, which is this colourful collection of food trucks, food stalls and bars inside a building that has rooftop and outdoor seating. Salsa music played over the speakers and into the little local craft shops around the edges of the space. We ordered up some Indian food and local beer called Tusker, and enjoyed as the atmosphere became more lively. Apparently it turns into a nightclub later in the evening which we didn’t stay for and I smirked to myself that we were more excited to come home, do laundry and watch an awful Kenyan rom-com.

We’re checking out of our apartment tomorrow and starting into some big adventures. I can’t wait!!

Sav

P.S. we’ve picked up a little Swahili and one word we have down is asante, which means thank you, or asante sana which is thank you very much!