A Nairobi Story...Long overdue...

*** Sorry for the long delay, mainly been searching for the right words to cover my experience in that city - it is in a word 'ambivalence', but I have no doubt that I will return to Kenya and it capitol for future climbing and trekking trips ***

Addis Ababa, from where I'd come to visit Nairobi has very Marxian streets and avenues. Huge, 16 lane streets leading to enormous traffic circles and grandstand squares built to hold thousands. The remnants of the communist Derg regime abound. There is no central downtown in Addis, just a network of major streets and squares. There are high-rises and low-rises but they pop up all along the relatively one-storey cityscape.

I arrived in Nairobi with fear in my eyes. Everything I'd read basically told me that no matter what I did, I was going to get mugged, day or night. I just wanted to get to my hotel and wait for the GAP people to pick me up to trek Mount Kenya.

As we drove I was impressed by the outskirts of Nairobi, large warehouses, and stores. When we finally got to the city core, Nairobi has one, it was a bunch of high-rises and business men and women walking on the streets. It looked recent, modern, and well-kept. I got to the hotel, and was surprised to find the GAP hadn't booked a room for me [I'm still in a battle with GAP]. But nonetheless it was pleasant.

The next day I found out from a man who'd been helping me earlier at the hotel. He was dressed in a a suit and his name was Jacob. I made the major error of assuming he worked for my hotel. He was indispensible for me, he took me on a long tour by foot of Nairobi, which I came to see was a vibrant, modern city in the swing of and economic boom. It's a bit more tropical than Addis, with verdant greeen parks just off downtown. I saw the Kenyan Parliament with Jacob and he answered all my questions about how bad the crime used to be. Apparently, the Kenyan government had launched a major crackdown on crime and police corruption and things are much better he explained.

After I'd found out that the tour people from GAP had ditched me, I resolved to spend the next 6 days in London with Pat. Jacob was great, he got me to Brtitish Airways, he helped me change the last of my Ethiopian Birr into schillings, and he got me a ride to the airport. Okay I was gullible, he was a little too perfect. He'd been explaining to me all along that there was a 70 000 schilling (100 $ Can) "departure tax" at the airport. And to put it bluntly, I trusted this man, he had acquired my 'confidence'. You can see where this story is going.

When I got to the airport, Jacob took my passport and the money to "pay off the guards so they wouldn't bother me". Through the grace of God I got my passport back and even tipped him for all his help. He told me to wait at the aiport cafe for the guard and that was the last I saw of Jacob. Once I got inside and realized I'd been taken I had to give the guy a lot of credit, he'd been so professional, well dressed, so kind and decent - just the sort of passive aggressive authority figure I would trust. Yeah I got taken, and it pissed me off, so when I say Nairobi is relatively crime free - I was being conned as I was coming to that conclusion. Oh the Irony...