Day 33 - Habesha Ethiopian restaurant

When we got into Nairobi Saturday night I had quite a headache that was still with me in the morning. Thought I would be smart and drink a little coffee to open up the blood vessels to work along with the ibuprofen. I had forgotten how awful too much caffeine feels - in fact that feeling is what made me switch to decaf about 13 years ago. The feeling hit while we were on the way to the giraffe sanctuary. It was so awful I thought I might have a real problem so we stopped off at a mall to see if we could find a clinic to get checked out. Tom had had a similar feeling awhile ago when his blood pressure spiked for no really good reason.

We found a clinic, paid $3.50 to get my blood pressure checked. It was quite high, but it was back to normal in 10 minutes when the nurse checked it again. I also drank a cup of hibiscus tea (Jamaica for our Mexican friends) which works really well to bring the bp down.

We headed off to see the giraffes a little late, but gradually feeling much, much better. Almost normal a couple of hours later.

On the way home we stopped to have a snack at a place that makes bronze sculptures - there is a beautiful park like restaurant and it was very peaceful.

Next stop was at a sister's place. She is an artist (Daphne Butler) who does some beautiful work. We had a little visit and took a look at what she had for sale. She has some original oils, some limited prints on canvas and some poster prints. Mostly of African wildlife. In fact, there is some of her African art hanging in the Bethel - we had one above the head of our bed (unsigned, of course). She has recently been hired exclusively to paint for a Chinese businessman. He gives her more work than he can handle painting whatever he wants her to paint - the current projects were copies of long gone classical artists (subjects like a woman in a robe holding an urn). The arrangement is that she paints only for him and she retains all the copyrights. That way she can make and sell prints. One day it would be nice to get one of her canvas prints but for now our budget allowed for some posters.

Now on to the Habesha restaurant for an Ethiopian dinner. They arrange the different meets and vegetables over a large pancake of their bread on a large platter. (Injera is an East African sourdough-risen flatbread with a unique, slightly spongy texture. Traditionally made out of teff flour, it is a national dish in Ethiopia and Eritrea). All eaten with the fingers. We also tried their traditional honey wine which was sweetish and a bit lemony.

Home after dinner, shared a glass of wine and some visiting before bed.Read more