Return To Darfur

The flight in to N’Djamena was not a good start to our arrival in Chad. We made it to Chad airspace and very close to N’D, but then had to circle around before landing because of bad weather. This going round and round went on for almost two hours. Except for the rain, the airport looked the same as the last time we came: the long line at the “get a first of many stamps on your passport” line; the luggage area, with many young men wanting to be the one that pushes your luggage cart; the taxis—beat up Peugeots—waiting in the dark streets. I was surprised at seeing that half of the route from airport to hotel had streetlights. Where there were none, it was very dark.

We had someone waiting for us at the airport, someone that works for the man that will help us navigate the many permits here in the capital. He did not speak English, but I did understand as he was telling the driver of the taxi to take us to the wrong hotel, the Red Dragon. When we got close to Le Meridien and saw that the car wanted to go past it, Katie-Jay and I told them “Le Meridien. Le Meridien.” The man told us, “No, Red Dragon.” I had made the reservation, so I knew where we were staying, but he had a piece of white paper with our name on it and the name Red Dragon, so he wanted to take us there.