I slept around 10 hours! I’m not sure if this was because I was too tired from the day before or because I woke up numerous times when each tenant in this 10-floors building closed their door to go to work. It is Monday morning, and humanity has agreed on hating that morning. I assume this had something with slamming the doors and waking me up.
I started my day with breakfast in some local café in this rich neighborhood. I could tell that people were not poor from how they dressed. The guy in the next table was wearing the Swiss designed ON shoes. I don’t know why I did not expect to see this in Nairobi. I think in one and half days I’ve already changed some of my prejudices and expectations, despite the fact that I have visited Africa before and also read “Factfulness” for Hans Rosling. English was spoken in most of the surrounding tables, and then there was this phenomenon that I have observed in the cafés and restaurants that I have visited so far; Every 10 to 15 minutes one person from one table goes to chat with another person on the other table, which makes me think this is a small community of people who are doing well in life and know each other. In general, most of the tables had lively conversations, and people seemed to be enjoying their lives.
I decided to go for a haircut and thought that a tidy appearance would give a better impression when socializing with strangers. However, John, the barber, gave me my second-worst haircut in history. Only topped by that haircut I had in Ecuador by a fugitive Ex-gang member who escaped from the United States. I thought “well I’m in a foreign country where nobody actually cares. I have two weeks before going back to Europe, and the gorgeous ladies there will see better hair!”
In the afternoon I was busy on a free walking tour, where I was joined by a couple from Germany and two cousins traveling from the United States in addition to our local guides Brian and Nicolas. We walked for around three hours getting to know about the history of Kenya in general and Nairobi in particular, bombarded with dates and names of politicians that I forgot within seconds. Actually, by the time of writing this post, I might have forgotten 99% of what I have heard. However, they told us about the “Matatus”, (man I love Kiswahili and how it is pronounced). So a Matatu is a minibus that is desigend with graffities, has loudspeakers, and is hip-hop on the inside. Nicolas told us that some have even playstation on board for the entertainment of the passengers in the rush-hour traffic. The price of the ride would vary depending on how “cool” the Matatu is! I found this short article with photo about Matatus. “Matatu” is now definitely one of my favorite words!
At the end of the tour, I decided to join Hasani and Keisha (the two American travelers) for a local dinner. We exchanged travel stories. Hasani works in Germany, while Keisha is a Nurse anesthetist in New Jersey. After a long local dinner early, we decided to stay in touch and maybe re-join paths in the future.
After we parted I thought the evening was still young, and I had some space for a dessert and potentially a cup of tea, so decided to head to CJ’s, a restaurant that belongs to the same chain where I have been a day before. While I was enjoying my apple pie with ice cream and a cocktail, a voice directed to me said: “are you a tourist too?”. I turned my neck and found a well-dressed African lady. I told myself: she is definitely not a tourist. But anyway, I would never pass on such a chance for a conversation with a stranger. Her name was “Gift” and she was a solo traveler from Nigeria.
I must confess, the conversation was not that spectacular, except for how she explained her strategy to approach me. She said it would have been weird if she went directly from her table to my table to talk to me. So she decided to go to the ladies’ room and on the way back, she would stop casually and ask me as if she has just noticed me. I laughed!
In the beginning, I thought she was hitting on me. Then I thought, maybe she is a gold digger. Then I thought she is probably a rich solo traveler. At the end of the evening, I was still not wiser about her than before. The only thing I know was that there is a driver waiting for her outside.
I decided I will use this bathroom trick during my Kenya time. So stay tuned!