I finally arrived safely at Iris Ministries in Dondo, Mozambique…but it took a lot to get us here. We had a 13 hour plane ride from D.C. to Dubai, where I enjoyed the comfort of an emergency row (so much leg room) and my own private TV. As it turns out you can watch about 5 movies in a 13 hour period with several hours of sleeping as well. I was not sitting anywhere close to anybody on my squad; however, I did get to talk to a man, who barely spoke English, but was very curious to know more about what we were doing and he later told me how proud he was that we were taking this journey.
We arrived in Dubai around 8:35 a.m. (10:35 p.m. CST) and had a long enough layover to grab some food. We then boarded our next flight to Johannesburg, which was an 8 hour flight. I was not so blessed to have the emergency row this time. Instead I was in the middle of a row of 4 where both people slept the entire plane ride (it makes going to the bathroom a little bit of a challenge) but at least I was with someone on my squad this time.
We finally landed in Johannesburg at 4:35 p.m. (8:35 a.m. CST). I was so excited to be off the plane but even more so to be in Africa! Oh, how I have missed everything, down to even the smell.
We left the airport at 7:00 p.m. (11:00 a.m. CST) in 3 buses, that held all 48 of us and our bags nicely, and started our journey to Mozambique. There was a big concern, mainly by our bus drivers, that the border would be closed and that we would have to sleep at the border. Our big concern was making sure our bus driver stayed awake behind the wheel. Because he was so tired, we stopped at almost every gas station we came across, which caused us not to get to the border until 4:00 a.m. (8:00 p.m. CST).
I learned a very valuable lesson at the boarder…never take pictures. I was trying to get the welcome to Mozambique sign, which was not appreciated by the police. They wanted my "Machine." My bus driver basically told the police that I was a "stupid American" and they let me off the hook. Thank God they did not take away my camera away! We spent the next 5 hours at the border getting our Visas.
We finally arrived in Maputo at 11:40 a.m. (3:40 p.m. CST) where we were given a place to spend the night. This was a huge blessing since most of us had not slept in several days and if we had it had been in a vertical position!
The next morning we crammed into 2 buses. The bus was designed to fit 18 people, including the bus driver, comfortably, and 23 people semi-uncomfortably. We had 26 people on the bus with all of our suitcase plus our carry on items and food for the day. To say the least this was not the most comfortable bus ride I have ever had. We left at 5:15 a.m. (9:15 p.m. CST) and arrived in Dondo at 12:35 a.m. ( 4:35 p.m. CST). From the time we left D.C. to the time we arrived at Dondo it took 79:25. I think this could be one of the longest travel days The World Race has seen!
We were very blessed to have working transportation and a safe journey. Thank you for all of your prayers.
My team at Launch!
