Libreville Adventures

Wednesday, August 26

Point Denis is our destination today. We will take the "ferry" over and spend the day at the beach. We've packed enough food, according to Keir, to feed an army. We arrived at the dock at 8:15 am after picking up pastries along the way at a Lebanese bakery. Having made a reservation two days earlier helped us get a spot on the first boat over which was scheduled to leave at 9 am. We and 20 others loaded the "ferry" which is an African speedboat that looks to be in a state of disrepair. They did have life jackets for all of us for which we were grateful. The ride was a thrill for us all but Luke and Sarah loved having the waves splash in their face and on Grandma and Grandpa's glasses. When our 20 minute ride was over, we disembarked down a scary ladder onto the beach and were left there until our 5 pm pickup. There are several hotels, a leatherback turtle mini-museum and the new Bongo seaside estate which is still under construction. Bought fries and pamplemousse from a nearby hotel. We lounged on the beach, played in the surf and sand, took long walks along the shore and had a restful day and we ate all the food that we had brought and bought French fries at the hotel nearest the wooden beach chairs we used. At 5:15 on the horizon we sight the boat coming toward the beach. We climbed aboard using the same scary ladder and we on ou way for another waterfilled ride back to Libreville shores.

Shwarmas from Comodore, a Lebanese restaurant and take-out, was on the dinner menu. We had dinner at home at the Guest House. Turned in early to bed.

Thursday, August 27
Lots of shopping at Souvenir Village with Alace, Megan, Marley, Joanna & Sarah. Dave purchased an elephant to go with the hippo that he has at home.

Lunch was with the King family, Garett, Sara, Zack, Nehemiah and Geoffrey. Sara made a delicious fettucini alfredo for us. It was fun to get to know these missionaries from Tucson who are with The Door Christian Fellowship Church. They are church planters here in Libreville.

Did some shopping at Birdy Art, a boutique that is way pricey. Joanna was looking for a lamp to add to her "small lamp" collection. This one is shaped like a white bakery bag. They were sold out however.

Costa Sylvia, an Italian restaurant, was a treat fom Joanna & Keir. The four of us enjoyed our quiet dinner out while Megan watched Luke & Sarah. Diann had a South African t-bone steak which was deliciously prepared and yummy to taste. Dave ate local fish which were served with their heads and tales and very tasty. Keir said his filet mignon was not as good as the one he'd had there earlier in the year; Joanna's shrimp dish was great. Luciano, our Equitorial Guinean server, was very into American jazz and had Ella and Louie and the Duke playing for us. We were in a private room behind a curtain which was very quaint and great for privacy. While we were eating, Joanna & Keir looked at each other mysteriously when we could hear a man speaking loudly. The upshot was that he had come into the restaurant wielding a knife and was asked to leave. We did find out later that he was the gardener but should not have entered the restaurant with his tools.

The children were asleep when we arrived home at 10:45 and we went to bed shortly thereafter.

Friday, August 28
Dave & Keir spent 4 hours trying to "right" the Thelander roof rack. They were not successful in getting it straightened out. Joanna did laundry and meet with the VBS short term missionaries to sort out details of Field Forum VBS.

Stopped to have air put in the tires. That took about 20 minutes since the "mechanic" had to do it himself. Spent the afternoon at SunSet Beach with the Straw children, Megan, Joey, & Sam. The beach was beautiful. We were able to watch the sun set over the ocean. The kids built a bridge of sand and caught lots of waves in the high tide. Ordered fries and pamplemousse from the nearby restaurant.

Joanna made a great pasta dish for our early dinner. "Flipper" was on schedule for the evening. We ate our mint chocolate chip ice cream during the movie.

Did some packing and re-arranging of our stuff and went to bed.

Saturday, August 29
Slept in as did the whole family. These few days on vacation with the Thelander family in Libreville has been wonderful. After a late breakfast, Dave, Luke and Keir went shopping for a few items on Mbolo and some brake fluid while Joanna finished us the laundry. Sarah and Diann did some coloring.

Lunch was caprese, conte and brie cheeses and more baquettes with olive oil and fresh garlic. Finished packing and now we are ready to head to SunSet Beach for more fun in the sun.

We are praying that our Royal Air Maroc flight is on schedule and that we are able to get to Rochester tomorrow. Thanks for praying with us for safe travel and for safety in Gabon during the election.

Update: As we drove to SunSet Beach we saw great masses of people; roadways on the other side were at a complete standstill and the roads were parking lots. All this for a "meeting". Just returned from SunSet Beach where we had a great time of fun in the overcast sky. Enroute home the meeting was just letting out and the crowds were dispering. Four lanes of traffic where there should have been two; lots of people walking in the roads and an overall generally scary situation. Then 10 or so men surrounded our vehicle and began shouting and banging their hands on the doors, windows and hood of the car and shouting out, as they had done with a few others. We were all very quiet as Keir just continued driving even with a shirt over his windshield. Very, very frightening situation. We arrived at the Guest House safely and are off to dinner and then to the airport. Thanks for your prayers for us!