(This is a continuation from the previous post, Part 1)

The next morning, we had spaghetti omelets for breakfast at a cafe, then headed to MEGI (Mobil Equatorial Guinea, Inc.) Mobil helps fund the BBPP and the expedition, and our orientation was at the MEGI compound. We first got our photos taken for badges, then we headed to the rec room where they had air conditioning, snacks, and fast internet (cue the hallelujah chorus...)
On the way there, I had my first glimpse of local wildlife: the compound was full of cattle egrets and pied crows and geckos and insane-looking lizards that were white and black and orange. I probably took more lizard photos at MEGI than I've ever taken in any one spot. We spent that day and the next couple of days at MEGI getting orientated on everything we needed to know for the expedition: health and safety, general procedures, animals on census, etc. I think the take-home message of the health and safety briefing was: take you malaria pills, and don't be a wahoo. During those few days, we got to know some of the other volunteers and folks that were going on the expedition. We also organized all the gear (and there was lots of it), then disorganized and reorganized it (because some of it was done incorrectly), and packed it into dry bags. There were two groups leaving for the expedition on the 10th, and two leaving on the 11th, so we had to plan accordingly.

Also, Andy - the fourth member of our Fellowship - arrived on the 8th, and Jimmy - the fifth - arrived on the 9th. At some point, we went out for dinner at a local restaurant called Ali Baba. The food took forever to be prepared, but we had fun and my lemon chicken was really good.
This lax nature of operations really reminds me of my home country, Armenia. In fact, many things in Malabo make me think of Armenia - the looks of some of the buildings, the stray dogs, the selling of random goods outdoors, even the currency.

But I digress. On the night of the 10th, we packed all of our expedition gear into our field packs. We were leaving on the first boat on the 11th, which meant we had to get up at around 3 AM. But that's where this post ends, because everything that happened afterward is Caldera Expedition stuff, and that merits a separate (and probably very long) post. Hopefully I'll have that up by the end of the week.

As a side note, I can only attach one photo per blog here, but I have many many more. If you'd like to check out some of our gang's photos and keep up with us in Bioko, you can check out a facebook page I created here: https://www.facebook.com/biokowinter2014
So far, I've been the only one posting photos there but I'm hoping the rest of the gang will join in soon.

Adios!
Araks

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! My name is Araks, and I'm a Drexel student currently studying abroad on Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea. We're about three weeks into the winter term right now, so I thought I'd start this blog with a recap of what's happened so far. This post will be about the first week. I'll write up a separate post about the other two weeks, because during that time we were on the annual BBPP Caldera Expedition (details to follow).
For now, let me start with the journey over to Bioko. I set out from Philadelphia on January 6th, along with two other students, Mark and Alee. We had a bit of trouble at the airport with long lines and checking in, but fortunately we all made the flight out. We had one layover in Atlanta, and another in Paris. The plane also stopped in Duala Airport in Cameroon, at which point almost everyone got off the plane except us and a few important-looking folks in first class.
Then they did security checks for an hour, and everyone must have been getting up and walking around because they told us to sit down and stay in our seats over the intercom at least five times. I felt like I was in fifth grade again.

When we finally got to Malabo, we met with Drew Cronin, a Drexel instructor and BBPP expedition leader, and David Montgomery, our Resident Director. I'm glad they were there, because I had trouble understanding the officer at the passport check when he asked me what organization I was with and told me to put my fingers on the fingerprint scanner.
I was relieved to find that all of my bags had arrived safe and sound, although Alee's unfortunately were left in Paris and she didn't get them for a couple of days.

As soon as we stepped outside, I felt the full force of the heat and humidity. What a change from the cold and snow that saw us off in Philly! On the way to the student house, we stopped and got some chicken and rice for dinner since we were all hungry and it was around 8 pm. It was quite delicious, although it was served with mayo. Apparently mayo is a big thing in EG, and they serve it as a condiment for everything.

At the house, Alee and I moved into one of the bedrooms, and Mark moved into another that later became the boy's bedroom. It was strange sleeping with a mosquito net around me. It definitely drives home how serious the malaria problem is around here.

(The rest of this blurb will be in the next post, Part 2, because there is character limit on Drexel's blog system)