Back to Africa

I'm back in Africa. I flew to London and didn't sleep at all and then I flew from there to Nairobi and all I did was sleep and now it's nighttime and I cant' sleep.

Since then I got off the plane and walked to the visa station. Last year it cost 50 bucks, this year they have "cut the price in half" to ten dollars. But come on, who am i to argue. It is worth noting back when it cost 50, the whole process was a lot quicker. There was a lot of standing around and waiting tonight. When I finally made it through I grabbed my luggage and walked through customs without even knowing it. A customs official told me of my mistake, I turned around, literally did little more than a 360 and he asked me where I flew from, I told him London, and he just waved me forward. Keep in mind, the customs station was more like a bench you put your bag on and a dude standing there. I'm not saying the Naroibi airport ain't all that, it's a modern airport with every type of convince excluding air-condintioning that one would want in an airport, I'm just saying their customs shit is confusing.

At the airport, Jimmy, who worked with us a year ago picked me up. He brought a cooler filled with cold Tusker, a great Kenyan beer, and it was one of the most thoughtful things that has ever been done for me.

When I was here a year ago, they had started working on a highway from the airport into the city. Nairobi has the worst traffic of all time. The major contributing problem is all roads pass through the city center, nothing bypasses it. This road being built last year was aimed weave around the city, but they didn't get that far. What they did do was a miracle. A year ago there were a heap of rocks and some dirt and one day it was going to be a road, I'm amazed at how far this highway has come.

The other big change I noticed, not so many Indians. A year ago, the place was practically overrun by Indians. I didn't see too many tonight, although I did eat a samosa at a place I stopped at downtown.

More to come.