Day 1: Karura Forest run, Village Market & Nairobi Street Kitchen

Day 1 dawned with a serenade from what Greta has bird sleuthed to be an Egyptian goose ... or more accurately, geese. They live in the park that abuts the Bailey's backyard, which is called River Walk, but after recent rains is more of a River Lagoon.

The bird symphony woke Greta, Lincoln and me up enough from our jet lag that we went for a run in Karura Forest where Kira has her summer camp. We all set off at our usual pace -- 7:30 miles for Lincoln and 10 or so for Greta and me -- but realized two miles in that running at 5,900 feet is a little different than sea level at home! All's well though, and we clocked just under 4 miles. I did trip on a root and took home a souvenir of red Kenyan clay.

Thursday afternoon we had lunch at a nearby outdoor shopping mall called Village Market. All you'd ever need to buy in one place with dozens of individual shops selling everything from groceries to clothes to electronics and housewares. I enjoyed a Falafel Bowl with grilled Halloumi cheese, Lincoln had a burger, Greta an Impossible burger, and Carey a Falafel burger with something called Masala Fries, which were like an Indian version of poutine. We spent the afternoon reading and napping while waiting for Anneli to wrap up her workday. Dinner was home cooked by Damond -- shrimp curry over rice, with a side of cold diced veggies that was like a Pico de gallo. 

Sleeping with the fishes? No, the meats.

The Nairobi marketeers got the message: Add a giraffe and it will sell.

Question: How long can eggs remain unrefrigerated? Is this another one of those American lies we've been fed all our lives?

An impressive nuts section. I'll take a cup of each, please.

Jack got big. Jack's also not going to Princeton.

Yes, Carey bought one.

Falafel Burger in mouth, Masala Fries in foreground.

An American in Kenya.

At about 8 o'clock we piled into a couple Ubers for an excursion to Nairobi Street Kitchen, which was like Galleria 7 back home, but with dancing and alcohol! There was a dance troupe hired for the evening to market themselves, so anyone standing too close to the dance floor was propositioned to dance. I only got asked once and politely declined. There were 8 minutes left in the England/Denmark Euro 2024 match, after all. Most of the dances were salsas, but as the evening wore on they thumped a little more electronic music. The kids were troopers and Carey, well, she was her authentic self.

Waiting for the Uber.

The best thing about the iPhone 14 and later is the night photography. This is at the top of their driveway well after sundown as we were waiting for the Uber.