Day 2 (March 18, 2016) - Bug spray, Colourful Shoes, and Ostrich
My day started at 1:30 a.m. my old time. It was not a restful night of sound sleep on the plane, as I had hoped. There was a lot of noise around me, and although some people spoke in hushed tones, others most certainly did not. Also, I was in an airplane seat, not my own bed. I was in an aisle seat, and my head kept nodding off into the aisle and I was disturbed each time someone passed to go to the loo.
As mentioned, some passengers were conversing, and although that meant that I could not sleep, I did get to rest and listen to some fascinating stories. A nearby lady was with a US forestry team, and going to work on a project of reforestation in Africa. She was from Mali originally and travelled to Africa about a half dozen times a year. The gentleman she was talking with was going to a mission, and building his network of relationships along the way. He was very friendly to everyone, and handed his business card to anyone who would take it, promising that he would send them a bible. He was very devoted to his religion, and did not hesitate to ask those around him which church they go to. Someone else was conversing in French, and although I did not understand the entire conversation, I could understand many of the words. It was all very pleasant, although it would have been nice to have had more sleep.
As I mentioned, the plane lights came on at 1:30 a.m. my time (about 5:30 a.m. Ghana time), and we were given some 'refresher' moist towelettes to wake up with. By 2 a.m. we were given breakfast and delicious coffee. I had a rather generous breakfast of tomato and cheese omelet with potatoes, spinach, sausage, fresh fruit, yoghurt, and a croissant. A great way to start the day!
Once breakfast was cleared, we landed, and most people vacated the plane in Accra, Ghana, while those of us proceeding to Jo'burg stayed on the plane.
I had to stand for a while (along with many others), as my tailbone had enough with the many hours of being seated, and it was complaining with stabbing jabs of pain. We were about an hour on the plane, waiting for refueling, and for a change in staff (fresh staff, the old staff said, as they left!). Also, there was a security sweep, so that those of us remaining on the plane had to remove all of our own bags from the overhead bins, to see if there were any bags left behind by the travelers who had disembarked. We had repeated announcements about that, and announcements to all sit in our seats so they could do a head count. And then yet another announcement to sit so the head count could be done. And then someone was in the toilets during head count so they had to start all over again. Eventually we could stand for a bit again, and I joined some others who were standing near the rear exit, to try to get some fresh air through the door that was open there while the plane waited on the tarmac.
Eventually we were directed back to our seats, the new passengers joined us, and all doors were closed. Then an announcement was made about some spray and how it was harmless to most, but people could cover their nose and mouth with a napkin, and warned that contact lens users may experience some irritation. I wasn't sure what was going on, until I could hear a spraying sound, and two stewardesses passed in the aisle from the back up to the front, each carrying before them two aerosol cans that they were spraying as they walked. I looked at my neighbouring passenger across the aisle and she had retreated with her sweater over her head so as to not breathe the fumes. Oy. Apparently, they were spraying for mosquitoes! (This is a Yellow Fever country.) Shortly after this, we were on our way into the air smoothly.
On this leg of the flight, we were served more drinks, and a generous lunch that was more than I could eat, due to the generous breakfast. I had beef stew with a fresh bun, there was fruit, a pasta chicken salad, cheese, cake, coffee... I am surely going to gain weight if I keep getting this amount of food coming my way!
This crew did not turn on the tail cam during this leg of the flight, so I could not see the interesting perspective from it that I had hoped to, as we flew over Africa. We were warned that when we were going to approach our landing, there was some minor turbulence, but really there was nothing much at all. I was going to try to do some knitting on the plane, but I was really tired from not having slept the night before, so, not being able to see anything, I spent most of that leg resting with my eyes closed (but unable to sleep), until 4:30 pm when we touched down in Johannesburg.
Because I was in the last row on the plane, I was one of the last people off the plane, but that was of no consequence, as everyone had to wait on the tarmac until two shuttles came to carry us to the terminal. The planes around us were very large, most coming from around the world, like Lufthansa, Swiss Air, and so on.
After leaving the shuttle, I had to walk through quite a maze of airport walkways, to get to where the customs and exit were. Before entering the customs area, we all had to fill out a health for E. boli, and leave it with the attendant, and only then were we permitted into the great hall of where the customs officers were. Whoa! It was huge! And there were hundreds, and I mean hundreds of people in the line ahead of me. It took over an hour to get through the lineup to finally approach a custom officer directly. Just before that, we all had to stand behind a line, while a heat imaging instrument gauged our temperatures (looking for fever); I initially thought it was a facial recognition system, but was told afterwards that it was checking for fevered travelers.
At the customs desk, I had my photo taken, my finger and thumb prints scanned, and was queried about my duration and reason for visiting South Africa. My passport was reviewed, and then I was given the stamp of approval, and able to begin my navigation to the exit. I was surprised that I had not been asked about declaring anything; this is something I had expected based on my experience in coming into Canada after traveling to the US. Instead, here you must follow one of two ways out: one path is marked with red signs, and should be followed if you are declaring anything; the other path is marked with green, and you go there if you are not declaring anything. Wow. Really? I still am amazed at this. I was told later that it is done this way in some countries, kind of an honour system, however they do spot checks of some people on the green path to ensure that they really do not have anything to declare. I can only imagine coming back from the US, the lineup many people would be going into for this 'honour system', as there are many stories of people not declaring all they have purchased so as to avoid duty, and I am sure that many of those people would gladly slip into such a designated lane, so as to breeze through.
Finally, I found the final exit sign (it was now going on 6 p.m., Jo'burg time) and I searched for someone holding a sign that was looking for me and other members of my team. Although I was on the earliest of 4 flights of members (only 10 minutes apart), I was the last one to get through from my plane to the airport exit. It was a relief to see the expected sign held by our driver, and to finally meet 3 of my team members whom I had only met and came to know on conference calls over the last three months of our pre-work assignments and conference calls. Here in the airport, I met three of the guys, all from India, and it was truly exciting to meet face to face finally! And, in South Africa! We were finally here!
It was quite funny to see how I was the only female in this subgroup, and yet I had packed the lightest! All the guys had multiple bags, which were heaped up onto a three carts, and I only had my knapsack and one carry-on bag. Can you believe it, me, traveling lighter than 3 guys? We all laughed about that.
We proceeded to the van where we loaded the bags up, and we hopped in and set off for our first glimpse of this land that was new to all of us. I was pleasantly surprised that it was so urban, there were beautiful six-laned highways, and a lot of vehicles. It was a bit unnerving to ride at highway speed on the opposite side of the road than I am used to, and I was glad that I was not expected to drive. At a fast pace, my heart skipped a beat a couple of times with vehicles approaching quickly on my right, towards me, but it was all a matter of getting used to a different perspective.
The sun was quickly setting, and I tried to get a good photo of my first African sunset, but billboards, trees, and tall buildings kept getting in my way was we drove along at a good clip. My surroundings reminded me of Florida, with palm trees here and there, and it also reminded me of New Brunswick and PEI with red earth exposed in some places, but overall, it impressed me as being more green than I had expected.
When we arrived at our gated hotel in Sandton, there were some other team members in the lobby, whom I got to meet for the first time; this was truly delightful to finally be coming together on this journey, with strangers who are becoming friends, and are here for a great cause. By 7 p.m., I got checked into my room, and was amazed at how wonderful and modern it was. It was beautiful! A large king-sized bed heaped with pillows, a nicely appointed desk (which concealed a hair dryer), a beautiful and sparkling clean bathroom with full tub and separate glass walled shower. I quickly unpacked a few things, then joined my fellow teammates in the hotel lobby. The lobby was lovely and had several chairs situated in areas so as to allow groups to gather somewhat separated, while being in a common open area. One of the chair styles was like one that my husband and I had seen on our travels in PEI in the summer; it was a tall backed chair that had a rounded canopy that wrapped itself around you similar to one of the 'egg' chairs of the 70's, but with an elegance that suggested Victorian. These lobby chairs were wonderful.
It was approaching 8 p.m. and we finally all arrived in the lobby except one team member. We met the gentleman here in South Africa who was one of the key leaders in arranging things for us for our project; we discussed a few housekeeping items, had introductions of everyone, and then one team mate, Joedy, from China, offered beautiful gifts for us all; for the ladies, striking pearl earrings, and for the guys, a gorgeous lacquered wooden miniature divider with beautiful painted designs. These were such treasures that we all were very grateful to receive.
Getting hungry, we headed off to walk up the road en masse to nearby Nelson Mandela Square, an upscale shopping and dining complex which was referred to as the Beverly Hills of South Africa. There are many expensive brand shops in this complex, and I could have spent a fortune in there (but didn't!). 

Marilyn and I (she has been here before, so that was really helpful and reassuring) went to the mall to quickly get something (I had to stop and take a picture of some very colourful shoes, that would look good on Steve), and then rejoined our 10 other comrades at a restaurant called The Butcher Shop. In fact, it was also a butcher shop where you could buy your meat, and it was a deli, and a full-fledged steakhouse.

 We had appetizers of Boers (?) with bread served; the sausage pieces were in a slightly spicy sauce (and were very tasty), and the bread slices were oh so fresh and delicious! At 10 p.m. (finally!) we were served our main dishes, and what an impressive array of wonderful food it was! Given that the steak was highly recommended, I went for a nice fillet and salad. The fillet was large, and was a good inch and a half thick! Very impressive, and was delicious and melted in my mouth, it was so tender. Paola had ordered ostrich, and she very kindly allowed me to try it; it was quite good, and I will try to have more while on this trip.
It was getting quite late, and we finally finished up our delicious meal over many good laughs and stories, as we began to learn more about each other. 

 This is a very global and interesting collection of generous-minded people, and I am very excited about working with them on this project. We did not get back to the hotel until a few minutes before midnight, and I was exhausted. I was greeted by a turned down bed, and a chocolate on my pillow, which made me smile.
This 'day' for me has been very long, and more than 24 hours, considering when I last slept. As I pull up the puffy duvet over me and lay my head on the generous pillows, I hope that I find a restful sleep on my first night in a real bed, here in South Africa. Happy, tired, content, and excited, is how this day ends for me.