New York

I finally unfolded myself from my seat and got off the airplane. The custom formalities went well (its great to be Canadian, you get in the US citizens line), but for some reason my luggage ended up on the First Class belt so I spent 45 minutes looking at the Economy belt in anguish. I finally took my unique piece of cargo luggage ( a hockey bag ! how Canadian !) and made my way to the washroom were I changed and made myself human again. I then took a cab to La Guardia airport.

Amusingly, I did not speak Woloff to the cab driver. I was delighted to sit in a cab that did not threaten to breakdown imminently, and to not have to haggle over a price. Incidently, I spent on said cab fare all the money I’d saved haggling over cab prices in Dakar over the last 6 months. But anyway, it was nice to be driven around and to feel safe, and to not have to listen to some marabout chanting Al-Koran at maximum volume on the radio. I saw nothing of Manhattan, since both airports are in Queens. I just went through Queens and saw an American highway. Palpitating.