Hello Africa

It wasn't without it's share of surprises, but overall the trip was a success.  We are here in Burundi and are in good health.  Thanks for all the prayers, we could tell that we had them showering down on us.  The trip began with Rachele feeling pretty miserable.  There had been a viral bug reaking havoc on the Jones side of the family and the day that we were set to leave, it decided to attack Rache.  Without giving away any too personal details, she wasn't too comfortable being further than a few steps from a bathroom.  We loaded her with some Immodium but she was still feeling really crumby, so mom came through and got some IV bags with tubing from her doctor's office.  The result was a litre of fluid just before heading to the airport.  This proved to be the difference in a miserable flight and a bearable one. When we got to the airport, the official trip began with me instructing my parents that we were leaving on Continential Airlines, then waiting through the Contintntal line only to find that they didn't fly to DC.  Even more discouraging was that United, the flight we were actually on, was 3 terminals away and we were lugging some seriously heavy totes.  The next hiccup was discovered at the gate in Boston.  Come to find out, what we had thought was a 30 minute layover in DC, was actually a 12 hour and 30 minute layover in DC.  Now it makes sense why we got such a great deal on our flight.  Luckily the Comfort Inn had a distressed traveler deal and we got a great night of rejuvinating sleep.  The flight to Rome and Ethiopia was crowded and long, and was made only longer by the in flight movie, Nights in Rodanthe, and Nickolas Sparks epic, brought to life by Richard Gere and Diane Lane.  Killer.  (Rache cried).  A wild point, was during a trip to the bathroom when Rachele noticed that there were red stains around the toilet and then tape covering them saying 'Crime Scene Evidence, Do Not Touch'.  Ethiopia was a nice airport and we got to stretch our legs for an hour before hopping a plane to Rwanda and then to Burundi.  Most of that was spent sleeping since it was 3am US time when we left.  We were met at the gate by Nestor, the country director, who ushered us through customs without any problems.  We were lucky to meet with the two other Americans working at the clinic, as they were just getting back from some holiday travels.  They showed us around town, got us a cell phone and helped us get situated in the apartment in the capital where we will stay tonight.  Well that is all for now, we will keep the news coming.  We love you all, 

Kenton and Rachele