A couple of guys that have lived here for a while found a great shop in downtown Nairobi where you can get knockoff soccer jerseys that look extremely authentic for an excellent price.  So a few days ago I (Jamie)tagged along with them.  We caught a taxi into downtown, which for those of you that may not know, is a very hectic and busy city center.  After getting a couple of very nice jerseys and walking around for a bit we caught a matatu (van taxi) back to Rosslyn.  If you read earlier posts you may remember us mentioning that the roads here are crazy.  Well one of the main reasons for the craziness is the matatu drivers.  They seem to drive how they want, where they want, when they want, and everyone else just dodges them and tries to stay out of the way.  However, I must say that being inside the matatu, on the other side of the craziness, was quite enjoyable.  I was able to watch people dodging me for a change!!  Riding in a matatu is also a great way to get to know some local people, especially since they cram as many people as they can inside.  As far as matatus go, however, we took a fairly lame one.  Some matatu drivers work very hard to make their matatus stand out with windshield decor, paint jobs, bright lights, loud rap music, and some even have soccer matches playing on flat screens inside.  The only “extra” ours had was some type of cushions sewn into the roof and walls to protect your head from the inevitable bumping, which was helpful.  All in all it was a cool experience and something that I plan on doing again each time I need to go downtown.  Besides, you can’t beat the fare (less than a dollar round trip) and trying to drive and find a parking spot downtown is torture.  So I will just let the matatu drivers handle that.

.