In Africa - Botswana

The country reminds me of our Southwest - dry, broad taupe plains sprinkled with sage  green shrubs and small trees and big expanses of blue sky with hazy  mountains framing the horizon.  This flat land is punctuated occasionally with rock outcrops that look like pimples from the air as you approach the airport.

Botswana is not a place you would vacation.  It is land locked and, as I described above, not particularly beautiful.  However, once here, you will find the people are kind and welcoming.  The pace of life is calm, but not lazy.  There is no sense of urgency, but people are attentive to time and schedules are kept.

The food is good.  Hoved animals graze the countryside.  Many cuts of grilled meat, roasted vegetables and salads fill menus.  Breakfasts are English as this country was once a British protectorate (not colony).  Their squashes are terrific smashed or roasted.  And, to our surprise, favorites include pizza and italian dishes.  John tested the pizza  twice.  His assessment was "tasty toppings, but the crust, despite the wood fired ovens, needed work".   We followed the basic outsider eating rules -- don't eat raw veggies,  drink bottled water only, and eat fruit if it has been peeled.  We both continue our trip without gastro-intestinal issues.  Thank God!

The money is called Poula.  There are 8 P to the dollar.  That makes Botswana a bargain for tourists, especially if you venture outside of the hotel.  Even then, a great bottle of South African Cabernet-Shiraz blend  is only 179 P or about $22.50 in the hotel restaurant.

There is no sense of fear or tension amongst people, although neighborhood theft crime is up.  The locals blame refugees coming across the boarder from other countries experiencing turmoil.

Gaborone, the capitol, is a small city or a big town depending upon where you came from.  It has a growing middle class.  Autos abound.  They are proud of their manufacturing industrial area, modern malls, and good roads in the city but the foundation for the country of only two million people is diamonds - the right kind - not blood diamonds.  People still have small stands by the side of the road at intersections and across the street from the small mall shopping areas.  You can buy groceries, lunch, clothing, and get a haircut.  Each stand is shaded by a tent like cover on four poles.  Houses and housing complexes for rich and poor are walled for protection.

My meetings went well.  We stayed at the upscale Lansmore Hotel in the center of the new downtown in Gabarone. John toured during the day with two other spouses, hosted by the wife of our Botswana post.  The small group drove into the bush a bit - off the pavement onto dirt roads to find crafts and lunch locally.  They also visited a local museum and generally "saw the sites", what few sites there are.

It's time to board the plane for Manzini, Swaziland.  We transit through Johnessburg.  That airport is a sprawling place, full of shopping opportunities.  It is the "big city".

Date line:  Arrived Manzini missing two of our bags.  Seems the young lady at check-in in Gaborone only checked them to Johannesburg.

Into Africa - Take Three

The attendant led us out of the KLM Lounge down the glass hall to the gate. With boarding passes and passports checked and swiped one last time, we confidently entered the plane and were walking to our seats. Seats that were within our reach, when "Ladies and Gentlemen," the lead attendant said announced with determined authority, "All crew and passengers are instructed to leave the plane as quickly as possible.  Please turn around and exit through the door you entered."  She repeated it for emphasis.  This time there was strain in her voice.  We spun around and marched to the exit door.  John and I looked at our  colleague who was traveling with us to Botswana.  Our faces spoke to each other, "What the F---?"

Like kids pressing our faces to the window to see into the night, we stood in the glass hall looking out onto the plane.   It was over.  We smelled the fuel before we witnessed the expanding spill on the tarmac.  A leaky fuel tank valve, the captain told us minutes later, The flight cancelled an hour later after two promises of repair.  Betrayed again. We dragged ourselves out of the lounge area, sat a small table, put phones to ears and did it all over again.  Time was running out.  We had to get to Gaborone by Monday.

Dateline: It's 9:30PM Sunday in London where we have just taken off. We arrived about 11AM into Heathrow.  Now it's an 11 hour flight to Johannesburg, then a four hour wait to get our flight to Gabarone.  In total, I will have spent over 36 hours in same underwear and makeup by the time I arrive.  Makes you put international travel into perspective and yearn for a shower all at the same time.

Dateline:  Arrived at hotel at 3:30PM Monday.  Quick shower to revive me and I joined the last hour of the conference.  In Africa at last.

Into Africa - Take Two

Sunshine opened my eyes this morning as cool air breezed through the balcony screen into the bedroom.  Our  new flight didn't leave until 6PM so the day was in front of us.  The bags were still packed and after a coffee, energy was seeping from my pores.  I had to move.  After 80 sit-ups and a couple of  "planks", I plugged in my ear bits and took to the streets.  I walked and ran for over an hour.  The streets were full of tourists, locals and "Rolling Thunder" visiting Arlington Cemetery and viewing the Potomac River and its quite elegant Memorial and Roosevelt bridges.  Not a cloud in the sky, the air dry, the trees at full leave, brilliantly green.

This time we leave from Dulles Airport.  I sit in the KLM Lounge typing and sipping white wine in a soft but modern chair.  What a difference a day can make.  Yesterday we were amidst hundreds of other frustrated passengers just like us, iPhones pasted to our ears trying to rebook for today.

Today is better.  If the plan takes off it as planned, I'll upgrade it to excellent.

Into Africa - Day 1

We stood in line waiting to board.  Ahead of us was two hours to Atlanta with a two hour layover before an over night haul to Johannesburg. We'd have to arrive an overnight at an airport hotel before a short hop to Gaborone, Botswana on Sunday morning.  We waited.  Boarding time passed.  A broken cockpit gauge stood between  us and an African adventure.

A series of announcements soon brought home the reality that we were not flying today.  All connections would be missed. It was chaos as people scrambled to change flights.  John reached the airline reservation desk (Bless the smartphone1).  Two hours later we were rebooked.  We fly tomorrow evening.  Instead of arriving in Gaborone Sunday morning with the day to enjoy before my conference begins, we arrive Monday morning after it has commenced.  At least we will get there.

Into Africa is now Out of Africa.  The good news is we are packed.  The bad news is that the trip is 8 hours longer.  We must go through Amsterdam, not Atlanta.  And, I forgot, it's coach all the way.