The magic was over. Flying from Lima to São Paulo, then on to Luanda before five of us would return to Cape Town, and the other three to Johannesburg. São Paulo left a bitter taste in our mouths when we passed through there heading to Peru, as one of our group was sent back home due to a documentation oversight. So it was with some trepidation that we returned there. The LATAM Airlines landing was scary and I truly hope I would never again have to sit in a plane when that particular captain is on the flight deck. Grateful that we had survived the landing, we headed to the airport. The lack of proper signage and the unhelpful and unfriendly personnel who did not understand basic English, fit the picture that we had of Guarulhos Airport heading out, and this time was to be no different. Apparently it is perfectly logical to Brazilians to have an international terminal – unmarked, when half of the international flights actually depart from the domestic terminal, also unmarked anywhere else in the airport, except at the counters themselves. Good luck to anyone relying on finding their way using signage. We almost missed our flight. In fact, we basically did, and if it were not for the ego of one of the ground personnel who felt complimented that she was the only person we had encountered who was able to speak good English, we would not have made it. She initially would not check us in, but her ego then helped to smoothe the way to assist us. The fact that we were a group of not so young, sweaty women, who had literally been running from one side of the airport to the other, also helped a little bit. When a passport control officer went off without a word, carrying the passport of one of our members, we almost collapsed. We had had enough of these uncommunicative people who could not speak English. After ten minutes, he returned without a word, and stamped the passport.
Stepping onto TAAG’s aircraft felt wonderful. Angola Airlines’ friendly personnel can speak English, and they made sure that we had a proper dinner and breakfast before depositing us on African soil seven hours later, where it was 27 degrees at 06h00 in the morning. We did not complain. We knew better. And we were on African land, which felt much more welcoming than Brazilian airports.
The remainder of the trip went smoothly, except that Doreen’s bag had stayed behind in São Paulo – it had been checked in to move all the way through from Lima to Johannesburg, with the rest of our luggage. Trust the incompetence of Guarulhos Airport staff to get it wrong. It was as if that airport just had to reach all the way to Africa to provide us with one more unpleasant experience.
Thirty four hours after our journey home had begun, the last of us opened her front door in Sedgefield. We were all safe, and we were home. Forever changed, and our work in South America done, but home.
Thank you for travelling with us. Next up … well I believe that might be Egypt. Time will tell.
