We were picked up at our hotel in Manassas by our friends and good neighbors Kathy and Brian, in not one but two cars! Or rather a car and a van, because we were quite the traveling circus by that point. Between the 4 of us we had 8 pieces of luggage, 6 carry-ons, 2 cats and 2 dogs. To say we were feeling a little overwhelmed, is an understatement!
The dogs were flying with South African Airways from Dulles to Dakar on a direct flight and the cats were coming with us in cabin, via New York (No direct flight allowed for us). Of course our flight left late from Dulles and we ended up being delayed an additional 4 hours in New York. All the while worried sick about our poor puppies who were flying on a different plane, and hoping fervently that they were doing ok, were being given water and would in fact not be left out on the hot tarmac or worse...
I have never felt such overwhelming relief as when I finally clapped eyes again on those sweet puppy faces 27 hours later. The cats did amazingly well and hardly let out a sound all the time they were stuffed in their soft-sided carriers and stuck under the seats in front of us. I would have expected Rojo to voice himself with howls of frustration, but no. They were prefect little travel companions.
We arrived in Dakar minus 2 suitcases which were delivered a few days later. Bien sûr it was my suitcase of clothes that didn't arrive (they only had 5 hours to get it on the right plane in New York after all, but I digress...), and thus I spent the first few days wearing my travel duds over and over (yes, I did wash them every night). Small annoyances that straightened themselves out in due course.Our lovely social sponsor here, Debbie, awaited us in our new home and gave us the grand tour. She bought us some groceries to get us by the first day or two and she unpacked the stuff the Embassy gave us so we can have a semblance of a normal life until our own stuff arrives. This means some bed linens, towels, some kitchen stuff etc. It's a rather large house and it echoes when you talk loudly. I'm sure that will change once all our crap arrives.
We spent our first full day in Dakar, at one of the local beaches. Debbie was kind enough to invite us along with some of her co-workers and Ami and Ayla were ecstatic at the thought of spending the day cavorting in warm water and sand. And boy it was warm...whooowee..the sand was so hot you had to either run fast or wear flip-flops down to the sea. We got our first sunburns that day (doozies!) and are now very conscientious about lathering up on sunblock.
So I leave you with a few pictures of the beach and will continue a 'catch up' post tomorrow. A bientôt!
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