Days 1 & 2

Days 1 & 2- September 25 & 26

The day started at 5:00 am as I had to be at the airport by 6:00.

Travel  to Dallas and then NY was uneventful. JFK airport was smaller then expected and didn't really feel like NY which I thought was odd.

We boarded the plane almost an hour late for Brussels due to a plane mechanical failure. When you are about to fly 8 hours over the ocean, that was a little unsettling; however it turned out to be something wrong with the AC which they fixed by the time we boarded.
This was the leg of the flight where I was supposed to sleep but it was near impossible sitting in the center seat. I could not get comfortable. The jet lag started to be noticeable with meals being served at odd times. I am pretty sure I ate breakfast around 1:00 am Texas time.

When we arrived in Brussels we had to immediately go to a different part of the airport which was largely deserted. I changed clothes and was overwhelmed by how tired I was. In fact, I briefly feel asleep propped on my chair in the airport. We met another Mercy Ship volunteer in the airport that morning, Michael, a dentist from Germany. We boarded the plane and it was the first time I had been on a plane with 2 seats, 5 seats, 2 seats (hope that visually made sense!). The plane was huge.

I was so tired, I was asleep before we took off. The plane was only about half full so I moved to the empty 2 seats behind me and slept the majority of the flight. It was like sleeping on a tiny love seat but I didn't care. It was the best sleep I had the entire time we had been traveling. 

I have to say Brussels airline has not forgotten the concept of customer service unlike American airlines. We were 'wined and dined' constantly. They were almost non-stop with the food and beverages starting with lunch (which contained a mysterious 'thing' on the salad and a beer beef goulash), then snacks, then ice cream bars and then more snacks. The flight attendants were super nice and were still dressed very old school; the men in suits and the women in business suit like skirts and blazers and severe buns. After we made the first stop, they came through the cabin spraying some sort of fumigator that was 'required' by the health code. It was some sort of air sanitizer and it felt like they were roach bombing the plane! Very odd. They assured us it was harmless. I hope so! 

We made one stop at a tiny airport and then left for Sierra Leone (SL from here on out). Upon arrival you immediately noticed the airport looked like like it had recently been damaged. They were doing some sort of construction on it (with what appeared to be very rickety wooden scaffolding - OSHA would have a fit) and it hardly resembled an airport. Inside it was insane! People were everywhere and the overwhelming heat and body odor was almost unbearable. Words can not describe the humidity here. I am sure I will reference it many times it is so unbearable. Getting through customs was hardly like customs in the US. One very impatient crabby women barely glanced at you while stamping your passport. They didn't even ask for the visa. The yellow fever card was glanced at by a man in a lab coat (he simply looked for yellow paper - I could have shown him anything yellow). Then it was waiting for the luggage. They had one conveyor belt where luggage was coming through stacked 2 - 3 high. People were everywhere and it was very aggressive. People were walking on top of the conveyor belt and luggage was going everywhere. Luckily we all got our pieces and proceeded to leave the airport where we were inundated with people wanting to help with our luggage. There were just people everywhere and it was terribly hot and stinky.

We made our way to a mini-van of sorts that in the US would safely hold 8 people. They loaded our luggage in the back end and closed the lift gate with a threadbare piece of rope tied to the windshield wiper. I was not optimistic this was going to stay closed - somehow it did. Then 4 of us loaded in the back bench seat and the other 4 in the front. There was truly no room and I was half sitting on two other people. Needless to say seat belts weren't even a thought. The 3 people that picked us up crammed in the front and the 11 of us were off. Clown car would have been a step up from this.

Traffic was very much like Mexico. Tiny roads with people, cars, and motorcycles everywhere. It amazes me more people don't get in accidents or run over. Maybe they do. The immense poverty was immediately apparent by the looks of the homes and vehicles. We finally made our way to the ferry area which was also extremely crowded. The helpers loaded our luggage and we proceeded to the 'first class' area which consisted of benches in an 'air conditioned' (I use that term loosely) area with, oddly enough, 2 large flat screen TVs. The bathrooms on board were awful. No toilet paper or sink and horribly smelly. Definitely a last resort kind of deal...

We watched with great interest as another boat came to 'Moon Gay' (where the ferry started) from SL. Hundreds on people were packed on it carrying TVs, mattresses, huge bags of flour, bananas, etc., on their heads. It was nothing like I had ever seen. Everything seemed straight out of a movie. One woman carrying a very large basket on her head and a stool in one hand, bent down, removed her shoe, shook out the dirt, and replaced the shoe, all without tipping the huge basket on her head. I was simply amazed!

We set sail and it was a beautiful evening ferrying over to SL. Very nice breeze and beautiful sunset.

When we arrived, the chaos started again and as we were getting off the ferry, these local men got into a huge screaming fight about one of the vehicles blocking their exit. They yelled and screamed all sorts of obscenities at each other despite the huge crowd watching. We really felt like they were soon going to blows, but they never did. We met Dulce who was very nice and off we went.

The streets were insanely packed with people and cars despite it being 8:00 pm on a Monday night. Dulce said this is what the people do here - hang around outside all day and night. The streets were worse than Mexico and the sheer volume of people and cars was overwhelming. I can't imagine driving here. There are no rules apparently!

We arrived at the hostel and the outside appearance alone would make anyone in the US wary. We quickly found out there is no hot water and the electricity is spotty with only a generator for power and that is only occasionally. The rooms are not air conditioned and you have to sleep with the windows (with no screens) open. We went to our rooms and I started unpacking and was again overwhelmed by the humidity. I was incredibly hot and sweating profusely. The cold shower sounded great and I couldn't imagine how I was ever going to sleep.

Mom and I went to take showers and they were ice cold! And the power kept going out. Mom had to shine her flashlight in the shower so I could see which one was the shampoo. There was a questionable giant critter in the shower but neither of us had our glasses on so we are hoping it was part of the pipe. :) However I tried not to complain as I was so hot. I came back to my room and adjusted the mosquito netting around my bed (a first for me) and applied my deet lotion. I took tylenol pm to help me sleep and went to bed smelling like summer camp and sweating. I actually slept pretty well considering I was on a small mattress on a piece of wood. I was very tired.