There I was, pushing my way through the crowds to get into the domestic terminal. Once I got inside, I called the group I was traveling with and they told me they were all relaxing in the VIP lounge. So I pushed my way back out again to go join them. You wouldn't think it would be so hard to get to the check-in counter at an airport. But it is. They make everyone go through one door, and only a certain amount of time before your flight. And once they open it up, everyone shoves through together. That's just how it works.
Yeah. And then it's not like I could actually find the VIP lounge . . . everyone I asked sort of rolled their eyes at me. "Stuck-up white girl. Can't even wait with the rest of us in the normal waiting room. We even have free wi-fi there. Isn't that enough for her??"
Eventually my friend took pity on me and came out to find me.
After a couple hours they drove us in the special VIP bus the 50 meters out to our plane. The disadvantage of VIP treatment for wannabe VIPs is that there's no assigned seating for coach class on these domestic flights, and the real VIPs all have first class tickets. So everyone else who had pushed their way through the front door had already pushed their way onto the plane and taken up the first 20 rows. by the time I made my way down the aisle, there actually wasn't a seat left for me.
And that's what jump seats are for. So I got to sit way back up in the front with my knees squeezed between the knees of three other unlucky men who were also without seats.
When we touched down in Juba it was all tall grasses, orange dirt, rolling hills, and the bumpiest roads. But the air was fresh, it was a bit cooler than Khartoum, and there was GREEEEEEENNN!
From the airport, we stopped at three perfectly (well, perhaps imperfectly) functional hotels. (who knew?!) until we settled on the Beijing Juba Hotel. Not exactly an original name . . . We drop our bags and enjoy a lunch of - you guessed it - Chinese food. Not bad all in all. Our room is basically a container: pre-fab, modular units joined end to end to end to make three separate LOOOONNNNGGGG hallways of rooms. We spent the afternoon at work: meetings and planning for the workshop. Then as evening fell, we gathered at the superbly picturesque DaVinci restaurant/bar on the Nile (It’s the White Nile down here, the one that flows out from Uganda.). I don't think I’ve ever seen a more romantic place – or maybe it’s just that I’ve been in a compound in Khartoum for so long that I’ve lost perspective . . .
Anyway, a full day with lots of surprises, but it ended well as we sat under the stars listening to the Nile gurgle by.
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