Great travel day – had an entire middle-section row to
myself on the Newark-Zurich flight and was asleep within 15 minutes of takeoff
… woke up just in time for a croissant and landing. Easy connection in Zurich,
met with Christian and Radka, and got on the flight to Nairobi & Dar es
Salaam. Met Birgitte on the plane.
There were only 29 people left in coach on the Nairobi-DAR
flight. We had hoped to catch a glimpse of Kilimanjaro on the flight, but it
was a) too cloudy, and b) too dark. We
were met by one of our contacts here, processed our “temporary assignment”
visas (to go along with our visas we obtained in the US), collected our
luggage, and got on a comfortable minibus for the ~20 minute trip to the hotel.
The people here, without exception, have been friendly,
outgoing, and very gracious hosts.
Christian, Radka, Birgitte, and I agreed that we’d take 10
minutes to drop off our things, then meet downstairs for a beer. There’s a nice
pool-side bar, with a German soccer match on the telly (just for Christian, I
think) where we enjoyed a couple of Kilimanjaro beers while talking about
families, food (and our shared love of garlic) travel, aging (gracefully), some
goals for our project, and got to know each other better. Face-to-face is so
much better than conference calls.
Technology: The wireless internet is not zippy. It will,
generally, support VoIP connections, so I’ve been able to check in back home
and let people know I arrived safely. I’ve set up my router with the wired
connection in the room (who doesn’t travel with a router?) and have a) a
secured wireless connection (at least to the point that it joins the wired
link) and b) somewhat better speeds.
The hotel is clean & comfortable. It’s nice to be
unpacked, and it was great to sleep in a firm bed last night. I woke up at my
usual 4:30-ish, and heard the call to prayer (in the rain) around 5AM.
I don’t know if it’s the climate, the foods, the spices, or
what – yet - but stepping off the plane
brought back distinct memories of Singapore and KL. If it’s food, this is going
to be a tasty trip.
Today we have breakfast, briefings, banking, (and, ending
the alliteration) getting local cellphones & SIM cards. Tonight is a
dress-up welcome dinner to meet folks from our host organizations. Expect
pictures.
Speaking of … here are Radka & Christian at the airport
in Zurich:
...and here are the four of us (adding Birgitte and Rob) on the
short fuel stop in Nairobi.
More to follow after today’s adventures. Looking forward to
seeing this bustling city in the daylight. Apparently we’re next to the fruit market;
if I understood correctly, 1.5 kilos of passion fruit will cost well under
$2USD. And I’m expected to bargain them down from that J
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