A couple days Downtown

Our day begins going downtown to familiarize ourself more with the city and to meet up with Muthoga who picked us up at the airport.
Kalyo comes and picks us up and our first stop is the memorial to the U.S. Embassy bombing by al Qaeda in 1998 which killed 212 and injured more than 4000. t was a sobering experience with a small museum with images from the day along with small vials which contained glass shards and nails that had been recovered from survivors bodies. Sadly it is something that has become a possibility anywhere in the world. However most of the area is a nice park with people excaping from the hustle and bustle of the city for a rest on the grass or meet with a friend. There are also quotes of Peace and nonviolence all around the park.One of which that I did not get a shot of was from Martin Luther King, who said," Violence never solved anything." How true I think that is. Following that we went to the main convention center to get a view of the city and surrounding area from the top of the tower.It was a beautiful view and then back down to explore the city for a while. Interesting thing that we noticed is that everyone is dressed up. Everyone. I could have counted the number of people not in collared shirts on one hand all day. Most people are in coat and ties and the women in dresses. This is not just downtown either it is also in our neighborhood.
You just see people hanging on the side of the road sitting in the grass wearing there suit. Quite interesting since it is 80 every day all year pretty much. So after exploring for a while we meet with Muthoga who is just great at a nice outdoor cafe for some beers.We talked of some of the activities that we would want to do. He was a NOLS trip guide here for many years. Now he has his own travel company and many great contacts which will help us in our travels all around Kenya as well as in Kibera a slum of Nairobi. This is where the film Constant Gardener was filmed and where the organization Nyumbani distibutes many of its anti viral drugs. I believe that Jen has shifted much of her focus for her articles to sustainable development as well as to the effects of the AIDS virus on the communities of Africa with a focus on the Nyumbani. Muthoga as well as his friend Michael and the two of us had a great discussion on these issues and the political situation of Kenya. Interesting fact is that the President has the power to pick any day in December to be the election day. It is all up to him he can do this at any time. The day was growing dim. So we went back with Kaylo and he did his things on the streets. I have not said anything about the traffic. It is nutz. Downtown it is just congested and a lot of circles with lights at the main circles, but out if the downtown it is a free for all. All of the intersections are really just 4 way Yields. This situation can get quite exciting when there is a huge bus coming from your right or left with which the driver plays chicken. We make it back our our place for some snacks and our nightly viewing of an episode of Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which seems to lighten things up. Today started an interesting morning of trying to get our rent money to our place from the bank. Thankfully we got it there but it just was a little exciting as we waited for a trustworthy ride back to our place. After we weaved our way back downtown to meet with Shashank a reporter from the States who has been living in Kenya for two years covering all of Africa.He gave us some more helpful tips on taking the buses called Matatus as well as cuisine. But with everything he said it just made us feel more comfortable and welcome to be in this place that seemed so foreign and dangerous just a week ago.