We purposely came two days early because I know what it is like to start a tour right after you get off the plane. The first day in Nairobi we literally spent the entire day sitting under umbrellas by the pool, reading and napping.

Our guide, Wilburt, lives in Tanzania and he arrived in the evening. He tracked us down in the bar (of course). The three of us spent the next couple hours with him having drinks and appetizers. He is really a great guy and I can already tell this is going to be a great trip. Having had a bad guide in the past, I now realize how important the guide is. So, of course, we have to find everything about him. He tells us that with his first wife he has 3 children. So we ask “first wife”? Is there a second wife? Apparently in his tribe they allow polygamy. So, again the question, is there a second wife? The answer was there is no second wife because he is a Christian. We had no idea that the majority of the people in Kenya are Christian and only a small portion are Muslim or Jewish.

Prior to talking to Wilburt several weeks before our arrival we had booked a tour with Viator for Sunday. He suggested that we cancel it and he would plan something for us and did he ever plan a day for us! Wilburt set us up with another guide, named David, who had picked us up at the airport and we really hit it off with him.

So at 9:00 AM we left the hotel with David. You need to remember that everyone drives here on the left side and all of Nairobi is full of round-abouts! We are talking no yielding, no right of way, no signals. Mass chaos and no one is honking their horns. Believe it or not, it works! Nairobi is a city of 5 million people so we aren’t talking Villages traffic here.

Our first stop was at the Nairobi National Museum. We were warned that this wasn’t a normal museum but dealt more with the culture and history of Kenya.

Now only Habitat for Humanity people are going to really understand the next two pictures. Andy Laskowsky is known for “laying down on the job” and we have at least 25 photos of him in his favorite position. Well, Andy has an African twin!

They literally made headrests out of wood for tribes people to use when they sleep outside. Ouch!

Our next stop was lunch. David took us to a local place that he takes his wife and 4 children to. They show you all the food that you can order and Therese and I picked tilapia from Lake Victoria along with spinach and rice. Andy had roast beef and our guide had goat intestines. Yes, you read that right.

So we walked outside to a row of sinks and we washed our hands. I am thinking that it is really nice that they are sanitary conscious.

The real reason that you wash your hands is because you eat with your hands! Now, they did bring us forks but if I am going to eat local food, I am going to eat like a local.

Therese and Andy eating with their fingers.

Our next stop was at the US Embassy Park honoring those who lost their lives in the bombing of the US Embassy by al-Qaeda on August 9, 1998, twenty five years ago. There was a small museum with pictures and artifacts. The walls were filled with stories of the survivors who talked about that day. They showed a film interviewing the Ambassador who really the intended victim. Osama bin Laden wanted to kill her because she was a female and he thought the world wide publicity would be greater because she was a woman. Fortunately for her she was at a bank next door at a meeting when the bomb went off. 200 people were killed and over 4,000 were wounded in this bombing and the one that simultaneously occurred at the US Embassy in Tanzania.

It was a very moving experience that brought me to tears.

Outside there was a park built on the site. There was a wall with all the names of the victims and a wire capsule that held remains of the building.

Not a lot was said in the car on the way back to the hotel.

For dinner we decided to be more adventurous than eating at the hotel that really has exceptional food. We hooked up with the one member of our group who is not a Habitat member or a Boomer Babe. Her name is Laura and she was at a “mall” next to our hotel getting her hair braided for the entire afternoon. Wilburt recommended a restaurant in that mall for dinner so we met Laura there.

The waitress recommended this for dinner and this is what we had! No doggy bags needed.

So tomorrow the formal part of the tour starts with a visit to an Elephant Orphanage and a bead factory where local women, mostly single mothers, make beads, pottery and jewelry that are exported to more than 20 countries world wide. Shopping!