my week in the mission field. (part the first)

Day 1 (7/10) Sunday: Up at 4:30 for a shower, out the door by 6:00.  Got to go to Gainesville to print my flight itinerary and buy one last thing from Wal*Mart.  Finally off to Jacksonville for my 9:00 flight to Miami on a jet so small I have to duck and walk sideways to fit down the isle.  Get to Miami, and my next flight is all the way at the other end of MIA, requiring a long angry walk in the Florida heat, and another trip through security, where I score my first ever enhanced pat-down.  Middle seat, 6 hour flight to Georgetown Guyana, and those little vents are never enough to keep the fat man from sweating.  Arrive in Georgetown and fill out immigration form for which I was completely unprepared.  Address while in Guyana?  I put "Charity," the name of a town I knew we'd be passing through.  Custom's agent asks if I'm married, seems shocked that I'm not, and warns me not to become so whilst in her fair country.  Finally: outside where I meet up with Mom and Melissa who're waiting with Ian the taxi driver.  It's somewhere between 11pm and midnight.  30 minute drive through Georgetown to the hotel where we're greeted by aromatic clouds of ganja smoke and thumping Caribbean-style club music.  In the room, Melissa grabs a shower, while mom and I grab a bite to eat and marvel at the windows as they rattle to the music.  In bed by 12:30, up by 1:00.  The power has gone out, so the a/c and ceiling fan are both dead, room now stifling.  Batteries into travel fan, toss and turn for 30 minutes, then down to the front desk to ask if they know the lights are out.  Yes they know, the whole block is out...except club crappy music, which apparently has its own generator.  When inquired, she assures me that the club will shut down by 2:00-2:30.  Back to the room and the travel fan.  More tossing and turning, and a little sleep.  4:00 music finally stops, and a knock on the door.  Management wants to move us up a floor where some electricity has been restored, so we move.  Still no a/c, but ceiling fan works.  Better, but the window is broken, bugs fly in at will.  Two hours left until the alarm goes off.  Fitful sleep ensues.