This was to be published last year...it might have been one of those days! Well ave been off for quite a while now as I have had a crazy travel schedule from within Kenya to DRC and now Lusaka.
Out of the 3 places, DRC was one of my most exciting places where I saw a real array of mixed characters which I would not really complain off as they were quite entertaining. Day one I reached the airport and they give out the entry visa papers which happened to be written in French. Well I guessed later on that for visitor like me who have little or no knowledge of french whatsoever, it meant that one would have to employ ( literally) someone to help in its translation, either in their local language ( some sort of Swahili intermarried with French and Lingala) which makes it very difficult to understand and/ or either English if you're lucky to get someone who can at least speak the good or broken one.
Being a lady only made my work easier and most of the Airport officials are men, therefore meant that I could take advantage of the whole situation and yes was lucky enough to have got some guy who not only knew English but the Congolese Swahili which isn't so hard to understand anyway. The drama began when I was told the guy who signs for the visas is not in and I was asked to leave the airport without my passport and come back for it the next day. I was not going to hear any of that story of going and coming back to airport, already I had bought breakfast for two people and parted with USD 20 in the name of greasing their elbows to have my things done fast enough! And trust me they were done fast, only in a slow motion way, but according to the local standard, it was fast, really fast. I stayed at the airport for almost two hours. If there was a plane that took of from Nairobi from the time I landed they would have arrived by then and got me still waiting! That was not good, not good at all. So we finally agree to have my passport photocopied and a note written and stamped indicating that I was legally in that country.And from there henceforth, I stayed two days without my passport, only consolation being I had the other papers.This is a country that you will talk to a guy now and in a spun of two minutes that guy does not know you and you never met him...therefore just to cover my back, I ensured I had at least evidence that I left my passport. On my way out of the airport, it was interesting to notice that the culture here is just dancing, whether or not there is some music ( please note that I tried looking for the source of the music, whether earphones or headphones...and there was zero) Forgive my English for now, I am still trying to get a hang of the language here which is totally interfering with my norm!
Day one: Arrival Hotel ( I am not sure the name since the one I had been advised I had been booked in somehow changed to the one I was booked in at that moment!) Being me, I only paid for one night and thanked God for Google maps. I realized there were quite a number of hotels on the same street as to where I was staying!
Day two: Assignment check out of hotel ( no name given, not even on the receipt) I finally got to another hotel which was more like God sent! Home away from home, pricey by worth the stay. Needless to stay, if you go to Congo, be wary very wary of these guys, you have to be cunning to get your way round, speak bad Swahili and pretend to love Lingala, if you know French you'll be the luckiest person ever! It's a great place to be either way :-)...ohh and I accomplished my mission, what sent me there!
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