Nairobi

While we were fortunate enough to stay at one of the nicer hotels we still witnessed the extreme poverty that is prevalent in this growing city. Even at our hotel we took many cold showers and had frequent power outages. I think some of this is due to just how fast the city is developing. Considering it was a swamp land until it was founded by the British in 1899 and is now the country's capitol with over 3 million people, that is incredible  growth for 100 years! Unfortunately, the divide between the wealthy and poor is quite obvious in this city. 

There are extremely wealthy areas and extremely poor areas, but they are separated from each other. This is similar to the U.S., however I can recall many times when i lived in New York City seeing homeless people on the streets of wealthier areas. This is not the case, at all in Nairobi.  While we did drive through some of the middle and upper-class parts of the city, most of our time was spent in the poverty-stricken areas.  After a day or two, seeing people along the side of the street selling things or cooking over fires was just "the norm."  Some of the people in our group who have done extensive world traveling mentioned that even with the poverty, Nairobi is extremely clean. I agree with this as there was not a lot of garbage or animal droppings along side the roads (with the exception of one large pile we saw with a pig sitting on top!) 

One of most fascinating things to me was the traffic in Nairobi. Most of the areas we drove in had NO traffic lights, stop signs, pedestrian crossings, etc.  This was absolutely amazing to me that a city the size of Los Angelos could function without these things, but the astounding part was it did! I certainly would not consider myself qualified to drive down these roads as it takes quite some skill to weave in and out of traffic and know when to push your way through or when to wait.  Our entire time there we only saw three accidents, which I found impressive. Now, I would not recommend this system of traffic as we literally sat for hours at times, however, it was quite intriguing (and we quickly learned that you always go to the bathroom before getting on the bus.)

One more story about the traffic in Nairobi. Since cars were stopped a lot, it was not uncommon for people to walk in between them selling their goods. However, my favorite moment was when we drove by a pineapple stand and one of our Rafikis yelled out to the bus, "Does anyone want some pineapple?"  And sure, enough, we pulled over and bought 3 pineapples from the bus window.  Now, this is "fast food" I am actually willing to eat!

A typical thing to see on the side of the road. People set up to sell whatever goods they have.

Lots of construction everywhere- it is definitely a developing city!

Apartments

Picture of an Informal Settlement (slum) out my bus window. 

Yaya Center- A shopping center near our hotel. We discovered a health food store and smoothie place so we walked here whenever we had the chance! The Masaii Market is also held here on the roof each Sunday.

Masaii Market (on the roof of Yaya) where I learned to bargain for deals. (and not be fooled by "lady, you my first customer, bad luck to lose first customer!)

Pineapple Drive-through