Well, we made it to Eldoret tonite. Flight from Phila on British Airways was very good. People were nice, plan was on time and food was hot..this ain't your US Airways.
Got to Nairobi at 930 pm on 1/1/11..or as they say in Europe and Africa..1/1/11. Hotel was Art Deco and nice. After some mangos and coffee we met Joseph our travel agent who arranged several things for us. He took us to Alex who was our driver for the day in Nairobi. First stop an elephant orphanage. These "babies" were rescued after poachers killed the moms for tusks. They ranged in age from 8-24 months. They were fed bottled milk and played around in the mud..just like a bunch of little kids. We were very close to them and got some good pics. Sara wanted to take one of the 200 lb babies home. These elephants are only brought out for the crowds once a day. The goal is to slowly teach them to survive in the wild and they are brought back to the herd as they get older.
Next stop the Giraffe Center. We climbed some stairs by a wooden stand and were face to face with Daisy, a 6 year old and a 6 month old. We were able to feed them food pellets. They don't have upper incisors so the can't bite. They have a long tongue to pick up the food. Some brave souls put the pellets in their mouths and the giraffes would lick it out...Sara and I took bets that Susan would have done that if she was here.
We had a nice lunch outside and then saw some music and African dancing..now I know where Paul Simon got his music (ask andy or matt). Andy would have liked all the drumming.
We took a 6pm 45 min flight from Nairobi to Eldoret. The compound looks fine- basic and clean. Sara and I are sharing a room and have our own mosquito nets. I am going running in the am with some other doc I haven;t met yet- he/she is picking me up at 615 am tomorrow. I am getting an orientation tomorrow and making rounds with my team. There is a PHD pharmacist from the states who runs the DM clinics and I will meet him when he comes on Wed. Sara has several options and we will see what shakes out. Looks like I will be lecturing to Kenyan and American students which should be fun.
Weather is 50s am, high 70s without humidity..can't complain. Well we are off to take our Malaria pills and go to sleep. More in the near future.
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