Uhuru Park

Today was easy, it's almost like things were being brought to us to do! The streets of the city center felt entirely deserted. Easter Sunday, figures. On our way to breakfast I was signaled over by an army guy while I was crossing the street. I had noticed a few army people patrolling, so I assumed it was simply to warn me of something. Finally, the man asks for my passport. Right then and there, I wasn't sure if I should run, or play stupid. Rumor is, any authority figure will try to extort money from unknowing tourist. The passport gag meant he would threaten to arrest me for my lack of ID unless I paid him. I went with the play stupid role, said I didn't have it on me. He asks why. I say it's safer in my hotel. I respond I was stolen from recently so the streets aren't safer (since I know there's a huge pickpocketing issue here), we go back and forth. Finally Jack appears and says if he wants a passport, he'll have to follow us to our hotel, after which we just slowly walked away... Yep, just walked away from the army man. He never did ask for money, but he must have seen we weren't intimidated. Well I say that, but my heart was pounding! Imagine, having to bargain a bribe with an army personal in the middle of the day downtown. According to what I've read and been told, the only thing to do if they insist is bargain down. A bribe is the only way out.

After that fun little bit, we find the breakfast shop we were looking for - great coffee and actual breakfast items! No beans for me this morning! We then explored downtown, walked by the parliament and huge fancy official buildings. Our only true goal today was to go to the Masai market (tourist market), but it turns out, the market came to us! In front of the Supreme Court was a little market with a bunch of touristy trinkets. We didn't even have to leave downtown! Did some shopping. Hard bargaining. I was quite proud of my skills. Every time I offered a price, they were outraged because it was usually a third of their initial offer, yet with some tough looks exchanged, I usually ending up paying exactly what I wanted. I honestly don't feel I overpaid once. Being cheap pays off!

After all this walking, we wanted to kick our feet up an relax in the city's park. Turns out, Sundays is fair day! There's tons of locals roaming the park with rides, and mini trains, and paddle boats on the lake, and cotton candy, and camel to ride on... Everything a girl could ask for! We sat for a while, until this homeless kid, maybe 10 years old, inhaling gas, wouldn't leave us alone. Even when we left to walk around the park he followed us for about 15 minutes until we finally lost him. Sorry I didn't want to contribute to the petrol purchases...

It was great to see Kenyan families just enjoying their outdoor spaces, relaxing on the weekend. Walking out of the Uhuru Park and into Central Park, another little surprise - outdoor mass. A big celebration amongst what appeared to be mostly religious figures of the church. Everyone chanting and dancing under the shade of the trees. It was great. A little bit of true culture before it all ends. Walking back home we dropped by the National Archives, more of an art museum. Some beautiful pieces, and very little pottery thankfully. Mostly sculpture and traditional tribal wear. Nice exhibit.

My anxiety and my need to explore more are colliding with tomorrow's plan. Since we only leave at 740pm, we could do a full day activity like the Nairobi National Park or a tour or something. But there's a little voice in my head telling me I can't go too far from the airport, I must avoid any situation that could make me late for my flight... Who knows what we'll do. We were told that as deserted as the streets were today, with all the shops being closed, it will be worse tomorrow. Staying downtown all day just doesn't seem like fun...

Side note! (it's been a while!)
I've become very efficient at fixing toilets! Pierre would be proud. The amount of times I've had to take the lid off the tank and problem solve is ridiculous. The most entertaining part is trying to fix a toilet which has been previous fixed, African style. Metal wire as a flushing lever, parts holding together with zip-ties or tape. This current room for example, I took the lid off the toilet to find the thing that gauges the water level in the tank taken apart in 3 pieces. Guess who made it work!? Good thing too, since I told them yesterday at 6pm that the toilet was broken and the sink has no water running. At 7pm, I reminded them of this coming back from diner. At 830pm I went down to ask for at least a bucket so we could flush, until it was fixed. Not too long after I got a bucket of water. We are now more then 24 hours later, I remembered them of it again today at 530pm, its now 650pm and my sink is still not running, and I've had to trouble shoot fixing the toilet every time we go. Let's just say service isn't the quickest when it comes to repairs... But we have a bucket! FYI - great for laundry!Read more