Bombs Away!

We are safe and sound in Dar.  It is around 9 PM.  However, there have been explosions for the last hour at a munitions dump about 2 km from the airport.  It is now closed and Don’ seminary classmates are stranded in Kili likely until tomorrow’s flight to Dar.  Of course, I hope things are back to normal by then since that will be the flight I take back to Amsterdam.  Apparently the government had been warned to move this explosive dump, but failed to do so.  One report said the fire that started this was from a thunderstorm.  Not so.  There is not a cloud in the sky.  The first couple explosions were really loud like thunder claps close by, but I immediately noticed they were not preceded by lightening.  It took a short time for me to realize the moon is almost full and there is not a cloud in the sky.  From some areas the eerie orange glow of the exploding bombs could be seen.  We are on the outskirts of the 10 K (6 mile) radius they have evacuated.  There have been some exceptionally loud explosions, but many, many less substantial ones.  Much of the info we have learned by watching “tweets” on the internet.  Instant news.

Regardless, now at about 10:30 PM, the explosions have been fewer and further between in the last 15 minutes, but still not finished.

It is now 12:30 AM, Feb 17.  There are no further explosions and the tweets have slowed.  I am not finding any new news on the web.

It’s morning.  The group stepped into my office for an update on the flight, the airport and the explosions.  We found this website: http://tinyurl.com/4c2rolu that tells the story, photo and all.

My office, you ask?  The wireless does not reach to my room, so my office is a chair on the sidewalk in line of sight of the office where the wireless originates.  I charge astronomical rates for my consultations, absolutely outrageous!  But hey, I have a captive audience.  Unfortunately, everyone has paid on credit for Tsh, so I am not holding my breath.  “The check is in the mail.”

I may write more about the pleasant day we had yesterday, but it pales in comparison to last night’s fireworks.  After breakfast we went to a shopping center.  Not quite the Mall of America, but big competition for the Burnsville Center.  We got a flat screen TV for the Lutheran Center, a new phone for Don, a pair of steam irons and more!  Lunch and shopping at Slipway were high-lights, and a very good dinner at a Thai place in the New Africa Hotel.  We did have a great time, but how can that compete with explosions?

I am hoping I have a ride to Dar airport when we go to pick up the classmates. We'll see how that coordinates.  By the time you wake up in seven or eight hours, much will have been determined and likely I will be at the airport waiting for my flight.  I can only hope!

Ken