The Race For Diamond Plaza:

The Amazing Race began early on Sunday , we had just spent our first night
in a tent on the campus. The delegates awoke in the morning as if they had
just slept on a grand down bed. (Things had been different in the hostel at
the YMCA). It was a blessing, a welcome start to our Amazing Race.

The delegates had been divided into three teams of four. Both American and
Kenyan alike began to prepare in their own way for the race. We took team
photos, gave ourselves whacky names, and got each other pumped up. Before
long, we left the campus for Nairobi…

Marc and I both very much agree that the highlight of the morning was at the
very beginning. We rode a bus to Nairobi. But this wasn’t just any bus. Oh
no, this bus driver was a retired NASCAR driver on steroids. Marc and I sat
in the very back, as we usually do. We could barely make out what was
outside the window as the bus flew down the road.

The ride was bumpy too, the passengers flew off their seats more than once.
I faintly recall having bounced up two to three inches in the air a couple
times. Either way, Marc and I didn’t hesitate to make the best of the ride.
Our hands shot up in the air as we shouted our joy on what was arguably the
cheapest roller coaster known to man.

Nairobi came quickly (of course…), we all hopped off the bus to the starting
point of the Amazing Race.

The Amazing Race was a scavenger hunt of sorts, and it took place through
the streets of Nairobi. It was a long day for all of us. After fighting our
way through tough crowds, repelling the cutest thieves you ever saw, and
finding relief in moldy bathrooms. The bathrooms were what got to me the
most.

We had just finished eating a small lunch on Moi Avenue in the middle of
Nairobi. I had just downed a bottle of coke when I realized that I had been
waiting for quite a few hours to make a much needed trip run to the
bathroom… So I set off in search of a restroom. When I found one hidden
behind a giant steel door in the back of the restaurant.

These were no simple bathrooms, they were tiny cubicles in rooms that looked
as if they could have come from the solitary confinement sector of Alcatraz.
These cubicles were all home to one single hole in the floor, which was
often filled with excretement.

Oh speaking of bathrooms, the experience in these tiny rooms were always
complete with a lack of toilet paper and soap. I later found out that
Kenyans will often travel with a roll of toilet paper as an emergency
precaution…. Ya never know when you need to go!

Luckily I had my trusty hand sanitizer ready and waiting in my left pocket
as I rushed out gasping for air…

Towards the end of the race the poverty of the city become increasingly
apparent. We were being targeted by more and more desperate men and
children. We had stopped to rest and look at the map as our team searched
for the final piece to the hunt. As Fred and I were studying the map of
Nairobi, Fred looked up and glanced across me. When all of a sudden he
shoots his finger out towards someone I couldn’t see.

Sure enough there was a tiny thief no more than five years old who darted
behind a column before I could see his face. Thanks to Fred, he had failed
at his attempt.. Not that I was carrying anything of particular value
anyways. Either way, the environment had suddenly became rather threatening.
We knew eyes were on us so we began to walk quickly down the sidewalk.

Once we had found the last piece of the puzzle (The Thorn Tree Café) we ran
towards the taxi center for our final stretch to the finish line, Diamond
Plaza. Once we arrived at the taxi center we found a van but the one we
needed to take was full so we went to ask a fellow to allow five weary,
hungry delegates to hitch a ride to Diamond Plaza.

“Thirty shillings” The man had signed to us with his hands. Natha double
checked with him before we boarded. She seemed rather hesitant.. I wondered
why. But once she sat down on the van she took out her arm and wrote with a
wooden stick. 3-0? The man then took his own arm and drew with his finger..

3... 0... 0.

Natha instantly jumped off the van. I took one look at the man’s shocked
face just before all of us turned and followed Natha. All of us were tired.
Attempts at rip off were not welcome. We boarded another van and made our
way to Diamond Plaza.

Our team, The Elephants, had arrived first. And we were on a mission… Our
sole priority was finding a place to sit down and rest. And while we waited
for the other teams to arrive, that’s exactly what we did.

- Greg Pollock