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field season preparations

My week or so in Nairobi was a blur of errands and seeing old friends and colleagues. This included hosting a dinner party of sorts, where I supplied the location and friends cooked up a yummy pork pilau, and going out to dinner at the usual places - Furasato (delicious sushi, yes, in Kenya!); Tamambo (where I got my usual, the ostrich fajitas); Open House (mmmm Indian food in Nairobi is fabulous); and Trattoria (Italian). Unfortunately, a few friends decided to walk home from Trattoria on a quiet Sunday night, and one got her purse snatched. Fortunately, she didn't have much money in it, but she did lose her US bank card and her Kenyan cell phone. It's not nicknamed Nairobbery for nothing.

Part of my week was making sure our 4 existing field project vehicles were fixed, going to pick up our brand new project vehicle (forget a fancy sportscar, give me a bush-worthy Land Cruiser any day!), renting a vehicle, and getting my own vehicle. Which was not in the best of shape, frustratingly - some of the door locks and one handle were not working; neither was the fuel gauge, the speedometer, or the odometer. Argh! I always make sure either the fuel gauge or the odometer is working, so I have a clue when I need to put more diesel in the car. (It goes about 450 km on a full tank, 70 liters, of diesel). Despite the pretty paint job - which painted over *all* my stickers, those of you who know my car will be sad to hear! - and the great new radiator, I was less than pleased at getting my car back from the mechanic/fixer in this condition. Oh, and I forgot a cracked window in the back. I made them fix the door locks and handles, and replace the window, but the other thing will have to be doing during the field season. Time to find a different car storage option!


Speaking of vehicles, I snapped this photo since I quite liked the idea of highly inflamable LPG (liquid petroleum gas). Sounds highly... non-dangerous.



I haven't gotten a chance to see the displays at the newly reopened museum here in Nairobi, but I am looking forward to it. The new building it beautiful, and it has a great new cafe and two gift shops (so far). The unfortunate thing is that the old (cheaper) cafe, which at least some of the museum staff could afford to eat in, is now gone.

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