Friday, January 31 - Saturday February 1

 We woke up and had all sorts of mixed feelings. When I say we woke up, neither of of us slept well.  The first thing we needed to do was go to the bank to get all of our money out. Going to the bank here is no easy task. Boni, our driver, came to pick us up and we tried to do the ATM. Cory was able to take our 300 dollars in cash, all 20's!! He tried again and it ate his card.  We had to wait in the line, which is outside the bank. They only let a few in at a time. We waited about 30 minutes and then it was finally our turn.  They don't have slips there, you have to write all your information on a piece of paper each time. Cory was first and then I went. Boni helped translate for us! We were able to get all of our money out of the bank there, $1800. We were worried they wouldn't let us take it all but they did!

We tried not to keep any money in the Congo, but to have a work VISA we had to have bank accounts with money going in, so we did the least amount possible!

After the bank, we stopped at the office and said good bye to everyone. It was so sad for us. Deep down, I think we knew we wouldn't be back.  Then Dona took us to the airport. This picture is where we park and go into the "lounge". If you don't pay the $50 fee, you don't get to go inside and you have to wait in an inside/outside area and it is so crowded! That is where most of the locals go. Only the expacts and the wealthy pay to go to the lounge. 

Here are a couple of shots of the lounge. There is a bar and some couches. The fee includes sodas and chips. You can order food for an extra fee. We had some generals form the military come and sit next to us while we were waiting. I snuck a picture because it is illegal to take pictures of the military.

Any airline, except Congo Air, doesn't like to stay long in the Congo. If you are on the ground longer than 1 hour you have to pay fees. So they have you outside, ready to walk out to the plane just as it is landing.  You stand out in the sun and bake (or rain, if it's rainy season).

This was our last view of the Lubumbashi Airport!

We landed in Johannesburg and made it to our hotel. We checked in and our room was so hot! We turned the AC up and went and got dinner. When we got back, the room hadn't cooled down much but we were exhausted so we went to bed thinking it would cool down. 

Saturday, February 1

We woke up and it hadn't cooled down at all! Cory had to go with Schalk to inspect the stone for the temple and I had some Westland work to get done. When Cory got back, we went to see if there was a different room we could switch to. They found us one, and we moved everything over! Then we got an uber and went to a grocery store to get some drinks and snacks because we were going to be there for a few days. 

The only picture I took today was of our dinner! We shared a quesadilla.