Paris, and into Africa

On Wednesday we spent the day in Paris, or at least what was left of the day. I arrived around noon and Jason and Eddie met me at the airport. Jason and I headed out of the airport on the Metro. We had a forty minute ride to downtown Paris. We headed toward Rob and Nicole’s (missionaries to France) apartment. At one point we were within one block of their house and were told that we had gone the wrong way. So we went back the other way until the street ended that was to lead us to their house. We asked directions again and we were told to head the other way. We went right back to where we had just come from and finally found their house.

After meeting the Plasters and having lunch with them we headed off for a quick tour of Paris. We went to Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Arch de Triumph. We stopped for a meal at a Crepe restaurant. Imagine that, a Crepe place in France. When finished with dinner we headed back to the airport.

Our plane was supposed to leave at 10:50 and didn’t actually leave until around midnight. We arrived in Bangui at 6:30 in the morning. It was a very interesting place. The airport could handle a major jet while at the same time was very primitive. The building where we were required to present our health cards, our passports and visas, pick up our luggage and go through customs was no larger than the Modesto airport which is very small. The room was to handle all the details of 200 plus people. We waited for over an hour just for our luggage. There was no air conditioning, the place was crowded, and let’s just say, that a ton of deodorant would have been nice.

Before we came I asked an individual if Bangui was civilized. I was told that was a politically incorrect way to form my question. I figured out later the correct way was to ask if it was at all a modern city. I was told – absolutely. Unfortunately, I think my informant still did not understand me. So far, there is nothing modern about this city. Yes, we do have water and electricity. However, the electricity usually goes out daily. In other parts of this country they do not have electricity or running water. Electricity and water don’t make a city modern to me. The streets are full of ruts. Most streets are unpaved. The houses are made mostly of adobe and thatch. The people are obviously poor and just hang around all day long. Clearly, this is a third world country and city.

We mainly hung around all day and took some necessary naps to get our sleep cycle to normal for this time zone. After having dinner with a team that was down here to see the orphanage, I went to bed around 10:30 after I had done a little studying.