Kenya - First Day in Nairobi - June 29, 2007

hey guys, i promise i won't bore you guys with daily email, plus after tomorrow my access will go away. so i will bore you while i can!

so things are good. my flight here was good, i got bumped to business class and sat next to a british-educated nigerian that works in the UN in somalia and it was fascinating. eye opening.

we are at the hilton and first impression was different in that they search under cars for bombs before they can pull in and you have to go through a metal detector to get in. other than it is nice, not us nice, but nice. there are now 3 of us in the room, becky, jodi and me. we have a king bed a pull put coach so we are all set, in fact becky and i napped for about 2 hours today. we were so darn tired.

jodi, a lawyer that lives in brooklyn - and i went out exploring city center. i want to try to give you a feel but there is no way too. people everywhere. everywhere. sitting, walking, dirivng. busses every packed with people. we walked for about an hour before we decided to go have food in a cafe and we did not see one single white person. not one. now we know whats its like to be on the other side of that. everyone totally ignores you, we didnt feel unsafe or anything. we thought it sunny there are all these clean air signs, yet the exhaust is so bad that in some areas we could barely breath. black boogers for sure. everything is dirt cheap, i had a burger fries and diet coke for like 5 bucks.

tomorrow we have a tour booked of some nearby sites. we are going to an elephant orphanage for baby elephants, then to the giraffe center, than on a bomas tour, which is a cultural village. the village is tourists, but still supposed to be a good insight to kenya life. for lunch tomorrow we are going to this place that is supposed to be a must-do, where they serve zebra and all sorts of strange animals. you will be proud, i am so going to try the zebra. tomorrow night a whole bunch of us are having dinner at the thorn tree cafe which is really famous. our program starts at 745am on sunday.

well we are headed back across the street to the hilton. love you all.