Africa Journal Day 13

Thursday, May 5, 2005
Day 13
Baptist Guesthouse, Douala, Cameroon

Air conditioning! A pool! We’re in another world this morning after spending most of yesterday sweltering in Lagos Airport. We are thankful to be here and for safe travel with local airlines.
The flight from Jos to Lagos was excellent. John and Esther helped us check in and had made arrangements with a taxi driver they knew in Lagos to take us from the Lagos domestic terminal to the international terminal. That all went well.
We had about a six-hour layover in Lagos, and as usual NEPA was off, and so was the AC in the Lagos Airport. Lagos is on the ocean, so full-blown tropics with high temperatures and humidity. It was too hot for me to read, or even think. The check-in for the flight to Douala was complicated by the lack of power, so they handwrote our boarding pass.
The Lagos Douala flight was then delayed an hour, I think because the main door was stuck shut. In any case, we ended up boarding through the aft door. It was an aging 737 with many of the trays broken, and the overhead bins kept popping own—likely just overuse from the years. In any case, we arrived safely and my nephew Bert met us at the airport. It was good to be met by a familiar face.
Rather than drive all the way to Yaounde, where Bert and Wilma live, he booked a room at this wonderful facility. I think Cathy and I stayed here years ago. It is beautiful; two stories, lovely well-kept grounds, and a pool that we will enjoy before the trip to Yaounde. I had a wonderful sleep in the air-conditioned room.