Out of Africa

Hard to believe we have already arrived at our last day in Africa.
Susan and I are really sorry to go. We've met some wonderful people
here and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Kenya and Tanzania.
Ironically, after taking it easy in Nairobi for a while, we're ready
to see the rest of the eastern half of the continent. We've heard
great things about Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi, Botswana and South
Africa, That will have to wait until next time.

We spent our last few hours in Nairobi enjoying the perfect weather
and saying goodbye to everyone. We're really going to miss Lynita and
Alan, the two expat Australians who run Wildebeest Camp, and Aidan is
going to miss their young son Oliver. The other person we're going to
miss is Justice, a young Masai man who is living with Lynita and Alan
while he completes his degree in wildlife conservation. We promised
Justice that when he's done, we'll come back and he can guide us
around the Masai Mara. His family lives there and he said we would
have a great time visiting with them as well.

Alan joined us on the way to the airport. Their Land Rover has been
impounded in Customs for the past month. He was hoping that the import
problem they were experiencing had cleared up. At issue was their
import paperwork. A Customs official told them it would require
200,000 Shillings ($3,000) to make it go away. Lynita and Alan are
both upright people and refuse to pay bribes, which can be a real
impediment when you live in one of the 20 most corrupt countries on
the planet. They countered by writing a letter to the top customs
official who seemed to be willing to act on their behalf. Good luck
Alan!

After doing some last minute souvenir shopping in the airport we
enjoyed a pleasant flight out of Nairobi on Qatar Airways. Upon
arrival in Doha, we were pleasantly surprised to find the the airline
supplied free meals to people who had to wait more than 5 hours
between connections. We'll fly Qatar anywhere. Their service (and
food) is way better than any airline in North America.

We arrived in Madrid, Spain around 7:00 am in the morning. The
temperature outside was a balmy 3 Celsius, What a shock after 5 months
of tropical weather! After stopping for a quick continental breakfast
we made our way on the Metro to our hotel in the heart of the Centro
district.

We really enjoyed our time in the developing world, but its also fun
to be back in a Western country. Hot showers with unlimited water,
fantastic architecture, no litter or crime to speak of, and
outstanding food. We're enjoying Spain already.