I made it...finally

Question: How long does it take a group of 25 Peace Corps volunteers to make it from Philadelphia, PA to Cape Verde?

Answer: Who cares when they get to stay at a 5 star resort for a couple of nights on the beach of Dakar, Senegal.

Okay, here´s the deal. I met 25 amazing fellow volunteers in Philadelphia, PA on Tuesday, July 5th at noon. We enjoyed two days of immunization shots and Peace Corps "pre training" workshops. I´m still not entirely sure which one was more enjoyable. At any rate, we had a lovely time in the city of brotherly love. I met some of the coolest individuals I´ve ever met. Our group of 25 volunteers includes: 1 married couple, 1 retired government employee, 1 construction worker (an awesome woman from Michigan), 1 welder (a cool chick from Oakland, CA with major tatoos), 1 brooklyn girl with city smarts, 1 woman with a master´s degree in classic literature, 2 guys about 24 with life experiences you would die for, and the rest are 22 year old college grads fresh out of school with no idea what the world has in store for them. We have 13 women and 12 men. We have a great mix of folks! BUT, I digress.

We were scheduled to take a bus from Philly to JFK in NYC to fly to Dakar, Senegal, on Thursday morning at 10am. At 10am the bus arrives, but we are in a holding pattern because the planes from Dakar to Cape Vede have apparently decided not to fly in the month of JULY! Great timing Peace Corps. So, we finally head to JFK with just enough time to check in and get immediately on the overnight flight to Dakar. We have a 7 hour flight arriving in Dakar at 5 am. So, needless to say, we get NO sleep and arrive in Dakar (just 375 short miles from Cape Verde) to discover that we cannot fly out because the plane did, in fact, come but left early for no apparent reason. And the plane that left early may or may not ever return from the islands. NOW, I know you American readers are thinking, that you would probably be angry or frustrated at this strange turn of events. I will say that I am surrounded by 24 of the most understanding and flexible people on this Earth! No one complained, we all just took it in stride and called it an adventure. This problem also introduced me to “island time.” The Cape Verdans (or kabu verdianus) operate on an entirely different concept of time than we do. Far worse than, say, people in Europe or South America.

Day 1: Our new adventure began with a day trip into Dakar to the Peace Corps Volunteer house (a place where volunteers go when they come to the capital for a visit or for business). Dakar is a city like no other I’ve ever seen. There is extreme poverty. Walking the street of Dakar we saw women selling fruit, fish, hunks of raw meat, bread and beans (standard fare in Dakar). We saw a dying horse, a dead dog, and burning tires as we walked. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I was moved by the daily struggle of the people there. Dakar is a baren desert that is dirty and disease ridden. And at the exact same time, Dakar is the home to the most beautiful people. The women are incredibly beautiful. They dress in colorful clothing and have the most sweet children. This is a Dakar that most Americans would never, ever see.

Instead, Americans would get to stay at a place on the beach, which is exactly what ended up happening to us. After our life-changing experience in the center of Dakar, we were told that we would be flying out that night at 6pm. We had all grown skeptical of Cape Verde Airlines, so we decided we wouldn’t get our hopes up. Sure enough, at about 4pm, we learned we would be moved to a hotel near the airport for the night. Now this is not just any hotel. This hotel was on the beach with a huge swimming pool, a bar, internet, good food, music, and air-conditioned rooms. So, needless to say, we were comfortable. Our first night at the hotel was my birthday, so we enjoyed the night, got to know each other a little better, and stayed up late listening to the waves crash on the beach! Who says the Peace Corps is rugged and tough! Not for us.

Day 2: So far A LOT has happened to us at this point. We thought we would leave Dakar on Saturday for Cape Verde on a special plane just for the Volunteers. We first got word that we would fly out in the afternoon, so we packed our stuff. Then we got a call at lunch saying we would be flying out at 2 am (this apparently is a regular flight to Cape Verde). At this point, the entire group decided there was no sense in sleeping before we left, so we stayed up. At about 10:30, we got word that the flight would not leave until 7:10 am, but we needed to be at the airport at 4:30 am. AHH. At this point everyone was VERY skeptical about our leaving and rightly so. We waited until about 4:00 to start packing and getting ready. Everyone stayed up and didn’t bring our suitcases to the lobby until we saw our shuttle arrive at about 4:45. Finally, we were off to Cape Verde!!!!!!!!

Day 3: We get to the airport (noone having slept in days) and smoothly check-in for our flight. Our 7:10 flight ended up leaving at 8:30 or so (again, I cannot stress enough the concept of “island time”). We arrived in Cape Verde and were greeted by Matthew (our country director) and several of the other Peace Corps staff members. We LUCKILY made it to Cape Verde with EVERY SINGLE peice of luggage (which I’m pretty sure is a new Cape Verde record). We were all thrilled to be in Cape Verde! No one ever complained or got upset about the situation, so we were all just looking forward to some good sleep. We “checked in” to Madre Teresa, which is a youth hostel used by the Peace Corps when new volunteers come to the country (think dorm rooms). First thing we did was to carry our luggage (we each were carrying between 80 and 100 lbs. – that’s a lot of luggage) UP 4 flights of stairs! I’ll leave you here, as there is more to come! I’ll write more about my adventures in Cape Verde soon. I am pretty sure that I will only have internet access every few weeks or so. We are staying in a small town outside of Praia (the capital). In Sao Dumingus there is no internet access. We should be into Praia a few times over the course of our nine week pre-service training (PST). Okay, I’ll write more soon.