Getting There and Settling In

I will be honest; it was a long plane ride! The total trip from Seattle to Nairobi took about 22 hours and 15 minuets, but fortunately Jeanna and I had each other for good company. We were easily entertained by the in-flight monitors mounted on the back of each seat and took ample time to rest and prepare for the coming days of work. The pictures below do not do the sunrise we experienced from the plane any justice. We saw the very top of Mt. Kenya and were amazed at the rich red and orange of the rising sun.

Upon arrival to Nairobi we discovered it takes almost 3 hours to get through the Visa line, and that our ride was not there. Disappointed and tired we hired a matatu to take us to our guest house. A word of caution for those thinking of traveling to Kenya 1) get your Visa ahead of time by visiting the Kenya Visa website and 2) ALWAYS set a price for any cab/private matatu before you get in – also, pay the driver at the end of the ride.

As a reminder we stayed in Nairobi due to the country’s earlier political troubles, however, the people we were working with are from Kodera; a town near Lake Victoria. Below there is a picture of a map of Kenya with three areas indicated 1) Nairobi, 2) Kodera and 3) Karare (the place Andrea traveled in 2007).

The guest house, F.P.F.K. (Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya) was more than we could have asked for. The rooms were clean, the staff was exceptionally friendly and Jeanna made friends with all the compound cats (The orange one we named Simba; he was very friendly)! We shared a room with ample storage and an in-room bathroom (a luxury normally not afforded to people visiting Kenya). The bathroom was outfitted with a flushing toilet and a wonderfully warm shower! We had to get creative with laundry and finally resorted to buying a hair blow dryer as the weather was less than warm and our clothes were just not drying on their own. (Yes, Nairobi has cold weather during the winter months of June-August).

The guest house provided traditional Kenyan meals with the exception of a few things. We were offered cereal at breakfast and many choices of meat throughout the week. The average diet consists of primarily ugali (corn meal mush), giari (beans and corn), chipates (like crapes but different), spaghetti noodles with stew, rice, vegetables, chi and oranges. Very rarely do people have meat. Our cooks (featured in the slide show below) did a wonderful job keeping us nourished throughout the week. We would also come to appreciate the guest house guard, the nice waiter and Nora, F.P.F.K’s on site manager.