deboard onto runway!

there is something unsettling about getting off a giant plane via runway stairs. that you can walk right underneath it and head over to the little airport.

and yet, it is wonderful to step straight into the air of tanzania. the smell is unmistakable--earthy, as you would expect, but with an tinged edge to it, burnt and harsh.

you always arrive in the dark and the night is cool--a mere 80* Fahrenheit or so. but truly, the airfield allows a breeze to carry to you and it has never seemed anything but pleasant and comforting.

which is probably good, as then you have to battle the chaos of immigration- a mass of bodies flooding in indeterminate lines as they try to get into past the guards.