Welcome to Africa!

From Spain to Gaborone, Botswana, we had no idea what to expect and were pleasantly surprised!  Just by looking down from the plane, you could see the difference in colors, Spain, was lush green and brown, whereas South Africa, was brown, sand!

---

We got off our tiny plane and entered the small airport, where the people took their time in getting through the small line up, the customs officer could tell we were not used to this and asked if it was our first time in Africa, he said take it easy and patience is a virtue! Those words would never ring truer, everything takes twice as long here and we would learn how to wait, wait and wait some more!

---

Our hotel driver was ready to pick us up with a grin from ear to ear, he was young and eager, one thing I remember was everyone was smiling, laughing ..and as we drove through the main city which was more rural than Orangeville...our driver filled us with us everything we need to know about Gaborone!  We pulled up to a beautiful hotel, The Grand Palm Resort, luxury living, would be our new home for a bit, while we find another hotel barter....it was beautiful!  The buffet would be covered lunch and dinner in our per diem and there wasn't much else for us to spend our money on!  Life was looking pretty calm, cool and laid back!!!!

---

We met our new partner Jorge Machin, a guy who was from Spain, but half French, he was huge!  About a head taller than Ry and it was quite funny, Ry was really not excpecting to be the short guy in Botswana ( he prides himself on his height!)  but yes, he was and compared to manly Jorge he looked like a little boy!  It was cute!

---

Jorge was a pleasure to work with, patient, kind, funny, he was everything you would want in a Manager!!! His last project was in Namibia so he knew how Africa worked and warned us.  We realized shortly after this meant alot of waiting on secretaries that are busier reading gossip magazines, or ordering tupperware, as we witnessed, instead of checking faxes or emails!!!

---

Africa was going to be interesting!!