Weekend in Nairobi

Foreword: all the pics associated with this post are here: 
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Like I mentioned before, we stayed in Nairobi this weekend, which was actually my first continuous weekend here. We've been out of town every weekend before, so we took the opportunity of a three day weekend to explore our surrounding that we've grown to have a slight distaste for. Have to give it an honest try before you totally dismiss it, right?

So Friday we tagged up with our friend Carol and her friend (now our friend) Nadine to see the elephants and giraffes, as well as Bomas. Check out my last post for those awesome stories.

Saturday we lounged around a bit and waited to Nadine to make the long walk from her place to ours. We decided to do all of our exploring on foot to both save money (and the horrible hassle of dealing with cabs) and to really see Nairobi first hand. There's only so much you can see when you're zooming by buildings dodging potholes and goats. Nadine has only been here for a week out of her two month stay, so this was her first time seeing the city center, and actually Erin's first time too. Our walk took us down the hill from our hostel into the city center, then out towards the Westlands (which I'll get to later in this post) to our first stop of the Nairobi National Museum. Mombasa Highway is a newer highway with still a lot of construction on it. We knew it'd be an adventure to travel on foot, but we took the challenge. That challenge required us to cross a six lane road. Fear not! Kenyans do this regularly, so we followed their lead. And the median in the middle helped.

After making our way up small hill of construction materials, we found ourself right at the main gate of Nairobi National Museum. As we stepped inside the gate, we quickly realized this was going to be much higher caliber than we expected. The campus is very well landscaped with large planters and decorative sculptures throughout. We walked past part of the botanical gardens to get to the ticket booth just inside the main gate. Erin and I read online about a temporary month long membership to the Kenya Museum Society for only 800 shillings ($10). Pretty great deal considering entry for adult non-residents was 800 shillings anyway, and this would get us into other museums for free. So that's what I asked about first. The ticket agent looked at me quite confused about what I was asking for. I mentioned that online it said we could purchase the memberships at the Museum Shop, so she directed us to the shop, which per her instructions, seemed like it was back outside the ticket building, so that's where we went. About ten steps outside we hear hissing and clapping behind us. Not thinking much of it, we keep walking until we realize it's the ticketing agent hissing and clapping at us. Yeah, that's how you get someone's attention around here. Guess it worked. We were redirected to the right office and the person working the counter was more familiar with my request now. She had to look up the details though, so apparently it's not a common request. She even asked how we even found out about this. The best part is that for only 800 shillings, we got our membership and also free entry into the snake exhibit at the museum, which would have been another 400 shillings. They must not advertise this too much because it's a steal!

The museum had three exhibitions, one temporary and two permanent. The temporary one was all African artwork but was all for sale. A weird concept for a museum, but we enjoyed the art all the same. Then we made our way through the animals of Kenya exhibition, which was actually really awesome to see after we've done some game drives and safaris so we could identify some of the animals and learn about them. Definitely would recommend it for anyone after they've done a few trips into the country. Then we made our way upstairs to the history of Kenya exhibition. This was set up into three sections of pre-colonial Kenya, colonial times, and independent Kenya. All three of us were very surprised at the quality and depth of the exhibition. There were very descriptive placards with almost every item along the way with great explanations about the history, which was fascinating to learn about since we don't really get very much education about African history in America. It was really cool to learn about the pre-colonial into colonial times and also about the effect of the world wars on Kenya and the roots of independence. We got to learn about the presidents of Kenya, influential figureheads, the Mau Mau movement for independence, and the struggles after independence. Kenya has a pretty awesome story and makes me realize how much there is to know about the world.

After the exhibitions, we walked through the snake park, which had some of Africa's most dangerous snakes like the Black Mamba, Puff Adler, cobras, and boas. Really awesome to see but also a little creepy. There were a few exhibits of lizards and turtles to help liven things up. Also three alligators, including the American Alligator. Not sure where that one came from...

We wandered through the gardens after that, admiring the sculptures and landscaping. The museum is situated along a river, but naturally separated by a large fence covered in razor wire. Welcome to Kenya. We made our way back up to the main gate and headed out along a different route to the National Archives about two kilometers away. This route ended up being a little more adventurous and authentic than we anticipated. We seemed to have walked down the road exclusively for car maintenance, so I guess this is the equivalent of your local auto shop. By American standards, it was sketchy as hell, but after walking the distance, we had no problems. What (most likely) is a completely safe road in Kenya would be a nightmare in America. Interesting experience.

We meandered and found our way up to the main road as planned, Moi Avenue, which is their main thoroughfare through city center. Again, seemed a little too third world for comfort, but we quickly settled into the pace and actually enjoyed window shopping a little and taking in the urban life. We stopped into a chicken and chips place for some food, since we hadn't even eaten lunch yet. I was the first to order to I just went for it, not knowing the system. Naturally I got it wrong. You first go to a tiny booth with a 3 inch wide hole cut into it to order and pay. Then you take that receipt to the counter to place your order. Functionally similar to America, but still quite different in appearance. We enjoyed our Kenyan fast food and relaxing for a second before heading back to Moi Avenue to find the archives. Turns out we stopped just short of it for food, so it was just across the street. We walked inside to a pretty quiet but large building to try to explore some of the relics of Kenya. Despite an overhaul in the past few years, the space is still a little dingy and not very well lit, but we do our best to take in everything. There are many relics of tribal gear, spears and shields, pottery, traditional horns, as well as a few exhibitions on the history of Kenya, which supplemented our visit to the museum. We spent about 45 minutes in here before it closed.

We then walked around downtown a little more to explore the urban scene before heading back up the hill to our hostel. Passing the supreme court, other governmental buildings, convention centers, churches, you really realize that despite being 8,000 miles away from home on another continent, different societies are really not all that dissimilar. That's one of my favorite things about traveling, when you realize you're really not that far from home and we're really not all that different. It's a cool feeling that I'll never get tired of: finding some comfort miles away from home in a foreign land.

After making the hike back up the hill, Nadine decides to hang out with us since we're all planning on seeing some of the nightlife later that night. We had a few snacks at the hostel since we had a pretty late lunch, just sat around getting to know each other. Nadine will actually be moving to NYC when she gets back stateside in two months, so we're already making plans to hang out once I'm up there too. Small world!

We arrange for a driver to come pick us up and take us to Westlands, the aptly named Western neighborhood. A good friend Raj who grew up in Nairobi suggested we try a place called Gipsy, so I took him up on the advice. With Erin and Nadine not being big club people, we planned on getting there around 10pm, watching the bar fire up while hanging out with a few drinks then seeing where the night takes us. We definitely beat the crowd there, but even being a big place, all the seats downstairs were taken, so we venture upstairs by the window to watch the night unfold. After an hour or two, we've observed a group of middle aged, round bellied Britons serenade some African beauties, a group of what appears to be high school, MAYBE freshman in college, aged kids smoking and drinking way too much too early, and a party bus of football fans with whistles and vuvuzelas. All before things really even got started. We make our way back downstairs to the more crowded area, checking out the mix of expats, locals, and even a few obvious prostitues. We dance for a little while, enduring the strange mix of music, anywhere from country to house to pop. But we still have a great time, if for nothing else but the people watching. My favorite was a pissed off Napoleon syndrome guy upset at another guy who was classily dancing with his lady after bumping into him. Classy guy handled it classily, as expected, and Napoleon's chick just looked unentertained. Gotta love angry straight guys at clubs!

We text our driver (love the use of mobile phones here!) and head back home around 3am, much later than I anticipated, much to my very pleasant surprise. After a really nice night out, we sleep in on Easter morning. Seeing as we live in the back of a church, we got to hear some pretty good music as we woke up. Now we're just spending a lazy day here in the city, saving a few things to do for next weekend and our last two days that we have off the next week.

Speaking of how little time we have left here, I've been gone from home for five weeks now and have two more to go. Time has flown by despite missing so much from home. Erin and I have a funny way of rephrasing how long we have left here to make it sound better. Last week, we said we just had two full weeks of rotation left, then it was our last week here. Sounded better than three weeks left. We also phrase it in days of rotation left. Today we have 8 days left. Pretty good right? I have a countdown until when I leave Nairobi, which despite our efforts to push time ahead seems stuck. Days move slowly sometimes, but weeks have flown by. Four weeks here already and it seems like just yesterday I was writing my first post about my apprehension being here and away from home for so long. 

I do find myself very regularly thinking about home, especially with certain cues. Food is a big one, but we're maybe even adjusting to the somewhat bland and regular food here. I often find myself hearing a song while were out that reminds me of friends at home or even driving on the wrong right side of the road to pass a car, haha. Skype and Gchat make traveling so much easier than it'd ever be otherwise, but they can't replace talking to everyone I love back home. I get to email friends and family regularly, chat daily with friends, and talk to Colton pretty much every day, but still can't wait to see and hug everyone when I'm finally back. But flip side of that, Erin has been a great companion out here. We both have boyfriends back home, so we can definitely relate about that, which has been tough for me. She's been great with enduring some of our adventures, even planning quite a few on her own, which for a new world traveler is awesome! So far, our three weeks together have been smooth despite spending every waking hour together. Hoping for a smooth last two!

Thanks for reading, and I'll get you guys updated as we start our community pharmacy site tomorrow!