Julio Santos

It’s early, not even 7AM and I’m outside chatting with Peter, my new friend. He can barely speak english and keeps repeating himself over and over. Apparently he really loves America. I told him I do too. Peter tells me that he cannot find a job because he’s incapacitated. He takes his hat off and I see a pretty ugly scar on his skull. He was stabbed, on the head, during some fight.

So anyway, back inside, not crossing the street just yet. After an excellent breakfast we were headed to our first MFI visit. Though we learned quite a bit when there, we were disappointed that we would not be able to see their customers (borrowers). Due to some miscommunication, where we thought we were going to fly to Kusumu, drive to Kakamega (the name alone was worth it) but instead we stayed in Nairobi.

There is the concern that having 3 furners (they say mzungu) walking around would be too disruptive. Fair enough. Bummer but fair.

Since we can’t have our Kisumu adventure, let’s at least go back to the hotel, cross that damn street and have lunch over there.

So we did

Since we crossed the street and even had lunch there, all without dying like it was almost implied, we were now ready for any adventure. We are going to see some giraffes.

There’s this place in town, some sort of refuge for giraffes where they built a platform so dumb tourists like me can be at the same level as those creatures. The best part was to french kiss Anne (the giraffe)

We’re closing the day with an “all meat” dinner. Camel and ostrich taste okay. Crocodile not so much (it tastes like a chicken that hangs out in the water too much, and now tastes like fish).

Okay, this was a very busy day. Nairobi is not so bad once we leave the financial district (and decide to cross shady streets), and now it’s off to bed. Tomorrow there’s another MFI visit. Maybe this time we will see some borrowers.