Nairobi, 6/19, 6 am?

I woke up at 4:30 am or so on Friday after 5.5 hours of dreamless sleep in our hotel room (tatu ishirini na mbili – three twenty-two). The run is rising now in Nairobi along with a crescendo of traffic and some crazy birdsong. I’ve spent the past two hours or so reading Infinte Jest by flashlight and pounding Nature Valley bars in the bathroom so as not to wake Adam– it’s like young adult summer camp! More constructively, I’m also trying to remember some basic Swahili, to no avail.

We had arrived in Nairobi at 7:30 pm. In one of Dan’s strategy/B.O avoidance sessions, we discussed how to best book it to the front of the plane and beat the rush to the visa line. I used a NFL lineman’s wading technique to leapfrog families and old people and ended up being maybe the 20th person off the plane despite being in row 38. That effort, plus some power-walking put me at about twelfth in a line that moved at a literal snail’s pace (maybe a foot a minute at best). Dan and Adam joined me and I handed them a swine flu-inspired form asking us to indicate whether we had experienced any influenza symptoms in the past two weeks. Despite my on again, off again cough and sore throat I dutifully checked no to all boxes, thus dooming Kenya to a raging pandemic. Actually, I just did not want to be detained at the airport for five hours until a physician’s assistant could be summoned to deem me flu-ridden yet prescribe me a course of random antibiotics. I had witnessed a bit too much of that in Tanzania.

The bagged carousel was c-shaped and pretty much in utter chaos because bags were strewn around in piles both in the middle islands of the belt and at arbitrary places around baggage claim. Although Adam and Dan found their bags within two minutes I ran around for half an hour searching for my 45 pound duffel that I was convinced had not made it onto the flight. However, I eventually spotted it being thrown into a pile of other mammoth suitcases and grabbed it, to the relief of all parties. We hopped in to a cab and took it to the Boulevard Hotel in downtown Nairobi . The streets were not particularly well-lit so it was difficult to get a good sense of the lay of the city.

Upon arrival, Dan remarked that he last stayed here in 1993 on his honeymoon, which was also the last time he had been in Kenya. The hotel is located about 100 feet from a fairly major traffic circle, which is important because the concierge mentioned that in 1988 a bus plowed through a divider and ended up in the hotel pool. No mention of casualties. Dan remarked that a car had nearly ended up in the pool/on top of his wife in ’93 but had been stopped by the barricade put in place in ’88. Note to self: avoid pool at all costs.

The hotel room I’m sharing with Adam is about 20% nice than that which I used in Dar es Salaam. No AC, but clean. We grabbed a beer (Tusker) in the hotel bar along with some spaghetti bolognaise after settling into our rooms. Washing down antimalarials with alcohol is not recommended by physicians. Whoopsy. We all crashed at 11 pm in preparation for tomorrow, our only full day in Nairobi before headed northwest to Eldoret. Wish I had not seen a mosquito in the bathroom.