Single Beds and a Flood
Our first night in Nairobi was spent at The Hotel Boulevard, a quaint place in the downtown area. I wish I had taken pictures of everything...but since we live in such a wonderful age of technology, I was able to find a link to photos of the hotel http://www.hotelboulevardkenya.com/photo-gallery-2/ and it still looks so much like what I remember. The rooms have received a much needed update, however.
Nairobi is lush. Sitting 90 miles south of the equator, at 5,500 feet above sea level, the weather is beautiful. Not too humid. Not too hot. Not too cold. The sun shines most of the time. (Sounds like a fairytale, right?) Nairobi is green and full of flowering bushes and trees. The bougainvillea grow into the trees, often cascading down into beautiful waterfalls of deep pink and purple. So what does all that have to do with single beds and a flood?
Well, driving up to the hotel was like driving into a beautiful oasis after a long trip through a desert. I was excited that we had arrived, but felt terribly tired and emotionally drained. All I wanted was a shower and a comfortable bed to lie down on. We checked in and the porter took our bags to the room. We opened the door and much to my surprise, were greeted with a set of twin beds with one night table in between. Shocked, I turned to the porter and told him there must have been a mistake. (We were newlyweds. The only time I had seen a hotel room with single beds was in old sitcoms on television) We needed a double room. He assured me this was a double room. That was my first lesson in understanding how different my life was about to become.
We got settled quickly and I was ready to fall asleep when we were greeted with our second surprise of the evening - water flowing from the bathroom toward our bed(s). Tom quickly called the front desk. A second lesson soon followed. Nothing happens very fast in Kenya. The Swahili is "pole pole." Slowly, slowly. My American mind was not too impressed. That's a fancy way of saying I sinned several times in my impatience and anger. Eventually someone did come in to clean up the water and fix the problem causing the leak. Moving to another room was not an option for some reason....
After being greeted at the airport by a row of men with guns, I guess twin beds and flood were a fitting end to the beginning of our journey.
Nairobi is lush. Sitting 90 miles south of the equator, at 5,500 feet above sea level, the weather is beautiful. Not too humid. Not too hot. Not too cold. The sun shines most of the time. (Sounds like a fairytale, right?) Nairobi is green and full of flowering bushes and trees. The bougainvillea grow into the trees, often cascading down into beautiful waterfalls of deep pink and purple. So what does all that have to do with single beds and a flood?
Well, driving up to the hotel was like driving into a beautiful oasis after a long trip through a desert. I was excited that we had arrived, but felt terribly tired and emotionally drained. All I wanted was a shower and a comfortable bed to lie down on. We checked in and the porter took our bags to the room. We opened the door and much to my surprise, were greeted with a set of twin beds with one night table in between. Shocked, I turned to the porter and told him there must have been a mistake. (We were newlyweds. The only time I had seen a hotel room with single beds was in old sitcoms on television) We needed a double room. He assured me this was a double room. That was my first lesson in understanding how different my life was about to become.
We got settled quickly and I was ready to fall asleep when we were greeted with our second surprise of the evening - water flowing from the bathroom toward our bed(s). Tom quickly called the front desk. A second lesson soon followed. Nothing happens very fast in Kenya. The Swahili is "pole pole." Slowly, slowly. My American mind was not too impressed. That's a fancy way of saying I sinned several times in my impatience and anger. Eventually someone did come in to clean up the water and fix the problem causing the leak. Moving to another room was not an option for some reason....
After being greeted at the airport by a row of men with guns, I guess twin beds and flood were a fitting end to the beginning of our journey.
haha! sounds like third world travel to me! :) Can't wait to read more.
ReplyDeleteEven with the flooding and twin bed situation (:-)), I would really like to visit Nairobi. It sure does sound like another world! The weather sounds perfect, I am still so spoiled from living in Southern California. The weather sounds very similar. No clouds in the sky (and the sky was sooooo blue), the perfect dry climate, always 70-80 degrees, and rained maybe 1% of the year. Weather totally makes a difference in your mood, at least it does for me... LoL.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I really enjoyed reading about this experience. We felt a little this way traveling to the Carribean this summer. Definitely a different world and culture, but so fun and mentally stimulating.