Africa at Last.

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This entry will be short, and is more or less just to let friends and family know that I've made it to Kenya safe and sound. The journey here has been a long one, but very easy and actually quite enjoyable. I've only spent 4 of the last 48 hours sleeping, though, so instead of spending time detailing the trip from Seattle to Nairobi, I'm going to bed at a healthy 19h00 local time. Because there was no available flight to Nanyuki today, I'm staying the night at the Country Lodge, just a short distance from Nairobi's city center, where things appear to have returned to normal. Minus the dozens of riot police, who look uncomfortable as all hell in their Robocop-wannabe get-up, one would never know any sort of violence or protests had taken place here during the last few weeks. In fact, downtown Nairobi was as bustling as a city could be.

I have free wireless internet here at the Country Lodge, which is a pleasant surprise, but cannot seem to access any e-mail websites (g-mail, yahoo, etc.). I figured a quick journal entry was the best way to let people know what's going on.

We fly to Nanyuki early tomorrow morning on Air Kenya, and should arrive at Mpala near lunch time. I'll be in touch shortly thereafter!

One last thing - I scored a cheap cell phone (KSH2,000 or ~US$30) that should work at Mpala (thanks to a new provider, Telkom, that erected a tower somewhere in the vicinity). I can't make any calls at the moment (haven't bought any credit, yet), and likely won't ever be making international calls because of the hefty $3-4 per minute required to do so, but I can receive calls, so feel free to call me anytime. The number is 0202321745, plus whatever long-distance prefix is needed to call Kenya. Just keep in mind I'm 11 hours ahead of PST!

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Photos

Country Lodge
Convenient and rather nice digs for our one night in Nairobi.

Lonely Breakfast
The empty dining room for breakfast . . . tourism has decreased tremendously since the post-election violence, and is easily the primary topic of conversation.