Bah! That was the longest flight of my life. Luckily it was smooth...but I had a short moment of panic since there was only a 50 min layover in Amsterdam and our plane had a late take-off from LAX. Made up time in the air though and walked right onto my other flight, after a second security check. The biggest, tallest guy plopped down in the middle seat, squishing me against the window. I actually felt worse for him than me as he looked so uncomfortable and his knees were pushed up against the seat in front of him. It must be really hard to be a tall person flying. 9 hour flight is bad enough when you fit in the seat! Lucky for both of us, his wife said she would trade with him as she had an aisle. Phew! I usually crash out on a plane but I really didn't sleep much. Lots of reading.
7:45 pm, walking down the stairs into a wave of humidity and giant black beetles scrambling around my feet. I've arrived. Kilimanjaro airport, I learned my first lesson regarding money. I was told a visa would be $50, but there was a $100 bill taped to the window and he kept saying $100. I scrambled to find more money and just came up even. There was no ATM, and no one took visa so I was a bit scared I didn't have it. So I gave him my $100 and of course he took it. Come to find out after, if you give him $50, he'll accept the $50. Poop. So, the lesson was...play dumb. Offer the smaller bills. Be prepared to pay more. Oh well, best to learn that the first night.
I met the 6 other volunteers, and as suspected, half my age. :) 3 from UK, 1 AU and 2 others from US. All very friendly and had similar flight experiences as me. The bus ride was about 40 minutes. I left the window cracked open and the aroma at first was a slight hint of mushrooms, then campfire, then some wonderful floral scent. Arriving at the house, the power was out so we were guide to our rooms by dark shadows that were soft spoken with a lovely Swahili accent. We found our bunks and attempted to set up, when the lights came back on and we could properly see, we headed out the little bar and grabbed a Mt. Kilimanjaro beer to get acquainted. Sunday would be the orientation and a relaxing tour of the town. to be continued...
