Nairobi!

I love Kisumu. I really do but the time had come to get out and get back to civilization. Not that Kisumu isn't civilized because come on it is the third largest city in Kenya. Mainly I was craving American food and a little shopping. My friend Rachel and I decided that a girl's weekend was in order and off we went. We were lucky enough to catch a ride to Nairobi with another friend and arrived Friday afternoon. Once there we indulged in some pizza and iced tea!!! (did I mention that I was craving American food?) We did a little window shopping as the big malls in Nairobi are a little out of my Kenyan price range. Eventually we ended up at this little market in a back stall going through bags and bags of clothes. I managed to get 10 things for 33 dollars!! A steal as they were all dresses. We stayed at this great place, kind of a back packers camp in the city. It was a family's home with tents in the backyard. It was a great oasis in the middle of the city!

The second day we took a cab to Karen which is a suburb of Nairobi and went to the Giraffe center. Again kind of a tourist trap but it was a lot of fun. We got to see about 6 giraffes up close and personal. They even let you feed them! As you can see from the picture it was an experience. Their tongues are quite rough and they slobber a lot. At the center we also did a short nature walk. We didn't see many animals but it was nice walk and had a good view at the end. Later that day we headed to the Masaii market. Its a huge market that rotates around Nairobi depending on the day. It has everything and was actually a bit overwhelming. I think we walked around it a few times before buying anything. It was off to indulge in some more non-Kenyan food for lunch and then back to the market for more shopping. On our way we found this great curio shop where I actually ended up getting a lot of my stuff. It was reasonably priced and the owner didn't hassle you to purchase. This is one of my least favorite things about the markets. The vendors come up to you and try to get you to look at their stuff and you end up getting pulled in five different directions. Needless to say I did some terrific bargaining. One vendor even told me to not tell the other 'mzungos' (white people) what I got him down too!

Later that night we went to see a movie, Eclipse. Was fun but the movie wasn't great so kind of a toss up on that. Our accommodation was great that night though as we got a garden tent and slept outside. You can see Rachel in the picture in our tent! Sunday was relaxing as we slept late and then headed back to Kisumu. The bus ride back was long (7 hours) and definitely was worse than the comfy ride we got there. Overall a nice break from Kisumu, but I can say that I love it here and wouldn't trade it for Nairobi any day!