Journey to Africa

After 30 hours spent in airplanes and four airports, we (Peter, Fairchild and I) arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya. Amazingly, we did not lose a single piece of luggage along the way! I even managed to cut a whole suitcase stuffed with excess clothing to make up the difference of 42 lbs. of ESL course books. I think I saved MCC a few hundred dollars at least.

Nairobi: we arrived late at night and still had to wait an additional hour to have our on-the-spot tourist visas processed - no officials to turn me down this time! A drived was waiting to take us to the Mennonite Guest House only there must have been some confusion because he dropped us at the Methodist Guest House. His sign at the airport had clearly stated 'Methodist Guest House - Peter Widmer x3', so we naturally assumed the Mennonites and the Methodists must be working together. Our first hint to the contrary should have been the big 'M' on the side of the building and the sign indicating 'swimming pool'. It was more embarassing than anything else, especially considering that Peter, Fairchild, and I had done our fair share of travelling in the past. We did end up getting to the right Guest House thanks to Tony, our Kenyan taxi driver, and once the security guard handed us our keys, we went straight to bed...for twelve hours.

Arusha: After one day of rest, we were on the road to Arusha, TZ early the next morning. Once we had clarified that we did in fact have spots on the designated bus, we piled in with 15 others and began the approx. 4 hour drive. It was an adventure in itself! Our driver was very skilled as evidenced by his ability to maneuver around large potholes and cracks in the highway. The highway consisted of two lanes. The absence of a passing lane didn't seem to bother anyone - they simply squeezed in between the two existing lanes, forcing oncoming traffic to use the shoulder in order to avoid catastrophe. I held my breath for the first few passing attempts by our driver but, by the end of the trip, was relaxed enough to doze off.

Our only hold-up was at the TZ border: we got stuck behind an Italian tour group waiting for TZ visas. The customs official collected $50 from each of us (except for any Americans: they had to cough up $100) and went to the back room with an armload of passports and bills. An hour and a half later, my patience was wearing thin and the Italian chatter wasn't helping. Finally, we were on the final approach to Arusha. Mike, our Country Representative, was waiting to pick us up and the first order of business was lunch consisting of goat meat, something that resembled chicken, chips or fries, and roasted bananas (not the sweet kind). All in all, a good journey but an even better destination...