Our flight touched down just as the sun was coming up. Nairobi is a paradise of green, crinkled with lush ravines and flowers of every color. Even so, 5:45am is still a painful time to arrive. We went straight to our dear friends' place, woke them to get in, and then crashed in their guest suite.
Later that morning we ventured back out to find perfect 20-something degrees (Celsius) weather, and delicious restaurants in abundance. Our first day in Kenya was all about friends and good food and freedom! We could do exactly as we pleased, without the hassle of umpteen rounds of permissions and security procedures. We were so happy for the break!
Of all the amazing things, my favorite natural site from that first day was the jacaranda trees. Delicate feathery purplely clouds against the dark green, orange, red, and yellow canopy. Apparently Harare and Pretoria are the best cities for jacaranda, so perhaps they'll have to get on our list?!
The other memorable image from the first day has to do with erections. Our local driver, as he slalomed us through the streets of Nairobi, was talking about how the country was recovering from the conflicts and violent unrest that had made headlines last January. He said, "Oh, the erections. Every time we have the erections, they cause problems. The opposition, yes. They thought they were going to win, and when they didn't there was a tellible confrict."
"OH!" E and I said together, "The ELECTIONS!" Right. Have to work on that.
1 comment:
so good to have you blogging again! i can't wait to see photos of your safari. love to you!!!
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