Chilling in Libreville

I'm in Libreville at the moment, waiting for my next flight to Port-Gentil where I will spend another evening before my company chartered flight will take me to Pointe-Noire in Congo. I left Cape Town yesterday morning at around 11 am and arrived in Libreville at 18h30 local time. My travel yesterday went quite smooth, except for the SAA lady at check-in who told me that I needed a visa for Gabon. I've been traveling to Gabon for many years and never did I need a visa to enter this beautiful country, so I was a bit sceptic. The tavel agent didn't say anything when I booked my ticket and I am sure we would've heard it somewhere if the visa requirements had changed between these two countries. But the lady at check-in was looking on her computer as if the information there was more sacred than the Bible's. I wasn't going to let that stop me, so I decided that I will still make my way to Gabon. What could happen if I get here and I don't have a visa? I doubt that they would put me in jail, and when bad goes to worse then I guess all they could do was either let me pay a fine or send me back. The flight was going back the same evening after making a turn at Douala in Cameroon and I was willing to wait a couple of hours should that be required. In Johannesburg I did ask for a second opinion and was told by another SAA staff lady that all she could see on their system is that a visa is needed for a stay longer than 6 months. I was definitely not planning on setting up a business or over stay my welcome, so it was on the plane and away....

The flight was rather empty. This flight goes to Douala via Libreville and return the same evening. There are only two flights a week, one on Friday and one on Saturday. I still don't know why they are so close to each other because this makes it rather difficult to plan a short stay. You can either stay one day or one week. Unless you use other airlines of course, but that is not an option for me who's trying to gather up more flying miles. The problem with this disproportioned schedule is recovering of lost luggage. A reality that never goes away when you travel in Africa. Should my luggage stay behind in Johannesburg then I have to wait another week for it to arrive. And by then I would be in Congo and probably have gone nuts because I didn't have access to my comfort food....chocolates and more chocolates. But let me not preemt, like a colleaque of mine always says.

Mary's hair gel scene...

The inflight entertainment wasn't really something to write about. I missed the first movie because I was reading a book by Chris Salewicz, Bob Marley - The Untold Story. It was only after lunch was served that I took interest in the second movie that was showing. Being it one of my favourite comedies I have seen it quite a few times before, but watched because of my obsession with the main actress, Cameron Dias. Well, that was when I saw "There's Something about Mary"  for the first time, I am not that crazy about her anymore. I've grown up. Anyway, what I was wondering was how they were going to censor some of the scenes from the movie, seeing that there were quite a lot of sexual related scenes that did not leave much for the imagination. I don't know if anyone has seen this movie, but there is a scene that led to the one where Mary was sitting at a table with her hair gelled in a very strange fashion. I do know that SAA cut a lot of scenes, but this scene was integral in explaining why her hair was standing up like that, so I was anxiously waiting to see how they were going to get around that one. Well, to make a long story short, below is what they showed while that scene was playing off in the background....

The censored scene.

 If it wasn't for previous experience I would not have have known what the huffing and puffing in the background was. Fortunately for that because I would not have had a friend around to explain either. But well done to SAA for sparing us the details...



Pool deck

When we arrived in Gabon passing through immigration went just as smooth as the gel in Mary's hair. Probably the slickest I've ever been through any immigration checkpoint. I was actually the first person through and on the other side all I had to do was pick up my luggage and locate the driver. There was already luggage on the carousal, but that was from the Lufthansa flight that had landed minutes earlier. I met up with another colleaque that arrived from Paris on that same Lufthansa flight. My luggage appeared after about 15 minutes. Unfortunately for my colleaque, his DIDN'T! I thanked my lucky stars and comforted him with "I feel your pain, brother!" I know the feeling and who knows, next time I might need some comforting again....

  

Breakfast buffet..or part thereof.



Libreville local early morning sunbathing

I am staying in the Le Meridien Re-Ndama. Last night after arrival I went straight for my bed hoping to rise early for my favourite meal of the day...breakfast. I ended up chatting to a facebook friend for a while about a possible school buddy reunion and after watching a program on TV fell asleep at around 10. I live for breakfast, especially when I am traveling and staying in hotels and guest houses. It is like the highlight of my travel...unless something more interesting happens later in the day. Sitting down ordering what your heart desires, or exploring the breakfast buffet is one of the luxuries of my job that I really appreciate. Fresh fruit, the smell of coffee, orange juice, bacon and eggs....the full monty. They call this the most important meal of the day and I make sure that it is mine as well. I love watching the people coming in and doing the same. Some go directly to what they want, but the first-time guests look around, checking out everything before they make that important decision..."What will I have first?" I could sit there for hours and watch them, wondering why they are there and where they are from. I hardly ever start a conversation around the breakfast table, but sometimes people do strike up a conversation and then I always get answers to my questions. This morning was rather quiet when I arrived at the restaurant. It is Sunday after all, most people are sleeping in I guess. Unlike me who wants to get up and see what the weather holds in for the day. My plan for today is to spend time around the pool until my pick-up arrives at 4pm. After a satisfying breakfast I went outside and took some pictures with my point-and-shoot around the hotel's premises. I left my other camera at home because it is a bit cumbersome to carry around Africa along with a laptop bag. But today I am leaving all my baggage in my room just to enjoy the tranquility of being alone in a nice tropical location with nothing to worry about other than trying not to get sunburnt... Today I am chilling in Libreville.