Monkeys love coke

"The beautiful ones are not yet born" this was a random quote from a Kenyan that I absolutely love, it delves into the question of beauty and the finite condition. So, yesterday some of the guys and myself walked around Nairobi and took in a lot of the downtown area. Firstly, we went to a free admission monkey park that was absolutely out of this world. The park housed dozens and dozens of free ranging monkeys that run around visitors and often, attack them. We bought peanuts to feed the monkeys and the monkeys aggressively pursued these peanuts, to the point of jumping at my face and drawing blood on my hand. I instantly feared some sort of infection or rabies, but I seem to be alive thus far haha! The monkeys also have developed quite the penchant for coke as they took Dave's coke bottle and chugged it down- pictures to come sooner or later. The monkey park was gorgeous to say the least, tropical trees dotted the landscape and various hawks/ random exotic birds sang from the trees and hovered over us- it was awe inspiring. I loved this park.

Other items of note, we saw the skeleton of the very famous australopethicene, Lucy, at the national museum, a very cool finding. My impressions of Nairobi are that of a very crowded city with a plethora of banks, insanely driven matatu's (overcrowded and fast vans), somewhat overpriced food, excepting those on the outskirts, and a city permeated by music and random noise. The city is extremely polluted and is marked by a remarkable display of diversity, e.g. Hindu temples, Muslim Mosques, and Christians churches are all within a close juxtaposition to eachother. Overall, I enjoyed the city very much.

The Masai market, a traditional hagglar's market filled with traditional jewlery, was a unique experience indeed. The salespeople are very aggressive, especially the salesmen, often not taking no for an awnser. I had to say "hapana" and "Asente" a great deal, swahilli statements that combine to mean no thank you. There are no set prices at the market, the salesperson will offer an exorbiant price at first and you must offer an extremely low price and meet somewhere in the middle. It was a great experience.

The food here is very good so far- lots of lentils, spinach, breads, cabbage, and chai. I feel healthy, despite the awful air quality. I start work in the orphanage tomorrow and I am going to an African Christian church service today- I will write about it soon. So, the matatus were very frightening, the monkeys fun, and the food good- all and all I am having a blast.

More than anything, I can't wait to start serving. The people here are so nice, of note are the people of rural masai-land, who seem exeedingly hospitable. The volunteers are fun to hang with as well, the house is filled with guys at the moment.

Another day malaria-free,
Cameron