Are we there yet?

The past two days have been quite slow, full of a string of setbacks and much waiting. We were warned that transportation would be frustrating, but I anticipated that this would come later in Zambia, not so early in our journey.

It all started in Atlanta, with a bus mix-up that required us to transfer buses, leaving our luggage on a sidewalk downtown in the heat and drizzling rain for several hours. Our 16 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was delayed a bit, so upon arrival in South Africa last evening, we missed our connecting flight to Lusaka, Zambia. After spending several hours in the airport sprawled out all over the floor, Peace Corps staff were able to reserve us rooms in a nearby hotel. After one last night with a warm shower and comfortable bed, we are back at the airport in Johannesburg waiting on our flights. Our group of 58 has been split up, some having caught an earlier flight to Lusaka, others waiting for the evening flight, and still others waiting on standby. I was one of the lucky ones to secure a ticket on the evening flight tonight, so, if I keep my fingers crossed, later today I will finally set foot in Zambia!

I still do not feel like I am in Africa. Being confined to the airport feels more like being stuck in an upscale mall. We are taunted by picture books in the gift shops depicting Victoria Falls and safari scenes, and I think that everyone is chomping at the bit to get to our final destination. We have explored as much of the airport as we can, lugging around our heavy carry-ons, and bought some of the local junk food. My chutney flavor Simba Chips being my first taste of Africa : )

The long fight went surprisingly well. I was seated directly in the center of my row, which wasn’t too bad as I had other volunteers on either side of me. One of my seatmates let me lean on his shoulder for a bit, which was very sweet, considering the possibility of me drooling all over him. He assured me that he had his poncho with him just in case I got out of hand, but luckily he didn’t have to use it : ) The food wasn’t too great, but edible, and the flight attendants couldn’t have been any nicer. I got up several times towards the end of the flight to look out the window at the dusty landscape of Namibia and Botswana as we crossed over. It was pretty to look at, wide and vast – my first glimpse of Africa!

I will let you know when I finally reach Zambia! Until then, I will stand guard over a sleeping group of fellow volunteers in the airport, as I am the only person still awake!

Thanks for reading! Hope you all are well : )