South Africa Travel Day...bug interrupted!

We left Atlanta armed with cookies, disposable cameras, South African Rand and dreams of being bumped up to first class.  The reality of coach did nothing to dampen our spirits as we all snuggled into our seats, excited to catch up on some movies and make new friends as Jared Allen seems to always do wherever he goes.

We landed safely in Johannesburg and headed straight to Subway after Delta’s international menu of box pizza, spicy chicken, and veggie surprise left us unsatisfied.  I was proud of myself for finally making use of all those Pace Academy lacrosse cookies I bought this year that proved to be a desired treat, especially with Alex, AnnieKate, and Ellie.

After a brief layover, we boarded our final flight of the day on our 18 -hour journey in the sky to South Africa.  We meet a group of 16 who were headed on a safari and hunting trip.  They managed to make the trip every year and were excited to “shoot some things.”

After failing to exchange money in Atlanta, the group huddled around the lone representative in Port Elizabeth who told them that they would not be allowed to exchange money without a copy of their passports.  Billy and Sam were the only two with copies and so thus began the stand off with the currency exchange agent.  I am not saying that it got ugly, but the students started calculating (math teacher would be proud) and concluded that the group had gotten a bad rate.  Later, Jack pointed out that the sign called for “original passports/no copies", and so I quickly had to escort the group out of the airport to spare the agent the wrath of  Pace Academy students wronged (even though they were right, it was our first night and when in another country, fairness often times sides with the natives).

We loaded onto our 17-seat passenger bus…

* Minor break in blogging to kill the bug that has decided to snuggle up next to me in bed.  Needless to say, I am shaken to the core, my senses have left me, and I will not be able to continue. 

Tomorrow we have a tour of the townships, with the history of apartheid in Port Elizabeth. We then begin our 4 day hike along the South African coast.  No internet for 4 days, but we will catch you up on the work of Ubuntu Education Fund, the history of Apartheid in Port Elizabeth, museums, lions, elephants, dinner over an open fire and more...bugs!