The Visitors

I was totally incommunicado over the last week because of my lovely visitors (let’s call them Santa Claus and Millennium Investors) came to Nairobi.  You have no idea how awesome it feels when people stop their normal and busy lives, get on long-ass flights that are non-too-cheap, and brave travelers diarrhea (yep) just to see say hi in person.  Well SC and MI did the Nairobi whirlwind tour because they were only here for 5 days and there is no way to do everything in that amount of time.  But here are some highlights:

- The giraffe center.  Man, this place never disappoints.  Both MI and SC got giraffe kisses and we left with a new slogan: “No food, no friendship.”

- Since SC is a foster parent of an orphan elephant through the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, we were all able to to go the evening, private viewing of the elephants where we put them to bed and sang lullabies.  OK, so there really weren’t lullabies involved, but there was honest-to-god elephant trunk petting and those babies are super cute.    One keeper told us that we needed to have love in our hearts.  Elephants know your intentions, so they have to be pure.  (I think I’m getting the actual wording wrong, but it was something like that.)  Why do baby elephants turn us into mush?

- Some good food, some interesting art, lots and lots of traffic (it is Nairobi, after all). 

And then there were a few hiccups that make great stories.

Like remember the time that we were in the National Park (an area populated with lions, snakes, hippos, flamingoes, scary looking vulture-ish birds, rhinos, etc…) and we were low on gas, and then couldn’t seem to find the gate to exit the park.  And then we hit a rock and the check engine light came on.  And it crossed our minds that we might not make it outta there alive.  Fun in retrospect.  A tad scary in reality.

And remember that other time when we went to Hells Gate National Park and there seemed to be a storm brewing so we rented bikes and hauled ass over gravel “roads” in bikes that didn’t really fit our bodies. Ouch!  And then we went hiking on steep wet rocks (Not the smartest move ever) until we were confronted by a gigantic mud flow.  So we got the hell outta there.  Yea, mud flows are cool and scary.

And remember when we were navigating our way through a city where people drive on the “wrong” (ie right) side of the street and we got so confused by rights and lefts that we just gave up and started pointing this way and that?

And finally, remember the time when we wanted to get some souvenirs from the market and we were so accosted by the “shop” owners (cuz they really were just showing their wares on blankets on the ground, not really in shops) that we started to get all mean and tough saying stuff like, “take it or leave it,” and “I’m walking outta here in 10 seconds?” 

Remember those times?

MI and SC will have to remind me of all the rest that made this an epic trip.  Thanks for coming.  We appreciated it!