I know this seems like a trivial thing to write about, but I had such an experience getting there & back I just had to write about it... plus I have not added anything in a while.
first of all we don't have a car yet (not until mid january) so I have to rely on the kindness of others to get around. My social sponsor calls me up this morning to see if I wanted to go to the butcher & green grocer. Food was getting a bit low & I a;ways jump at the chance to get out. So 8:45am and we are off. To give you an idea of where we are going the total round trip is about 5 miles... at most. We run into traffic right from the start. To understand traffic in Nairobi I need to first explain a few things.
Our compound empties onto a 'major' road in Nairobi. I need to describe what a major road is. This road is one lane each way and is a step up from a dirt road. It is paved but in ill repair. To all my Portland friends, this is about the equivalent of Broadway... with pot holes... one lane each side... same amount of vehicles. Sprinkle in a few roundabouts for good measure and you have the route we took.
To make matters worse there are no traffic laws, or at least none that are enforced. There are cops who try to direct traffic but only end up making things 10x worse. And then there are the matatus... the what? Matatus are a form of public transportation in Nairobi. They are mini vans that have had the back seats taken out and in their place are 4 rows of bucket seats, 3-4 sets per row. Each matatu is privately owned and they are decorated in a manner of different ways. Each matatu has a name that the owner puts on the front windshield. These names can be anything from celebrities (B'yonce, Clinton, Clooney) to just pure randomness (Fox news, Shazzam, Death Trap). The owner/drivers make money by cramming as many people into the van as possible and making as many stops as they can. More stops=more passengers=more money. Needless to say the matatus do every they can to get to where they are going as fast as they can get there. Today I saw multiple vans drive by on both sides. That means the sidewalk (if there were sidewalks) and into the oncoming traffic. It is pretty funny to watch. To give you an idea of how insane these guys are, the embassy has forbid us to ride in them due to "their appalling accident record." Trust me there is no way I would step into one of those things. I will try to take a photo of a few of these things as they are a spectacle.
So I got off track. I just wanted to give you an idea of why a trip that should have taken 15 min can take almost 2 hours. Did I mention that the round trip was about 5 miles?
Anyway the "Jam" gave me a chance to take in the roadside wonders. the entire length of this main road has nurseries (plants before you ask) & wood workings (people selling anything carved out of wood; bed frames, shelves, wood animals, etc) on the side of the road. It is pretty interesting. Also there are small burning trash piles ever so often on the side of the road. Yup we're not in Kansas anymore Toto.
