A normal day in Nyeri

Let me talk about a regular working day here in Nyeri. All of us are based in the Green Hills Hotel, where we have our own rooms. Alex from our NGO partner DOT also stays with us most of the time, continuously supporting us in tackling all kinds of logistical challenges. Where would we be without his negotiation skills?
The hotel compound is a pretty place, lots of green, a swimming pool (not tried yet), spa (tried several times) and a nice bar where bartender Chris serves the best G&Ts.

Our rooms. I am on the first floor: less bugs and less noise.

Breakfast and dinner are included in our stay. I was pretty sceptical at first when hearing this, because I always find tasting the local food an essential element of travelling. I would love to go out more often and eat with the locals, but it is very quick and convenient to grab a bite here from the buffet. The quality of the food is certainly good.

In the mornings, some of us might go for an early run at 7.00h. It´s always a surprise who succeeds and who fails to show up. I made it only once until now (shame). But hey, I brought my old running shoes with the primary purpose to donate them here, not for running...

Our working day starts around 9.00h, when each subteam finds a spot on the terrace close to a power supply. On a quiet day, we would spend most of the time behind the computer with lunch either at the hotel (from a buffet again) or take the 5 mins taxi ride into town and have lunch at one of the local eateries. But there is no rush in Africa, and as a result it might take over an hour in a restaurant before you get any food.
There is wireless internet connection on the terrace and a faster LAN in our work room, but who likes to sit in a sticky office when it is 30 degrees outside?

Our work room, decorated by John Fredette our Marketing Man.

Team Chui working in our preferred office space

Almost all business in Kenya is done in Nairobi, so all of our clients are based there. The individual subteams might need to travel for Nairobi for the day. We have a bunch of loyal drivers at our disposal that travel crazy hours to get us at our destinations. More time is then spent in their car than in actual meetings. A one-way trip Nyeri-Nairobi can take anywhere between 2 and 5 hours.
Travel in the dark is scary. There are absolutely no street lights and there is heavy construction work ongoing, led by the Chinese, on the roads around Nairobi. There are hardly any street signs. People would steal these because the metal has more value to them in a different shape. It often occurs to me as pure guesswork whether to take the left or right side from the road block, but our drivers seem to know, or at least pretend to.
Once further away from the city, the highway is basically a one lane road. Sometimes there suddenly is a high bump, or a drunk pedestrian, or an unidentified animal crossing. But there are constantly cars racing towards you from the opposite direction and they then put on their blinking light "to indicate where the corner of their car is". Amazing.

Back in the safe haven of Green Hills, we most often spend the evenings working in the hotel bar, writing blogs, skyping with family, or just chill out.