Saturday, 6/24

From Waldie's World in Africa:

Well, it is our second to last full day in Africa and probably the last time we'll be able to check email. So I thought I'd send another quick message.

So far our visit to Nairobi has been really good. Chris and I were a bit nervous about our stay in this city because of the stories we've heard of pick pocketting and the ill-fated moniker "Nairobbery." Now, we've only been here just over 24 hours, but we've had no problems at all so far. It's really just like any huge city, full of hustle and bustle. Nairobi is by far the biggest city we've been in and the most developed. All of the streets in the city center are paved. There are many many high-rises. Almost everyone dresses Western, with jeans and tank tops and such. And there are the most white people in this city than in any other one we've been in. Now once you get out of the center of town, I'm sure this all changes. But it's been interesting to compare this city with Dar es Salaam, which is still developing and has less Western influence.

After our email yesterday, Chris and I walked to the Kenya National Museum only to find that it was closed for renovations (much needed we were told). The nice man at the museum with whom we spoke told us they had a temporary exhibit at the Nairobi Gallery. So we walked over to that. The exhibit there was about traditional practices of well-being and ways of art and it was very interesting. However, about halfway through I started to feel ill (probably just from being overly tired and then walking around) so I sat outside while Chris speed-walked through the rest. Then we took a cab home and ate at our guest house and stayed in for the night. How boring. But the rest was much desired!

This morning I woke up refreshed for a breakfast of cereal with milk (it was delicious!! Glorious milk!) But Chris was a little sleepy head and missed breakfast. After taking a long time to actually get moving, we walked yet again through town. This time we headed to the railway museum. This documented the development of the railway system through East Africa by the English and Germans. It was a very interesting museum (Jim I think you would've liked it) because the railroad was so influential in spreading Western culture and development across this part of the continent. It was a tremendous feat due to weather, natural environments, and man-eating animals!

After the musuem we were starving, so we walked into the city center again and stumbled upon a fairly nice restaurant. We gave in to our Western temptations and got some familiar foods (pizza and spaghetti and ice cream!). Then we just wandered around the center of town looking into shops and trying (unsuccessfully) to make it in time to the Masai market. We decided, however, to go into a tour place and booked a safari for tomorrow. The Nairobi National Park is just on the outskirts of the city and has all the native animals (except elephants) roaming freely. The price was really reasonable and we'll have an individual driver to take us around for a few hours. We figured this would be a great way to spend our last full day in Africa.

We're, obviously, at the internet cafe now in the same place we visited yesterday. We plan to eat dinner here and walk around a bit and then head home for the evening.

Tomorrow we'll go to church in the am and then the safari. And Monday we'll look at the school that Chris is interested in and then meet up with his teacher, Fabian, again and have dinner before we get on our 10:00 pm train.

It's been a fabulous trip and we're remiss to leave. But we do look forward to being in our own space and not living out of suitcases. This'll probably be the last time we write while here but it will definitely not be the last time you hear about this trip as we'll post more and more photos and stories when we return. Thanks everyone for your posts and comments. We have gotten them and appreciate everyone's support of our trip and prayers while we're gone.

Love, Waldie and Chris