Ease on down the road...

"How are you??"

Four children chorus out a greeting. They are standing in the gate of a forlorn-looking compound. I can't quite guess their ages, but they are all leass than four feet tall. The smallest is still in diapers.   

As I wander down to where Kibera Junction Road meets Ngong Road, I pass the spot where, later today a woman will be roasting corn over a small charcoal fire. Next to her, a man will have laid out a variety of shoes... soccer cleats, trainers, flip flops and slip-ons.

Ngong Road is a major traffic artery. Its two lanes extend from Nairobi's downtown core, through Jamhuri, Kibera, a tract of forestland, the wealthy suburb of Karen, all the way to the Ngong Hills. Here where it meets Kibera Junction, the roadsides are full of plant vendors. They have rows of seedling and small shrubs potted in black plastic bags.

Most of the plants are recognizable from North American gardens or houseplants. Four-foot high trumpet-flowered datura hang above a bed of snap dragons and just-budding gerbera daisies. The young cypress, eucalyptus, and ficus trees are lined up next to orange-blossomed coach whip cacti and purple succulents. Rusty red soil sits in a big pile behind the plants. Prince Edward Island has nothing on Kenya for red earth!

I hop over a drainage ditch and join a line of pedestrians negotiating the narrow path beside the road. It's morning rush hour in Nairobi. Cars, buses and matatus stop and go and stop and go along the road, belching black diesel exhaust every time they start moving again.

Matatus and two private bus companies are the mass transit here. They clog the road beside me, trying to edge around eachother. The doors of the brightly-painted minivans are wide open so the men who take fares can perch on the running boards as the matatu edges through traffic chaos. The fare-takers call out route numbers as the van hurtles toward the small crowd standing at the next pick-up spot.

A five minute walk brings me to The Junction. It's a world away from the tin kiosks back in Jamhuri. There is a gated parking lot that gives way to a patio full of shaded tables. Java is famous in Nairobi for its coffee, so I head in for a cup of Kenya AA. The decor and the prices are thoroughly developed-world. Ochre walls, stone counters and 2000 KShs (about $3) a cup.

Coffee-in-hand, I head into the indoor mall. I pass a few shops selling import goods, but more selling Kenyan-made products at expat prices. There are Masai kikoi textiles for $30 and Louo leather pillows for $50. It's still early, though and there aren't many boutique shoppers.

Nakumatt market is busy, though. This is my errand for the morning: finding the bulletin board where there are supposed to be postings for apartments to rent. Nakumatt is a cross between a supermarket and a department store. I pass aisles for kitchen equipment, dairy products and office supplies on my way to the back wall.

The two apartments posted on the board are in keeping with the Junction setting: geared toward expats and far beyond my meagre $200 price range. I walk back out to Ngong Road and join the crowd for the City Hoppa bus, heading for AWC office.

-bus ride to come...-