J'arrive, j'arrive!

Just a quick note to report that I have safely arrived at the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Lambarene as of two hours ago! I should win a medal for best arrival at a third world airport ever as well. If you have ever flown into an airport in a third world country, you know it can be a little bit of a circus with crazy crowds, people grabbing at your luggage, long and inexplicable lines at passport control and customs, and missed connections with people who are meeting you. With all of this in mind, I flew into Libreville, the capitol city of Gabon, fully cognizant that I needed a back-up plan and a back-up back-up plan. There were a few things going in my favor for this to be a successful trip. I had flown Lufthansa all the way from Chicago to Libreville and it was comforting to arrive at the unfamiliar in a familiar way (hyper-efficient German sandwich and coca-cola dealing stewardesses with a mixed bag of international travelers). Also I had made good contact with the directrice of the hospital two weeks ago to confirm my arrival and send my picture. And my flight was only delayed by 30 minutes. Still I had some butterflies in my stomach. Imagine my grand surprise when passport control passed mostly uneventfully, my bags were waiting for me circling the carousel, no one looked at me twice through customs, and two people from Albert Schweitzer were waiting for me literally outside the door of customs. Parfait! We went to a nearby hotel to spend the night, took much of the next day (today) buying provisions in town for the hospital, and took to the road at 3pm arriving at the hospital by 7pm. I'll have much to say by way of background on Gabon, Schweitzer, medical practice here, but for now the most important thing is: I'm here. I'm safe. I have the whole weekend to figure out how things work around here, the lay of the land, and where I have to go to work on Monday. A toute a l'heure mes amis.