Arrival in Nairobi: 9-9

Upon arrival to the Nairobi Airport I smoothly went through immigration and got my visa, collected my baggage, and met Maggie and Peter. They were holding a sign with Julie and Audrey on it. I also met Julie for the first time even though we were on the same flight. Slightly dazed and exhausted, we got in a van and Peter drove us to the Kamau’s house. We went through Nairobi traffic and it was much like Cambodia – no rules and no traffic lights. We literally almost t boned someone. It was epic.

We got out of the city and began driving in the country. Eventually we turned off a road and began driving on dirt roads. We randomly stopped at a gate and the van honked. The gate opened and we were welcomed home.

Kenyans are the most hospitable people I have ever met. We were greeted with a very warm welcome from everyone. They carried in our bags and they showed us to our room. It is very nice. The wood floors are much like the ones at home. There are bunk beds for Julie and I complete with mosquito nets. As soon as we lugged in our stuff we were offered food.  It was around 9:30 and they made us an amazing traditional meal of ugali (a cornmeal bread/rice like substance) with steamed greens and fish. It was really good. We were also given Chi tea. By far the best I’ve ever had. The milk used was fresh from a cow, their neighbor’s cow.

We met Mary and Wallace’s family – Faith, Victory, and David. David whipped Julie and I at Trouble. He is 4 and has the best evil cackle ever. He was overjoyed about our defeat.

The bathroom we are using is small, but awesome. There is no curtain on the shower, so we pretty much soaked the whole tile bathroom. We finally went to bed around 1:00 am.

And then we were awakened at 3:30 am by what sounded like dogs killing a lion by the volume of noise right outside our room. The Kamau’s have guard dogs - legit guard dogs that are kept in cages and let loose in their walled yard at night. Apparently they like to bark loudly and fight one another. I didn’t fall asleep again until about 4:00 am because I thought the house was under siege. At that point, roosters were already crowing. Finally I fell asleep again until morning.