the yak

the options to fly between khartoum and juba are limited and the flights leave early in the morning in order to complete a round trip each day. this time i am flying on sun air.  i arrive at the airport around 5:15 and proceed to throw my bag through the fake x-ray machine and as i attempt to enter through the door, they tell me that the sun air flight is ready for check in yet.  the flight leaves at 7 so i stand outside for a while with the driver.  then the driver says he needs to go pray, so he walks off to the mosque as the morning prayer reverberates through the crisp quiet air.  people are strolling around, some in their jollabias others in jeans and shirts.  i hear the airport loud speaker start jibbering something in arabic and i can capture "sun air" and "juba" which for any semi conscious person, that probably means they are ready to go. well, now my bags are in the trunk of the car and the driver is off praying.  so i wait.  and wait.  then people start coming out of the mosque and the driver bounces towards me.  i told him what i deducted from the loud speaker and off we go again.  bags through the fake xray machine and me, attempt to go through the door.  but the id checker at the door stops me and looks at a list and says, "no sun air flight on the list".  i try to explain to the driver that i heard something on the loudspeaker. so he goes to investigate.  eventually we are standing outside again, he tells me the flight is canceled (canceled or never planned to fly can be the same thing). he's scratching his head trying to think of what to do and the time is fast approaching 7 when all flights leave for juba.  so i ask if i can get on another plane.  after inquiring the cost will be $120 cash and yes, there is a seat on tarco airlines.  i had seen their logo somewhere in town, i think it is a new airline trying to break into the sudan airline scene but i didn't think twice now, yes, i'll take it, i have a meeting at 2 this afternoon. 
he takes the $120 and runs outside to find a money exchanger, of course the rate is pretty bad at the airport, but he finally returns with a ticket and now i can enter through the door. the advantage of getting the last seat on a plane is there is no line at the check in counter.  with boarding pass in hand, i enter the waiting area to see a group of people crowded by a door and suspected that was for tarco flight.  after inquiring those waiting in the crowd (not a line) i confirm this is the right crowd to push through.  of course, i also do a confirmation with the flight attendant to ensure the plane is heading where i need to go.  this tarco plane is a yak52 or something like that.  nothing fancy, just an old russian plane that is now the workhorse of the african skies.  as it is free for all seating, i find a seat that looks comfortable.  the yak takes a long time for the wheels to leave the ground.  it is the way the plane is designed, but the take offs are always a bit nerve racking...if you let it get to you.  for starters, it accelerates really slowly, but at a constant rates.  and it is relatively quiet and the plane rolls down the airstrip.  after a bit you start thinking, we should be leaving the ground by now.  but it keeps bouncing and rolling and accelerating. then when lift kicks in, it slowly and gradually starts to climb. this take off is no different and we are soon climbing in to the sudan sky, rising above khartoum and veering towards the south. leaving behind the sauna heat in exchange for a humid suffocation in southern sudan. leaving the congested paved roads and high rise buildings, restaurants and a life that is similar to many large african capitals for a mixture of new roads and pot hole ridden dirt patches intersecting an over grown village swelling with people.