Day Eight – The U.S. Embassy and The National Museum of Kenya

Our first full day in Nairobi started with a trip to the U.S. Embassy.  Security is tight but we made it through with only a few glitches (but I can’t really detail the glitches to ensure security procedures are not breached J).  The U.S. has over 100 agencies in Kenya and the Embassy employees about 300 U.S. citizens and 800 or so Kenyans.  There are several monuments in tribute to the employees that lost their lives in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy.  We were hosted by the Cultural Attaché’s office that is responsible for providing funding to keep the Lamu Museum and other aspects of the Lamuan culture preserved.

After the Embassy, we traveled to the National Museum of Kenya.  Travel to and from in Nairobi is treacherous at best.  There are very few street signs or lights and every other block has a roundabout.  Cars drive over each other’s lanes, of course there are no lines, and cars dart in and out and cross over lanes as normal course.  The museum is much like our Natural History Museum.  The Kenyans are proud of their heritage and have several exhibit halls dedicated to the evolution of man and the Kenyan civilization.  Overall, the tour was very impressive and the site itself is well designed.

Nairobi is quite different than Lamu.  It is like any normal large city where people walk in between cars and traffic lights are virtually ignored.  It was nearly impossible to walk the streets of downtown Nairobi without bumping into people and like any large city; the native folk are aggressive on the streets.  Of course, we stood out.  Four African-Americans and three Caucasian Americans, so if you are not comfortable with fast cultural assimilation, then downtown Nairobi is not for you. To keep things as simple as possible for everyone’s sensitive palette, we ate at the hotel each night.  The accommodations were very European, so we were very comfortable at the Sarova Stanley Hotel.  The staff was very attentive and for the most part, efficient (even compared to American standards of “fast, fast, fast”).  But, my heart is still in Lamu, where the islanders will tell you “polo polo”, loosely translated as “go slowly” or as I like to tell myself “slow your butt down.”  This will be something I will try to live by going forward.

RW