Tuesday, May 12, 2015, midnight
We were going to the airport this
evening to retrieve our lost luggage. We
had no idea what a mistake that would be.
We have been in traffic of all kinds in many different countries. Never in our lives have we experienced
anything like this. We planned on taking
3 hours to get to the airport; this trip used to take about an hour. After 5 hours we were back at our flat having
never left the main part of Nairobi. The
only good news was that we called the airport to hear that they had all 4
pieces of our lost luggage. It was
common tonight to sit and not move for 15 to 30 minutes at a time. It rained off and on. Policemen on occasion were helpful in getting
rid of a ‘jam’ but most of the time they would inexplicably allow one side of
the road traffic to go but not the other.
We remember that when the police get involved in trying to ‘help’ the
traffic situation in Nairobi they cause gridlock like we’ve never before experienced. We were grateful therefore, when we were
finally able to extricate ourselves and could go back to the flat—we felt
trapped. Many people heading for the
airport missed their flights. Sarah was
exhausted so we told her to stay in the extra room and try to get us to the
airport in the morning. We thought she
would never make it home anyway.
We showered, Jim and I (Sarah was
too exhausted and went to bed), put on our smelly underwear and passed out in
bed. In all that time all I could think
about was ‘choo iko wapi’ (Swahili for ‘where is the bathroom’).
In the morning we donned our
dirty clothes (sans deodorant and makeup) ate our breakfast and headed for the
airport in hopes that this time we would be able to retrieve our luggage and
make our flight to Dar. Each time we
have to change this flight it gets even more expensive, and short flights in
Africa cost more than double a trip from the East to West Coast in the U.S.
With all that has happened, we
can still be thankful for a few things: when we arrived back at the flat we
noticed that the power was out, but as we walked towards our apartment the
lights all came on! What a
blessing! We finally had a bathroom to
use. We could take a shower and wash our
hair. They said our luggage had
arrived. And best of all, we were, after
all, not in Nepal…
Wednesday, May 13. I awoke at 5 AM and we took off for the
airport at 6:30 AM. This is a bit of
overkill, but we had to find our lost luggage and I was in no mood to be
stressed about missing our flight to Tanzania.
We arrived easily, found our luggage, and discovered what we’d brought
Sarah from home was still there in an unlocked bag. We’d collected some toys for her nursery
school from a couple of our children and brought those along with an old
computer for her son. It will be a nice
treat for them. We sent this small bag
back with Sarah, along with the donation bag that we will give to E/S
Shakespeare, full of T-shirt dresses. We
had gobs of time left to get our flight to Tanzania.
Above and below: A newly rebuilt airport
terminal in Kenya after a fire destroyed it a few years ago.
It feels as though we’ve been
here a lifetime, spent money, and done absolutely nothing…we are anxious to get
to work.
We ran into 3 young French-speaking
missionaries in the airport, but they knew a little Swahili. They were on their way to Burundi—two Elders
and one Sister. The airport burned down
a few years ago so they have rebuilt it—kind of modern I’d say—a far cry from
the old one. They have not rebuilt the
mall that was attacked by terrorists and eventually destroyed by the Kenyan
military. But you can see evidences of
tighter security everywhere in Kenya these days.
After an uneventful flight we
arrived bleary-eyed in Dar; it was overcast and raining. It was not terribly hot because of the rain,
but warm nonetheless. Because of Jim’s
state of jetlag he overpaid the cabbie and even I didn’t realize that until we
got to the hotel. Oh, well, we acted
like a couple of rookies. The drive to
the hotel was long but I slept most of the way.
Our hotel is called the Colosseum.
I asked Dorothy from the office about which hotel she liked better
(where they put visiting couples)—it was the more expensive one, but I see
nothing wrong with this one. It is a bit
old-style with rustic tile floors and decorated like its name; the bed is soft
and the shower is full-volume and warm.
The room is large. We can see
signs of some wear, but it will be great.
It was fun to shower, change into a whole new set of clean clothes, and
put makeup and deodorant on. I feel like
a real princess even with a bad case of jetlag.
And, I got to unpack! Life is
good!
Our spacious room above at the Colesseum
Hotel in Dar & dining room below;
it is good to be planted somewhere for a few
days.
Love, From Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania
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