Part 3 – Mom and Evan Visit Nyumbani

After the climb up Kilimanjaro, Mom and Evan came up to visit Nyumbani for a few (too few) days. It was a lot of fun to have them around, and to show them the project that’s become my life for the past several months.
We spent a quiet but great couple of days before they had to head back to the US, and so I’ll write this post mostly about the last day or two of traveling home.

For my mom this was straightforward (leave Kitui, go to Nairobi, get on plane), but Evan got treated to a delightful combination of Airline and African efficiency, which combined can be quite potent.

He’d originally booked his ticket from Moshi to Nairboi to home, but when we came to Kitui it made more sense for him just to get on the plane in Nairobi, and so began his epic and ultimately futile struggle to change his ticket. He wasn’t asking for a refund, just trying to get on the plane in Nairobi instead of Moshi, so you’d think this would be something KLM and Kenya Airways would be willing to accommodate. Since Evan wouldn’t actually be present on the plane it would be marginally cheaper for them to fly from Moshi to Nairobi, and then Evan would get on the plane there and everything would then proceed as scheduled. Logically, there was no reason why this plan should have any problems.
But logic and airlines have never been friends at the best of times, and I think in Africa the two have broken off talks altogether. So in order for Evan to make it to his flight on Nairobi Friday evening, here’s what he had to do.
-Leave Kitui on Thursday afternoon on a solo matatu trip back to Nairobi (which meant he got to have an adventure in African public transportation, which everyone who comes to Africa should have at one point or another).
-Stay Thursday night in Nairobi (after getting very lost on the way to the hotel).
-Fly Friday morning fro Nairobi to Moshi (on a flight that conveniently left unannounced 1 hr. ahead of time. He made it, but really? Thats the one time something happens early? Really?)
-Wait in Moshi Airport until 3 pm
-Fly back to Nairbi
-Enjoy 6 hour layover
-Leave for home.

While Evan was jetsetting all over East Africa in a frantic quest to get back to where he’d started, Mom and I had a fun day in Nairobi. We went to the Masai Market, where we had a good time bargaining for some souvenirs. The Masai Market is a big craft’s market in Nairobi with hundreds of stalls of cloth, baskets, jewelry, carvings, you name it. Its very touristy and expensive (for Africa) and the people can be fairly aggressive about getting you to buy stuff, but all in all its a lot of fun.

A few if the many stalls at the Masai Market (Picture thanks to Helina Stein)

After a day of shopping we met Evan at Carnivore for dinner (he’d managed to make it back to Nairobi and was scheduled to leave around the same time as my mom, 11:00 pm) which continues to hold up as possibly my favorite restaurant ever. I’ve talked about Carnivore before, so I won’t dwell on it again here but if you’re ever in the neighborhood you have to stop by.

And so that was the end of a wonderful adventure, and for me it was back to Nyumbani for exactly 3 days before Cordelia (the head of PiAF) arrived to check up on the project, followed shortly by the PiAF fellows retreat in Nairobi. Stay tuned next time for the details of a weekend that included but was not limited to, a high-speed sighting of the President of Kenya, ice cream in a ball, baby elephants, and another trip to Carnivore.

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