Arriving In Kenya

"You got your passport man?" I asked as we stumbled towards the revolving airport door.

"Of course, man I'm excited for this!" Felix replied as we got closer to the smiling lady at the check-in counter.

We dropped our heavy bags off as the queue ended, "Where are you Gentleman heading today?" a brown haired 26-year old asked us as she reached over the counter to inspect the passports.

"Kenya!" we replied with a wide smile.

"Oh how wonderful, well you are all ready to go now - your flight is taking off at Gate 8." She replied while gesturing to the next person in the queue.

After losing a couple of Pacman games and being humiliated in Street Fighter I rested my head on my soft travel pillow and while watching movies on other people's blurry screens drifted asleep.

I felt a light nudge and as I started to open my eyes I heard Felix's voice whisper: "Noah, wake up - we're nearly at Kenyatta Airport now, and I want to take a piss before we start the landing."

I silently stood up and rubbed some sleep out of my eyes while letting Felix clamber from the narrow seat.

"What's your name?" I asked an older woman that was sitting in a plastic chair of the only cafe in the airport.

"Isatou, you?" she said slowly, it was clear that she had just come from a long and tiring journey.

"I am Noah, and I was wondering - is there any chance that you are taking part in the GEN Africa conference?" I guessed as I sat down in one of the white chairs in front of her.

"Yes, I am." she replied with a light smile on her face.

"Oh how great, well we just found the van that is going to the conference centre in Thika - my friend Felix can help you with your luggage and you can wait in the van if you want. It's probably more comfortable there than in here. I still have to wait for a guy that is stuck at the immigration but I'll see you once he comes out."

I looked over my shoulder to see Felix and Isatou wander in between the many cars towards the white van as an airport security guard in blue uniform walked up to me.

"You the man looking for the guy from Senegal?" he inquired after abruptly stopping in front me.

"Yes, that is in fact me - any news?" I responded, as I stood up to face the guard.

"Bad one, it looks like he won't pass today - some problem with the visa." he said.

"Oh shit, well I at least we can go now." After all we had been waiting for 3h hours in this wretched airport - part of it had burnt down just a couple of months before - with a lounge built in the plain concrete style. Hence I too wandered amid the cars and joined Felix, Isatou, Margarita, Ever and the driver in the small Toyota. I lodged myself in between Felix and my backpack and the trip began in the busy and congested streets of Nairobi.

After having left Nairobi for about an hour and experiencing the open road, full of small, fast and reckless cars, the car started slowing down.

"I have problems steering this, we will have a break and I check what's wrong." he informed us calmly as he opened his door to step out onto the red earth. We went to the shop/bar right in front of the parking spaces and as Felix enjoyed his first beer in Kenya I walked through the muddy ground towards a small wooden structure where a young man offered oranges and bananas.

"You from America my friend? Come I have great fruit for good price." he said with a happy smile.

"I'm from Scotland, and how much is one orange and one banana?" I asked him as I stopped in front of his 'shop' and started to inspect the oranges.

"5 bob for one of each, how many you want?" he answered as he prepared a black plastic bag to be filled.

"I won't need a bag, thank you, could I have 5 bananas and 2 oranges?" I got the money out and gave him a couple of coins (35 Kenyan Shilling are about 0.35 Euro) and grabbed the fruit that he had chosen for me.

It turned out that the car had a flat back wheel, luckily we had a spare wheel and there were some builders near-by that were able to offer the tools needed to change the wheel. Two hours of driving on the Thika Super Highway later we finally arrive at the conference center in Thika. Felix and I get our luxurious room and after saying hello to some good old friends we get the chance to rest our tired minds on soft pillows. We had gathered so many new impressions of such a different culture on just the first day. And there were still so many adventures to come.