The One Where We Rent A Friend (Andy)

So far, transportation here in the Horn for the two of us has been taxis, bumming rides, and walking. And while all of these are perfectly acceptable modes of transportation, especially admidst the Green Revolution back in the New World, here in Nairobi, we need a car of our own.  Most of our regular readers will know that we have been reliant on Jimmy and Peter as our primary chauffeurs around the city. But this past week we finally secured the release of our bought-on-the-internet-from-Japan-sight-unseen SUV, from the Port, and after correcting a few mechanical hiccups, we were mobile. But, one problem remained: we still didn't know our way around the city and needed a guide. 

We decided that Saturday would be a day of doing some shopping out in Karen, but honestly, it was just an excuse to drive around. We thought about trying to wing it, navigating the poorly signed and heavily congested roads with our not-to-scale Nairobi city map, but then thought the better of it.  So we called Peter and asked if we could hire him for the day to ride in our car and show us where to go. Naturally, he agreed and even called off of work that day to join us.  We inched our way through downtown and emerged in Karen at a roadside curio shop.  Not finding what we were looking for, (something a little more quality than your average africrap) we toured a nearby mall--teased mercilessly by the KFC sign put up to far in advance of opening day--and decided we would take a tour of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, better known as the Elephant Orphanage. For a place that is only open between 1100-1200, it's an hour well spent:

And we had a good time, too: 

Since the elephant orphanage didn't take that long, we decided we would make another attempt to visit the Karen Blixen museum, which many of you will remember fell through the last time we were in Karen. After a few wrong turns from our human GPS, we got to the house.

I won't go into detail about the history here, you can read that in the link in the name, but I will say that the house is beautiful even by today's standards, let alone British East Africa standards, and I'm glad that the government of Denmark gifted to the Kenyans and the Kenyans, in turn, gifted back to the country. It's a strange relationship nations can have with their colonial past and homes like these often times have fallen victim to post-colonial revenge. But Blixen did much for Kenya after she returned to Denmark that ensured her legacy, and her home, remained intact. 

After Karen, we came back and had a late lunch at a place near our home and tried to have our Japanese car stereo fixed (and by Japanese car stereo, I mean all the buttons are in Japanese).  Unsuccessful, we settled the bill with our hired friend and went home for a nap.

The End