Things Don't Always Go As Planned

Thursday afternoon we left to go to Dakar.  All went according to plan:  get Nate to the youth group party, get settled into the guest house, and get us some supper.  Friday morning started out according to schedule. We headed to our headquarters, then to the place where I would get my health certificate for my residence permit.  We also made the stop at Sonatel so I could get me a new phone to replace the one that was stolen. It's a much nicer phone and I was able to keep my same phone number.  From that point on, things began to fall apart.  Traffic was bad (as usual) and there were detours due to construction that made it more difficult to get from "Point A to Point B."  We managed to get a little shopping done and eat lunch before we had to get M to her doctor appointment.   As we figured, she was going to need some blood tests done on Saturday morning.  No problem, we needed to go downtown anyway so we could accomplish everything early in the morning when there is less traffic.  Complication #2:  M needs to stay at least one or two more days to complete the tests that the doctor ordered (we were planning on returning to Fatick on Saturday afternoon).  We got our downtown shopping done and left before the traffic picked up.  Complication #3:  the guesthouse where we were staying was not available another night.  That meant we had to find another place to stay.  That was accomplished but it was more expensive.  Thus, we decided that I would hire a driver to take Nate and me back to Fatick with all my many bags of groceries, etc.  We were picked up at 3:00 and didn't have too much trouble getting out of Dakar.  Complication #4:  it took us an hour to get from one side of Rafisque to the other (and that was even after our driver took off down side roads avoiding the traffic).  We managed to get back to Fatick by 7:00 pm.  Complication #5:  when the driver started turning down my road to go to my house we discovered there was a celebration going on and there were people blocking the road.  So we turned around and went to my teammates' house and I unloaded all my stuff.  After the driver left we decided to go to the other end of my road to see if it was clear in front of my house.  Complication #6:  since the car is in Dakar with Kimberley and M, that meant I had to ride on the motorcycle with Travis to get to my house.  He put my bag in front of him and I held my purse and computer on my shoulders and held onto him for dear life as he drove me to my house.  To say that I was a little terrified is putting it mildly!  He managed to get me there in one piece, though, so I can sleep in my own bed tonight.  It turns out that the celebration was probably for a wedding.  I figured that it would be going on half the night.  After all the complications, I was delighted to find the celebration ended shortly after I got into my house.  Now I will be able to go to bed at a decent hour.  Sometime tomorrow I'll still have to get all my sacks of groceries to my house but hopefully it won't involve me riding on the motorcycle again!