West Africa I 3 Sep 2006

From: Dan Trumble
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006
Subject: The Trumble Travels - West Africa I 3 Sep 2006

3 Sep 2006

Howdy from Ghana! Payton Torrence (a colleague of mine from Compassion) and I are on our way to Burkina Faso (it’s north of Ghana in West Africa…you can look it up). We left Friday morning, 1 September, flew to Dallas, then to London Gatwick, we took a bus to Heathrow where we got to face the throngs of people and deal with the strict security they are running. They will only allow you to take one relatively small carry-on. I had to do some fiddling with my stuff to make it satisfactory to pass the size requirement. Payton and I both had three x-rays taken of our bodies while facing different directions. All of this was a pain but on the up side, we didn’t get blown up. We flew from Heathrow to Accra, Ghana, spent the night in a hotel, and then got up fairly early for our 8:15 flight to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso with a stop in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on the way. It is now after noon and we still haven’t left Ghana. We are sitting at The Landing Restaurant about to eat lunch on Air Ivoire’s dime. There was some mechanical problem or something and the plane hasn’t come in yet. We are now supposed to leave at 3:45 which is an hour and 45 minutes AFTER we were supposed to arrive at our final destination of Ouagadougou. Oh well.

The restaurant is pretty nice. We seem to be getting pop hits on the restaurant radio now (I’ve heard Michael Jackson, Elton John, and Phil Collins amongst others). These are probably mostly not current hits but songs from yesteryear. Earlier this morning they were playing mostly country music and that was kind of fun. At the hotel earlier this morning I heard Shania Twain and Brittany Spears on the radio. Who woulda’ thunk it? When the group first abandoned the gate Payton and I had already gone back into the airport for some coffee. We were allowed to follow later but we had misunderstood the name and thought we were looking for The London Restaurant.

Well. At a bit after 1:00 PM we were informed that the meals are being cancelled as the plane is apparently ahead of schedule. I had ordered the Landing Special Open Sandwich (cabbage, chicken, & egg) see picture below. We ended up sticking around at the restaurant until after 2:00 but our lunches remained cancelled. Payton asked for, and got, some bread. I’m not sure that all of the other delayed passenger’s meals were cancelled.

It is now about 2:50 PM and we are back in the airport but apparently the plane hasn’t even landed yet. It’s an adventure. There was a big white UN plane at the airport. Payton inquired and was told something about UN peacekeepers. Who knows?

And so…we ended up leaving at about 3:45 pm after all. So much for being ahead of schedule. It’s about 45 minutes to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. The plane left for Ouagadougou at about 6:00 or 6:10 pm and it’s about an hour and 20 minute ride. So, as I write this I’m on the plane. It’s almost 7:00 and we should land in about half an hour. Hopefully whoever was to pick us up in Ouagadougou got the word that we were seriously delayed. I guess we’ll see.

It’s really not been all that bad but it might have been nice if we could have arrived at the hotel and had the afternoon to relax. Payton and I talked about country music stars we’d seen in concert. One time in Nashville he saw Marty Stuart coming out of a store. I shared about the time we saw Reba when my friend Chad was looking in her car in Nashville not knowing that it belonged to her. We also talked theology, parenting, and literature. I identified a Kenny Rogers song but he didn’t agree that it was Kenny Rogers. We didn’t write down any words or anything so the world may never know…sometimes I guess you gotta know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em. So, all in all, a right pleasant time.

We also had a bit of a discussion about who sang Black Magic Woman. I was thinking it was Santana but he didn’t agree. Then it kind of sounded like we had two different Black Magic Woman (Women?) songs in mind. We have been without internet connection so we are unable to solve these pressing issues just now. We both remember the movie Say Anything and he remembered that dad of the girl (Ione Skye) in the movie is none other than that very fine actor who played Frasier’s dad on Frasier (I added the “very fine actor” bit. Payton didn’t say it and I don’t necessarily believe it…although I guess the guy did fine and all in the role). John Cusack is also in that one.

We did arrive at about 8:00 pm, about 52-53 hours after leaving my house on Friday. Jonas, Compassion’s Burkina Faso Country Director, picked us up at the airport. I will have the opportunity to share devotions with the office in the morning. Jonas is going to be here to pick us up at 7:45 in the morning. Payton and I had a bit of supper and I spent some time on one of the hotel’s computers and now it is after 10:30 pm.

Sign at Gatwick airport…interesting how things are just phrased different even though we’re all speaking the same language (kind of).

The airport in Accra, Ghana

Payton & Dan waiting in The Landing Restaurant
Dan outside the restaurant

The plane finally arrived!

As you can see from this monitor from Abidjan, the flight to Ouagadougou was a bit behind schedule.

Airport sign in the airport in Abdijan.

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Chris, another Compassion colleague, attained Executive Platinum status on American Airlines last year and as part of that he gets several one-way international upgrades. He was kind enough to apply for upgrades for Payton and me and so we got to fly First Class to Dallas and Business Class to London. Thanks Chris!