On this last trip to Burundi, I tried packing everything in giant ziploc bags in order to keep like items together and protect everything from possible rain and bugs while sitting on the runway. For some reason, after my initial few neat bags of stuff, I started packing sort of randomly in order to conserve bags - 3 shirts, 1 skirt, 1 can of mosquito repellant, and a few toiletries. Or 1 pair of jeans, a bible, a phone charger, 8 pairs of socks, and a can of deodorant. I managed to pack in such a way that it required me to completely dump out the contents of my suitcase in order to find something. It didn't matter what I was looking for - I couldn't find it. After 2 days in our hotel room in Burundi, Dan thought it would be appropriate to capture the look and feel of the room on camera - so thoughtful of him wanting to preserve memories, don't you think? (Picture #1)On the day that it rained, we came back with really muddy shoes on. Dan headed straight to the balcony to remove his shoes. I headed straight to the bathroom because when there's no bathroom available for 7 hours, you really need to get out of my way when I run up the stairs and into my room - the floors in the bathroom had not dried up since our early morning showers due to the humidity - so my muddy shoes didn't help the situation at all!(Picture #2) Other than the giant tangled mess of things I can't live without while traveling and the constantly muddy, slippery floors, the hotel room was very nice - big, relatively clean, tile floors throughout, giant closet, beautiful balcony, mini-fridge. The grounds were absolutely beautiful - green and lush and overflowing with colorful, flowering plants and trees!! (Picture #3) Of all the mission trips I've been on, this was definitely the nicest hotel - something I shouldn't get too used to - soon enough we'll be back to other parts of Africa and back to the simpler reality of church-run guest houses.
