Land of the Free, Home of the Braves: A Fortuitous Failure at 35,000 Feet

Somewhere just off the coast of South Carolina, in rough turbulence at 35,000 feet and an hour into our flight to Accra, Ghana (where we’d connect to Monrovia, Liberia), my seat partner Avery was telling me about her attempt to raise a puppy in her small village in Rwanda.  That’s when the pilot came on the intercom:

“We’re sorry about the inconvenience here folks, but we are having a malfunction with our navigation system and we won’t be able to fly over the ocean.  We’ll need to turn around and head back to Atlanta.  Because we’ll be landing so heavy, you’ll be able to see some maintenance crews outside your window.  Don’t be alarmed, that is a typical situation for this type of situation.  We’ll be on the ground in 25 minutes”

An hour later, our plane made contact with the runway, flanked by a squadron of “maintenance” vehicles that looked suspiciously like fire trucks and ambulances, full of flashing lights (a pilot I met the next day admitting it was a pretty serious problem).  A flight attendant asked the Ghana passengers to switch planes, and told the Monrovia passengers that due to a curfew in Monrovia, we’d be spending the next two nights in Atlanta.

I was actually excited about the next two days; the Peace Corps couldn’t have planned a better ice breaker.  Our eclectic group began a blitz of stories from first assignments in South Africa, Tanzania, Mauritania, Micronesia, Tonga, Rwanda, Uganda, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.  Each country, I came to learn, had its benefits and challenges; work satisfaction in Azerbaijan was balanced by incredibly cold winters where showers came once a week; an emotionally closed populace in Rwanda was balanced by the opportunity of regional travel and engagement with lessons of the recent genocide.  Though everyone had stories to get me both jealous and relieved, I couldn’t help but feel that I had it very easy in Tonga (the Azerbaijan volunteer gave me “the look” when I complained about our frigid 68-degree winter).

So what do thirteen excited strangers do with a pad of Delta vouchers and free reign on a Major American city?  Hop on MARTA and visit a downtown microbrew.  The wine and beer flowed as quickly as the stories, and we soon realized that however rough Liberia would be, our already strong camaraderie would help.  Some volunteers then went to visit the Body World’s exhibit, others to the park or to see friends in the area.  I joined a small group to see the Martin Luther King Center, a national museum across from his former Ebenezer Baptist Church, his birthplace, and his tomb.  Later I took a solo tour of the CNN world headquarters.  Unfortunately I didn't meet any anchors, as Wolf Blitzer's show is in D.C. and the glowingly attractive Robin Meade had already finished her morning show (I had no interest in waiting around for Nancy Grace)

Of all the opportunities allowed by our layover, however, it was the one extra hot bath that was most satisfying.  We each had hotel rooms all to ourselves.

After a set of salubrious group meals, I’m looking forward to getting this adventure back on track and truly crossing the Atlantic.  That is hopefully just a few hours away.