Picture this;
8:30 p.m. January, 6 – Twenty one girls and all of their gear have piled into what used to be the roomy common space of Hostal Christiano in Panama City, Panama. The air is thick with the scent of dead fir tree, overly strong cleaner, and anticipation as we listen to last minute details on safety and flight plans for the next few days. But we’re ready; we’re going to Africa.
9:30 p.m. We say our last goodbyes to the friendly Hostel staff (shoutout to Brenda, Julio, and Toothless!) and the pack of us make our way to the bus stop, praying there’s a bus empty enough to take all of us to the airport.
10:30 p.m. We catch a bus (finally) and eventually make it to our baggage check in spite of having to unload 20+ packs from public transport and one rolled ankle. Then we find out that our January 7th, 3 a.m. flight to Fort Lauderdale, FL (likely our only stop on US soil and opportunity to see family for the next eight months) is delayed until 12, noon, cutting a 14 hour layover to 4 just like that. Welp, there goes a nice lunch with Mom. Oh well.
Our airline gives us an all-expenses paid night (or half night) in the local Westin. Hello most amazing beds, hot showers, and carpeting. Who knew carpeting was a thing? I’d forgotten about that. But did I mention the beds?
1:30 a.m. January, 7 – I finally go to sleep. Bliss.
6ish a.m. Quick quiet time and shower! Still half dead after too few hours of sleep, but breakfast is a must before the bus comes at 9 to take us back to the airport.
8:15 a.m. Turns out hot showers should be taken with more precautions when under a time limit, but I finally make it down to breakfast to devour everything in sight before we head back to catch our flight. Time to see Mom!
9:30 a.m. Just kidding! The line for our airline is forever and a day long. And so we sit.
12:00 p.m. (Yes, the time the plane is supposed to leave) We finally have our bags checked and head to security.
12:30 p.m. We make it to our flight with the rest of the disgruntled passengers and begin our 3 hour flight back to the U.S. Looks like our 4 hours has been cut down to 3. In an interesting turn of events, all this might have meant we didn’t get the chance to see our families at all, except our airline decided to be particularly ridiculous and only ship our bags to Florida instead of all the way to Johannesburg, South Africa. This means we have to leave security to recheck them; aka, we can see our people!
4sih p.m. – I get to see Mom! And claim baggage and recheck it. And head back through security. Bye Mom.
8:20 p.m. We leave the US for our second leg of the trip to Dubai. Nice 14 hour flight. Lots of movies. Highly recommend, especially if the two people sitting next to you are not both particularly chatty, soft spoken, nor hog the arm rests.
I’ve-lost-track p.m. (local time), January 8th – we land in Dubai, but are not allowed to see the city – short layover, only 3+ hours again. What we saw of the airport was nice, mostly like the other airports I’ve encountered with the added bonus of it being “silent,” no overhead announcements.
3+ hours later, January 8th – We board our flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. This will be an 8 hour flight surrounded mostly by people I know. MB and I had a nice long theological discussion with a South African pilot on his way home for a break.
Sometime in the a.m. local time, January 9 – next to no sleep later, we arrive in Johannesburg safe and sound, make it through customs and security, meeting and making as many friends as we can along the way. People stuck behind desks like nice little questions brought their way.
A Few Minutes Later At the Baggage Claim – I meet and make friends with a South African woman named Ciggy on her way home from a six month trip to Alaska. She’s in her sixties and spent the time hanging out with her fiancé (in his seventies) she met online through a Christian dating website. They’re getting married in July; I told her I wouldn’t be able to make the wedding 🙁 but she told me I’d always have a place to stay in Alaska. Funny, I was just thinking about how I wanted to visit up there . . .
Give Or Take An Hour Or So – 10ish a.m. – At the bus station, this is where our plans got hazy and the rest of my expectations got thrown out the window. My stomach started feeling a little bit rocky. And before we leave for I-forget-exactly-where, I am sick in one of the terminals’ trash cans. Added life experience, I suppose. We chalked it up to extreme dehydration, time zones, and practically no sleep the past several days.
I sleep all of the 4 hour bus ride and am sick a couple more times within the twenty minutes of reaching our destination, where the plan has become walking to a local church who has allowed us to crash for the night. Bless that church. I’m not the only one sick at that point, but after a short walk, we make it, early to mid afternoon.
Early-to-mid Afternoon – I crash. Hard. I wake up periodically over the rest of the day and through the night, but mostly, I sleep.
2 p.m. January, 10 – the shuttle comes to our door (yay, because I’m still not feeling 100%) and we head out on another 4 hour drive to Maseru, Lesotho (Ma-SE-roo, Le-SOO-TOO). Fortunately, I am able to enjoy most of this ride.
6ish p.m. We make it to the boarder and get stamped across by two very sweet ladies. It’s nice to be nice and have nice returned to you just because it’s nice. :D.
6:10ish p.m. Our dapper driver drops us off and our squad finally splits ways. Us to Seeds of Love, an orphanage about 10 minutes away, the other two teams to a location about an hour away.
6:30 p.m. We were allowed time to head into the local mall to pull some money and buy some groceries. Yay cooking for ourselves! Shoutout to Melissa and all those who continue to flex their kitchen muscles.
9:00 p.m. We made it! Only taking a small eternity. We’re living in a “dorm” which is a nice word for small house complete with kitchen, working fridge, and two functional showers. There are several interesting quirks about this place, but it’s awesome and we are still spoiled.
Fun Facts If You Made It This Far
We have electricity. Probably more exciting for me than for you.
Most of the cabinets here are . . . how shall I put this? Askew.
There are tiny puddles of urine that are coming up from the floor in one of our bathrooms. Never thought I’d be able to say that.
Along with our giraffe, lion, monkey, and snake, the mural on our wall includes several pink butterflies and one solitary penguin.
We have one mirror!
There’s a lot of room in this house. Or at least there is compared to our last two living situations.
There is a cow parked right outside one of our windows and another roams freely on the campus.
The local wild dog just had puppies this morning, but local surgeon general warnings do not advise trying to pet them yet as Mama is a bit protective.
The local boys love to talk superheroes so I have to up my game.
Alright, TTYL. Hopefully next time I write it will be in better health!
~TL
