Hugs and Kisses from Jo-burg

After a day and a half of shuttles, buses, and planes, we are finally in Africa!! We met at 1:45am to drive to LAX, and once there discovered that all the counters were closed! Bummer. We made the most of it by talking while our eyes weren’t fluttering from lack of sleep. We flew to DC, where we had a 3-hour layover, and then set off for the big one: a 14 hour flight from DC to Johannesburg (with a one hour stop to refuel and change pilots/crew in Senegal). I finally got to watch The Wedding Singer, as it was one of my movie options J I know I know…you can’t believe I’ve never seen it. We were certainly happy when we arrive in Johannesburg for our first leg of the journey. Once in Johannesburg, we went to our hotel where we freshened up (We’re talking French showers here since we only had 30 minutes before we had to leave for din…ya, we were one stinky group of folk after 24 hours!) We went to din at a little place caller The Harvard Room.  Janet and Reagan (our South African R.A.-type people) had given us $150 Rand each (about  $22 bucks each) to use for dinner for tonight and tomorrow. Unfortunately most of the more traditional dishes seemed more expensive, and I wanted to make sure I’d have enough for tomorrow, so I ended up ordering Fettuccini Alfredo. It satisfied my hunger and tasted good enough, but the flavors are definitely different than in the U.S. After dinner we came back to the hotel, where I could not wait to take a shower. So here I am, all clean writing to all of you. We were provided 30 minutes of internet access/room, so I got 15 minutes to say all I gotta say (I’m writing in word so I can have optimum time and check the good ol’ fb and messenger, as well as checking the weather for tomorrow) and then it’s off to bed for our day 1/2 touring Johannesburg before we fly to Pietermaritzburg where we will stay for a majority of the time.  Love you all! Hugs and Kisses from Jo-burg!