May 10, 2010 - Monday

Woke up today around 7 am, still with a headache from either the lack of caffeine or jet lag or both. The only thing I forgot that I really needed was my pain relievers. I met up with Scott and Claire at about 8:30 am and learn of the robbery last night. Turned out it was a guy who was staying in the Guest House who saw them leave and then went over there. Quite glad I didn't go, as we also discovered that any key unlocks any door and he would have probably rummaged through my stuff as well. He took Scott and Claire's computers, an HD video camera, and some other miscellaneous stuff. Scott and Claire are with the police all day and I'm just hanging out in my room. I finished reading the Culture Smart Kenya book and Bill Bryson's African Diary (thanks Jen!), eat breakfast, see my first mosquito, sleep, eat some snacks, and sleep some more.

At one point, I finally had to use the bathroom and as you can see from the previous post there was no seat on my toilet. In addition, the heavy rains and a cracked window lead to there being water surrounding the toilet. So, off came the pants and an attempt to squat over the toilet. Being exhausted I gave up with the squatting and just sat on the rim uncomfortably. Other bathrooms I saw had merely a hole in the ground to do your business. I was always happy to see a toilet seat. Yet another reminder of the little things we take for granted and how much better off we are than so much of the world.

We took off around 4 pm to go to a new hotel. Scott and Claire opted to go to the nicest hotel in Eldoret that cost 3500 Ksh a night (roughly $45). This hotel has a pool and you can buy a day pass to it, which Scott and Claire have done.

Pic of downtown Eldoret:

From Kenya 2010

We ate dinner at the hotel, which had quite an extensive menu. We all opted for a curry of some type, me going with chicken. Also had my first, and only while in Eldoret, beers at dinner. Had a Pilsner to start with and then a Tusker. Neither was particularly good and both were of the quality of our standard lawnmower beers. If you go to Kenya, you should try the local beers but don't expect them to be much different from our mass produced beers like Miller Lite and Budweiser.

My sleep schedule was pretty screwy at this point, having slept a lot trying to get used to the time change. I slept off and on through the night, waking up at 1 am and then just pseudosleeping the rest of the night.