Kenya the first days

Hello, this is a copy of a letter I sent to some people.

You will have to look at our blog to fill in any of the gaps. I am not going to repeat myself too much. Even though my children say I do repeat myself.

On Friday the first day we did not do much, apart from learning about our surroundings, rest, and try to make friends with Lexi. We did get out to go to the grocery store with Stephen. This store was more like some type of chain store so it really was very much like we are used to seeing with some slightly different products, certainly more tropical fruit. We did not go to any markets used by most Kenyans, so I cannot talk about that. We do have some pictures of such, but we were in the car.

I am reminded of Russia by all of the dirt paths in town. Side streets are often a combination of dirt and asphalt. There are few traffic lanes marked and there are amazingly few accidents that I saw considering that people seem to figure out their own spot to be in. They do drive on the left with many round abouts. Pedestrians cross the roads at busy spots, dodging cars, matatus (vans for hire), and buses. I guess the drivers would try not to hit a person, but I did not want to challenge them.

Sarah’s office supplies a car that they can also use personally. The only requirement is that they replace the gas consumed. This was a Toyota as were most of the cars that I saw. I was surprised at the good condition of most of the cars, but then she commented that it is the rich who use them. They also keep them clean with the office hiring someone to wash the car more than once a week. In this dusty city that is perhaps more necessary than in other places. Many people would be in the buses and matatus, sometimes even hanging on the outside. In the country in particular there could be quite a lot of things strapped to the top, defying the rules of gravity.

Over all I would say that people seemed to cheerful and Sarah said they seldom complained, but accepted or tried to work out a solution if there was a problem.

Paula