Arrival - Part 1

We arrived in the capital city at 5:30pm, after stopping off in Ghana for a couple hours to re-fuel and re-stock.  It was a hot airport, especially since we were still in our "winter" clothes from leaving the States.  Our friends from Kenya, Martin, Nancy and their daughter Alfa-Sarah, had arrived earlier in the day and they were standing outside with Dad and Mom, waiting for us to make our way through customs.  We were pulled in to a shorter, "faster" line because we had little children.  The line really didn't move any faster then the other lines because officials kept coming into the booth and putting piles of passports ahead of our own, while we were standing by the window of the booth, following procedure.  The officer behind the booth just kept shaking her head, apologizing and muttering under her breath, "It's too much.  It's too much." and then proceeded to stamp the group of passports that were "cutting in". 

Eventually we did make it through customs and proceeded to pick up our luggage.  Having 9 people arrive all at the same time makes for a TON of luggage.  We piled it all on top of carts and slowly made our way out of the airport, stopping three times to have paperwork, passports, and/or luggage tags checked by any number of given people at one time.

By the time we arrived at the guest house and had been assigned rooms, unloaded the luggage we needed for the night, and met up again for supper, it was about 8pm.  We walked down the street to a little restaurant and asked if they still had food and were told yes they did.  We ordered rice and stew for everyone and were told, "Sorry, there are only two plates of rice left."  How about pounded yam?  "Sorry, we are out."  Do you have chicken?  "No, it's finished."  Do you have beef?  "Yes, but only a few."....etc.  Half an hour later we managed to get enough to fill our tired bodies and walked back to bed.

The next morning we had breakfast at 6:45 and were on the road by 7:30 for our four hour drive to my parent's home.  Brandon rode in the bus with Uncle Bryan half the way and in our bus the second half.  He did very well, but was very ready to be finished with sitting and ready to run by the time we arrived a little before noon.



In the restaurant Friday night.  Kinsley was discovering new textures of food and
thoroughly enjoying the experience.



Top Left: Everyone in the restaurant.     Top Right: Our guest house room.
Bottom left: The guest house front.   Bottom Right: Packing up the luggage again to head out.



The back door wouldn't latch closed properly, so dad tied it shut with a rope then
tied an inner tube to the back to help seal out the dust just a little bit more.



Brandon watching out the back of the van--making sure we were all still following.

Arriva - Part 2 to come later on today.  Now it's time for a nap.