New Years 2013-2014 | Jason Around the World

Praia, Cape Verde to Washington, DC

Airports, Cape Verde, Flights, New Years 2013-2014, Portugal 6 Responses »

Feb 072014

See, there’s a reason I didn’t give much more info in the title of this entry.

Initially, I had a placeholder booked, hoping that closer to the date of return, I could improve on my routing. The initial (admittedly terrible) plan was:

Praia, Cape Verde (RAI) to Lisbon, Portugal (LIS) in TAP Business
Lisbon, Portugal to Geneva, Switzerland (GVA) in TAP Business
Geneva, Switzerland to Montreal, Canada (YUL) in Air Canada Business
Montreal, Canada to Toronto, Canada (YYZ) in Air Canada Business
Toronto, Canada to Newark, New Jersey (EWR) in United Express First
Newark, New Jersey to Washington, National (DCA) in United Express First

Yeah, I’m serious. I was mentally preparing myself to fly that just in case it came down to it. Fortunately, about a week before, award space opened up, and I switched to:

Praia, Cape Verde (RAI) to Lisbon, Portugal (LIS) in TAP Business
Lisbon, Portugal to Brussels, Belgium (BRU) in TAP Business
Brussels, Belgium to Washington, Dulles (IAD) in United First

Yes, I was using miles for United First, but it got me home nearly 8 hours earlier. Plus, my connection in Lisbon would only be an hour, and about 1:20 in Brussels, so much better connection times. Life was looking up!

Little did I know, my favourite furry friend was about to pay me a visit.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Got to Praia Airport approximately two hours before my flight, because TAP wouldn’t let me check in online and I wanted to try and get a decent seat for the 4 hour middle of the night redeye in economy seats. Blech. There were two check-in lines, one for business and one for economy. However, with no business passengers, all the economy people were filling up both lines. I walked to the front, told the check-in agent business class, and she said she’d help me next. Yeah, that went over really well with the others in line…they were on the verge of rioting. No way was the white guy going to pull the “I deserve service before you card.” Fortunately, the agent had my back, as did the rather rotund Lebanese gentleman who arrived for the business class line a minute later. Soon I was checked in, and ready to head to the lounge.

Only, there is no lounge. Just an immigration queue that was nearly 20 minutes long, and somewhere around 30C plus with no breeze in the room. And only two agents working, both of who were preoccupied with mothers with small children who lacked proof that daddy was ok with them taking the children out of the country. 20 minutes became 30 minutes, became 40 minutes, and finally we were through.

Security was next, which took 5 minutes. Well, it WOULD have taken five minutes if one of those small children hadn’t decided they would go for a stroll…right through the metal detectors…and mom ran after them. The entire terminal was emptied….nah, just kidding. Only TSA would pull that. These guys just shrugged and kept on processing people. Mom finally appeared over five minutes later, and they just waved her through. Uh, you know you never checked her…right? Ah, Africa…how I’ll miss you.

So now, we’d wait. The plane had left Lisbon 20 minutes late, meaning best case my connection would be down to 40 minutes.

Thus, I went to the lounge to wait. Ooops, no lounge, just one large room filled with TAP and TACV passengers. Nearly 500 people on delayed flights who were getting anxious. So, I did the only thing I could do, I visited the snack shop, aka “Nice Burger.” I used google translate to say “can I pay US dollars for a beer” yes, I could. It was time for a beer. 10 minutes later, it was time for another. When the crowds started getting rowdy, I opted for a third…only there were no more. This explained why people were getting increasingly agitated, and there was lots more yelling and pushing going on.

Finally, our plane arrived, and if they could turn it around in 30 minutes, we’d only be 20 minutes late. 20 minutes came and went, and we still hadn’t boarded. Then, they announced boarding would begin…but they didn’t announce if it was for the delayed TAP flight or the 3+ hour delayed TACV flight to Paris. So naturally, all 500 people swarmed the agents at once. Eventually, it was sorted. BOTH flights were boarding, from two doors less than 5 feet apart. The agents were having a hell of a time trying to sort out the passengers, but somehow…it happened. I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally got on board.

Praia, Cape Verde – Day 2

Attractions, Cape Verde, New Years 2013-2014 1 Response »

Feb 062014

We met up with the small group of Travelers Century Club folks in the morning, and turned out there would be just six of us total. Nothing had been mentioned about price the night before, and when the driver showed up…yes, he had room, but had to check with his boss how much to charge us. The price was fair for what amounted to an 8-9 hour tour, and we packed in the van, and were off!

Sunrise over the Pestana Hotel pool:

Our first stop after maybe 30 minutes or so was pretty much due north of Praia, a bit into the interior. We were going to check out a craft shop (aka sell you things and get commission for bringing you there) but when we arrive…it seems it no longer existed! It had completely packed up and moved since their last tour two months ago. Oops! He called his head office to verify, and they were just as shocked as he was. So, on we went to the Botanical Gardens:

There wasn’t much to see, so we continued on. Some views from the interior of the island:

Praia, Cape Verde – Day 1

Attractions, Cape Verde, hotels, New Years 2013-2014, Restaurants No Responses »

Feb 052014

Got to the hotel, no problem with check-in, but the only oddity was that the only rooms with queen or king beds were the suites…and “they are all taken by the Royal Air Maroc crew.” Uh, ok. So two twin beds pushed together would have to do. Kind of strange for a resort hotel, no? Since the TAAG crew had ate all the nomz, I was starving…and yes, dinner was still available…for 5 more minutes. Ran to the hotel bar, ordered a sandwich and some wine to my room, then went to crash.

Got up in time the next morning to check out the breakfast, which was included in the room. It was slightly below average, but there were some meats and cheeses, plenty of breads and pastries, along with a selection of juices. I think there might have been eggs made to order too, but there were some hard boiled ones and that did the trick for me.

Jordan’s hotel was supposedly about a 15 minute walk away, so I set out to meet him and explore the city a bit. View on the walk to his hotel:

Mural on a building next to his hotel:

Some buildings in the centre of town:

Sao Tome e Principe to Praia, Cape Verde on TAAG

Airports, Cape Verde, Flights, New Years 2013-2014, Sao Tome e Principe 2 Responses »

Feb 042014

The front desk of the hotel said they’d called me a cab. Ten minutes later, there was no cab, I kept asking, it’s on the way. Still no cab. Ten minutes later…no cab…finally one shows up. Are you noticing a trend in Lusophone Africa? Cabs are a novelty, that take a long time to show up, even if you’re willing to pay for them. Regardless, finally it showed up, was cheap, I picked up Jordan, and we were on the way to the airport. We knew it was a small airport from our arrivals experience so planned to get there 90 minutes in advance.

Got there in plenty of time, and tried to enter the terminal, only to be told there was a tax to be paid that wasn’t included in the ticket. Seriously? That’s still a thing these days? I can count on one hand how many of my 154 countries visited do that….so congratulations Sao Tome, you’re in the company of Cameroon and others 😉

Paid my $21, and was allowed into the terminal, only to be met with this very sophisticated check-in area. For a minute I wondered how I took a picture of myself checking in, and then I realised I’d never wear cargo shorts 😉

Check-in was a manual process, no computers anywhere. There was a list with 12 names, and they crossed us off as we showed up and gave us handwritten boarding cards….without seat numbers. Basically, take any available seat! Wow, it was like flying back in time to the 1970s or something!

Security? Um, yes, it was one bored person (no metal detectors, nude-a-scopes, or similar technology here) and after 15 seconds of going through my carryons they gave up. Just couldn’t be bothered. Then, passport control was similarly lax…and literally 5 minutes from check-in to gate took 5 minutes. We really didn’t have to show up 90 minutes early. “Duty Free,” however, offered lots of treats including the suspicious Dom:

There were only four or five people in the gate area at this point, and it was not exactly interesting. This group of Chinese was soon led into the waiting area, and it appeared to be a tour of “look at how fantastic the airport you upgraded for us is!”

Complete with a Christmas Tree that makes the one in the Charley Brown Christmas special look special:

São Tomé e Principe

Attractions, hotels, New Years 2013-2014, Sao Tome e Principe No Responses »

Feb 022014

As I mentioned before, after a short taxi ride we arrived at our hotel, the Miramar by Pestana. I hadn’t paid a lot of attention, and didn’t realize there were two Pestana properties on the island, only about a 10 minute walk apart. I’d booked a junior suite since it was only 15 euros more than a standard room. We checked in, went to our individual rooms, and then drama started.

My room didn’t have wifi. The hall did, but it didn’t reach my room. Down to the front desk “oh so sorry, that is the only junior suite we have. Would you like a standard room for the reduced price?” Sure. So, off the standard room I go…but…the air conditioning was broken. Thankfully, this time I hadn’t unpacked my bag. Off to try a third room….nope, internet doesn’t reach this one either.

The front desk guy was extremely patient and helpful, and after trying five rooms, we determined there were no rooms available with internet AND air conditioning. Seems Jordan had gotten lucky with his, the first or second room in the hall. I retired to the empty hotel bar to have a beer to ponder my options.

They called the manager (since there wasn’t one on site) who agreed I could move to the other Miramar property, the Pestana Sao Tome if I wanted….but would have to pay the extra 15 euros over the price. Sigh, fine.

They had a rattly old hotel van, which would drive me there. Got there, and asked before I committed to anything to see both a junior suite and a regular room. The regular room was more than fine, except…the air conditioning didn’t work. LOL. Second regular room was just fine, and after almost two hours of hotel hopping I finally had a room. Whew.

Finally in a room, I headed down to the poolside bar/restaurant to get something to eat before bed. The drink of the month was the caipirinha, so I couldn’t pass it up. Along with some peanuts and a decent sandwich, I was happy and finally off to bed!

Woke up the next morning, and checked out the breakfast. Quite a good spread with made-to-order eggs, waffles, etc, tons of fruits and pastries, and really tasty local coffee. Overall, the breakfast was pretty good, and given what I’d expected in Sao Tome I thought it was excellent. The view from my room wasn’t bad either. Right onto the pool and the Atlantic, looking due west:

Luanda,Angola to Sao Tome, Sao Tome e Principe on TAAG

Airports, Angola, Flights, New Years 2013-2014, Sao Tome e Principe No Responses »

Jan 302014

We’d planned to leave my hotel three hours before the flight, allowing up to an hour to get to the airport, and wanting to be there two hours early since we’d already checked in online. The taxi driver from the night before told Jordan he “didn’t start work” that early, but would 2.5 hours work? Eh, it would be close, but good enough. Jordan showed up at my hotel a little in advance…and we waited…and waited. We were down to 2:15 before flight time and started to panic. The hotel doormen were completely non-phased, and called their taxi contacts. See, you can’t just flag down a taxi in Luanda, because they largely don’t exist.

Eventually, just about 1:45 until flight time, a taxi showed up that the doorman had called, and he wanted $50 to go to the airport. Sigh, no choice at this point, and we paid…and he made fast time of it, getting us there maybe 75 minutes before the flight, and 15 minutes before luggage cutoff.

The problem? The business class line was over 10 people deep once we finally found it (since it was unmarked) and we waited. Eventually I started pressing the guy manning the line to let us to the front, because we were running out of time. He spoke passable English, and told us “no no, we must process all the Havana customers first, their flight is 90 minutes before yours!” Um, we were barely an hour before flight time, so Havana was 30 minutes late and not everyone was checked in.

Knowing never to trust the first thing a semi-official person tells you in Africa, I kept pressing him. Are you SURE you are right. He points to a long line of 100+ people in the terminal. “They all go to Sao Tome too in economy, not to worry.” In the end, he was right. We checked in about 45 minutes before flight time, and no problem at all. We did get probably the most festive lounge invite I’ve ever gotten before:

Security was next, and it was a big nonevent. Well, except for nasty angry agents who made the TSA look pleasant. They were yelling at passengers who didn’t know the procedure, and being generally rude and condescending to them. Then, it was time for exit immigration. They had a bit of a hard time finding my entry stamp, then when they did they seemed surprised by Cabinda, but it was no big deal and got stamped out without a problem.

Then, on the other side of immigration is where the fun started. There was a room with a closed door, and a long line leading into it. I ignored it and tried to head up to the lounge. Nope, was told I had to stand in line. What goes on in that room? They bring people in one by one, and search their luggage for cash. Since they “forget” to remind you to declare money when you enter Angola, of course, any money you have is undeclared…and subject to confiscation. The Chinese guy in front of me told me that his first time in Angola he lost nearly $2000 this way. OUCH. The line was getting too long for the room, and the security goons were at a loss where to put the people who were clearing immigration. They picked the two big white guys and said “YOU GO” and pointed to the escalator. Score! I’d already well-hidden my cash since I’d been warned about this online, but it was nice to not be subjected to it. I guess their logic was that we were more likely to either be onto their scam, or put up a fight, so they let us go?

Up the stairs, and into the TAAG lounge to wait. They said they’d call our flight since it was (obviously) late, so we had time to relax a slight bit:

Luanda, Angola

Angola, Attractions, hotels, New Years 2013-2014, Restaurants 5 Responses »

Jan 292014

Taxi only took about 30 minutes from the airport, and arrived at my hotel, the Epic Sana Luanda, around 10:30am. The hotel had plenty of rooms available, but wanted to charge a half day to check in early. They told me to come back at noon and “maybe” I could check in then with no charge. I stored my bags with the valet, and asked to see a manager about an exception. They ran around for about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to handle someone who challenged their “no” and eventually, one of the front desk guys told the other guy to just let me check in…victory…and he also apologized and offered a room on the top floor. Score!

Originally, I was torn about booking this hotel. Hotels in Luanda are insanely expensive, but after my less-than-happy evening in Cabinda I figured for one night I could afford to splurge. At $495 a night, the Epic Sana was definitely a splurge! Got up to the room, which was nice and comfortable and had great views of Luanda looking out onto the waterfront and corniche, where I’d walk later:

Jordan had gone to check into his hotel, so once I settled in I went across the street to a small market to get some drinks and water, and then set out in search of lunch. I couldn’t really find anything enticing in the immediate area, so settled for the hotel’s third floor rooftop/pool restaurant. The menu came….and the Luanda sticker shock set in again. If I was considering champagne, I had another guess coming! The prices were stratospheric! Continue reading »

Cabinda, Angola to Luanda, Angola on TAAG

Airports, Angola, Flights, New Years 2013-2014 1 Response »

Jan 282014

Having survived the night, it was time to head to the airport to fly down to Angola’s capital, Luanda. The problem is, there are only like 40 taxis in all of Cabinda, and despite the hotel front desk guy promising over and over that one was on the way, for 30 minutes there was no sign.

Of course, there were plenty of share taxis puttering by in the street, and eventually Jordan and I made the decision to chance one. We had the front desk guy flag one down, negotiated a good price…and we were off. Until….BANG!

This wasn’t just a flat tire, it was an absolute blowout. We’d agreed on approx $5 to the airport, so after realizing this car was going nowhere fast, and the driver seemed completely unphased by it, we used him to flag down another taxi to go the rest of the way. It already had three people in the little car (think sub-compact) but in went these two large American guys, two large bags, AND smaller bags. I think we were all sitting on each other, absolutely packed in, three african women, two large american guys, a few chimpanzees, a goat or two, a flock of chicken, and a couple of elderly cattle. Hmmmm, I might be imagining the cattle…but it sure felt like it. This was no luxury sedan, but about 10 minutes later we did make it to the airport, for the princely sum of $1 each. To be fair, we did give a little money to the guy with the blown-out tire – he’d definitely need it for repairs.

Having made it to the airport, the task was to find the check-in counter. Which was way more difficult than it sounded. There were four counters that LOOKED like check-in counters, but no lines, just a swarm of people around them. We just started wildly waving our arms around and saying TAAG? Luanda? Sim? Eventually, we were pointed by different people to each of the four different counters…so I tried a new tactic. Executiva? Business Class? That seemed to work, and someone pointed us to a lady at one of the counters.

She looked at us…looked at our passports…and said in all seriousness: “Why did you not check-in LAST NIGHT.” Excuse me? We have to check in the night before, are you serious? She was, indeed, serious, and pointed to a sign on the counter, that either said “please give me a $100 bill if you want helpful service” or “please check in two hours in advance, for passengers on the first flight of the day, check-in is the night before.” I couldn’t be sure – I don’t read Portuguese.

Having decided she’d not be making any bribes off us today, she asked for our tickets. “E-tickets…in computer” – “No. I need a printed copy. Go to TAAG office OUTSIDE AIRPORT and get a printed receipt.” Seriously? You refuse to look it up, and we have to go outside and around the corner to another guy with the same computer, who will look it up, and print us a receipt? Ugh. To the office…and the same question “why didn’t you check in last night?” Um, I’ve been to over 150 countries, and have never heard this “check in the day before concept.” Angola, you’re truly unique.

He did, however, print us very nice receipts, which we took back to lady #1, and she was kind enough to check us in. Security was…a complete joke. I’m pretty sure the x-ray machine wasn’t working, and people were walking through with the body scanner beeping like R2D2 in a moment of excitement. Anyways, we made it to the waiting lounge…which was packed.

Right when we were supposed to be departing…we saw the plane come in. About 20 minutes later a TAAG person appeared, which apparently meant “every man for himself” and everyone started swarming the boarding door. We’ve had enough African experience to know that if you don’t do your share of shoving, you might as well wait until everyone has passed, so….shove we did and we managed to get out the door. We were overheard by a couple that noted it was our first time in Angola, and said they’d been there something like 10+ years. They had the missionary or NGO look to them….and I give them a lot of credit. Angola’s certainly not for the timid!

Queuing to board:

Misc military stuff on the tarmac:

Continue reading »

Cabinda, Angola

Angola, Attractions, hotels, New Years 2013-2014, Restaurants 2 Responses »

Jan 262014

Right around noon, the taxi dropped us at the only hotel we’d managed to find online, the Hotel Maiombe. Now, “find online” didn’t mean it appeared bookable anywhere, and when I tried to call the only number I could find online it just went to a dead end. So, we were hoping it was there, and not too absolutely depressing.

When we got there, yes, they did have rooms, and the lobby area didn’t look too bad, a corner filled with local crafts for sale, and a very festive sitting area:

The rooms? Well, I was less than impressed. Air conditioning was barely functional, standard rooms only had twin beds, and yes, there were suites with a queen bed (but not much more space) for $50 more. The suite also felt a little cooler, so I decided to go for it. Not sure if it was a worthwhile choice or not, but… At least things appeared mostly clean, and the rooms were functional, albeit a bit spartan.

Biggest downside was, it was a complete ripoff. About $160 for a two star (at best) room, or around $210 for the suite. Also, no internet in the rooms at all. Thus, we hung out in the hotel bar/lounge in the evening, which did have internet and very affordable drinks. Around $4 for huge beers, so all in all, it wasn’t bad. Just a total ripoff for the price paid.

Just one other comment on the hotel: when I went to bed around 11 or 12, it was warm in the room – very warm. The small air conditioner was putting out a little cool area, but only enough to cool the area right underneath it. So, I slid the bed right underneath it, and ended up sleeping face at the foot of the bed to get a little cool air – it was finally enough to make the room good enough to fall asleep. At least there were no mosquitos in the room!

So, the minute we checked in, the clerk demanded payment up front – in cash. He spoke no English, but we finally managed to communicate we’d head to the ABM, and be back in 10 minutes. Fortunately there was no shortage of ABMs in Cabinda, and it was easy enough to take care of. Everything sorted with the hotel, we headed out to explore for a bit.

Mission one, find lunch. We headed to the first restaurant Jordan had found, which was billed as a local sports pub that was “popular with expats.” There were precisely two people inside, and one dish on offer, and it just seemed off. Bonus though, it was next to the local football club, which had a cool statue of their mascot outside:

So, we kept walking. There was another restaurant down the road, so we kept walking:

Pointe-Noire, Congo to Cabinda, Angola by taxi

Angola, Congo, New Years 2013-2014 5 Responses »

Jan 242014

Of all the parts of this difficult trip, I’ll admit that this was the one I was most aprehensive about. There’s not much information online about making this trip by taxi, and given the fact both Congo and Angola have notorious levels of corruption and bureaucratic BS up the wazoo…oh and combine that with my minor princess status…it promised to be an adventure. We’d pieced together enough information online, but for starters, we weren’t even positive the land border would be open on a Sunday!

On paper, it didn’t look too bad:

See, Cabinda is a small enclave of Angola, surrounded by Congo on the north and Democratic Republic of Congo on the South/East, and then after about 20 miles of DRC in the south you come to Angola again:

For this reason, we wanted to visit. As if Angola wasn’t difficult enough, Cabinda has been an active war zone from time to time. In 1975 when the liberation movements in Angola signed the treaty with Portugal, they reaffirmed that Cabinda was a part of Angola, even though it wasn’t connected. This was preceded by the formation of MLEC and FLEC, guerrilla movements advocating the secession of Cabinda. They operated a guerrilla war until 2006 when they finally signed a peace treaty. That’s not to say things have been happily ever after. In 2010 the Togolese football team bus was en route from Pointe-Noire to Cabinda for the Africa’s Cup, and was attacked by a FLEC splinter group, killing three people. So, Cabinda’s kinda…edgy!

So an edgy place, little information, and corruption…what could go wrong?!

I was prepared for the roughly 100km trip to take 8+ hours, and fully expected everything that could go wrong to go wrong.

Taxi to the Congo border was slightly more than we expected at 15,000 CFA ($30) but he wouldn’t budge, given the fact he had to pay tolls along the way, and would likely return empty. We probably could have saved $10 by taxi shopping, but weren’t in the mood to waste time so off we went. We’d read online it was somewhere around 20 minutes to the border, but ended up taking closer to 35 with traffic. Our taxi dropped us off maybe 500m from the border, and we walked the rest of the way. We were harassed by touts and people offering help from the instant we got out of the taxi, but when we ignored them they gave up after maybe a minute. Really? That easy? On the Ghana-Togo border I never did manage to shake them. They must not see many western tourists here!

Asked a few people, and easily found the exit immigration shack for Congo. Piece of cake, one or two questions about why we were in Congo, why we were going to Angola, and that was it. Stamp, stamp, stamp, we were out of Congo. I confirmed where to go next from the immigration guy, and left the house and turned left. Someone started yelling after us…

Turns out he was the health dude, and wanted a look at our vaccination cards. Nothing unusual there, until he grabbed a stamp, and stamped in both of them…”Cholera – Waived” Um, excuse me? I’ve had that vaccination. But he was having none of it. He’d exempt us from having that vaccine (probably chosen because it’s obscure) but we’d have to pay a 3,000 CFA fine each for the stamp. It wasn’t the money, but the scam that set me off…and I went off on him…in that way that you know you’re gonna eventually have to convince him you’re alpha dog or you’re going to end up arrested. 50 or 100 countries ago, I would have been scared by his authority, and done whatever he asked. I was now enough of an Africa veteran to push things. I started chewing him out in French, and made up a great story…told him I worked for the WHO (World Health Organization) and if he was going to insist on this corruption I was going to call the Ministry of Health back in Brazzaville and confirm this. He could decide to give up his scam….or (assuming he believed me) potentially have to answer to his big boss AND a UN agency. To emphasize my threat…I pulled out my cell phone and started fake dialing….he paused….and we got an ALLEZ-Y! GO AWAY! …and it worked. Jason and Jordan 1 – Corruption 0

Then, it was time for the real test. Angola immigration. Waited in one line, whose only purpose seemed to be to verify we had a visa, and he sent us to a small booth in the middle of the road. This turned out to actually be the immigration officer….brief questions (since he didn’t speak english, and only a little french) about our plans in Angola. “Today – Cabinda. Tomorrow – Luanda. Next – Sao Tome.” He seemed to get what we were up to, was pleased with it, and stamped us in….wait, that’s IT?!

Right next to the booth Jordan changed the last of his CFA for Angolan Kwanza (most awesome currency name EVER btw) and that was it…we were done. Terribly anticlimactic….really?

We’d read a taxi to Cabinda city would cost $100 US, and no sooner were we out of the fenced in area than a nice Toyota SUV pulled up, let out 6 passengers, and asked “Ciudad?” Yes, we wanted to go to the city. I’d used google translate for basic portuguese, so I knew “how much” as well as “80” and “100.” So, I offered him $80. He shook his head…”no $100″ ok, fine…it was a nice air conditioned SUV instead of a taxi, so we figured we’d go for it. The ride could be up to two hours. So we set of….

10 minutes into the drive, was a police booth on the side of the road….he wanted to check our passports to make sure we’d entered legally and had visas. Yup, everything in order, we’re on the way. What, no bribe? Seriously?

The drive had some great views….notice the driver’s American flag air freshener:

After a wide, we drove by the large oil complex, fenced in of course, home to tons of foreign oil workers. Like Pointe-Noire, Cabinda exists for oil…part of why it’s so important to Angola. As we approached the city, nearly 100km later, we approached the Cup of Nations statium, the destination for the ill-fated Togolese football team that had been attacked a few years prior:

…and with that, we were in Cabinda. The taxi driver made a weak attempt to tell us the hotel we’d picked sucked, and that he knew a much better one. I’m sure you do, and I’m sure “much better” means my relative owns it and I get a kickback. We declined, and he took us where we wanted to go. Just like that…piece of cake. It was surprising just how perfectly everything had gone, and I was still sure disaster was looming around the corner to pounce on us!

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