We first arrived in Afghanistan on Sunday, October 24, 2010.
Kabul city on the way inWe arrived in Afghanistan at 7am on Sunday, about 30 hours after we left San Diego. Our flight was on Sofie airlines, which is almost a real airline. Our three hour flight included a pretty decent breakfast (way better than the one of united). It was most international people - nothing like the flight Art first took into the coutry which was full of men in turbans.
The weather was sunny and cool, since Kabul is up in the mountains at about 5900ft. We got off on a jetway (a new addition apparently) and went into a new terminal. Around the baggage claim were a bunch of pushy locals with carts, so we allowed one to help us. Going through customs was interesting. They require you to hand over your luggage tags but they don't really check to make sure you have those bags. No problems with our host gifts even though there is a supposed ban on the stuff. The local baggae cart man appeared again to push our bags to the car.
We finally found our ride, an armored land rover, out in the parking lot. We piled all of our bags in, and set out for the guesthouse.
Let me tell you how thankful I am that I don’t have to drive in this country. It is pretty ridiculous. In Kabul, the roads are mostly paved but they aren’t I nthe best condition. There are no stoplights or stop signs, or even marked lanes for that matter. Cars go anywhere and everywhere. It is very common to have a car coming right at you, and swerve away at the last second. Not only are there cars on the road, but there are a bunch of bicycles, motorbikes, donkey carts, open taxis and people walking along and across the street. We probably rarely drive faster than 15mph in the city, because it’s near impossible. There is so much traffic. In a traffic circle, there might be 7 cars facing each other trying to pass. I give props to these drivers because they stop on a dime when someone walks out in front of the vehicle, or when the corolla in front of us filled with 10 men suddenly stops. Every time we get in the car it’s a new adventure.
The benefit of driving so slow is that I am able to get pretty good pictures out of the untinted window. The bad part is that everyone stares at the Land Rover as we go by, and everyone can see inside it. It’s very important to keep my head covered here.
We finally made it to the guesthouse in one piece. After they checked the car for IEDs with a large mirror on a pole, we got out and went to have breakfast. Corn flakes, milk and bananas. Yum! Staying in an International guesthouse, you get many of the comforts of home. We have internet, AC, a gym, a TV room, a pool table, water heaters that give enough hot water for 2 long showers, and international food. We received a security brief once we were settled, and were shown to our rooms. Kim & I were sharing a bathroom and joined rooms. It smelled a little funny, like curry, but you got used to it after 10 minutes.
Now this is the first time Art & Kim have been “inside the wire” with required security detail. They are used to making plans and going. We can no longer do that – first we must have security check out the site, then pick us up in the armored car and send an escort with us. Personally, I don’t mind it. It does slow us down a little bit, but I feel safer this way.
We made an appointment to go to the CURE hospital, where there is already a pathology lab in operation. It is the only one in the country, and they do about 50 blocks per day 3 days a week. There is one pathologist, who was trained in Jalalabad, and two female technicians. An older, retired pathologist from Canada had just arrived for a 2 month stay to train the local guy. Unfortunately, when we were searched before going in, the woman took away my camera and said I had to leave it in the car. All I could understand was the word journalist, to which I said “No ma’am.” But I don’t want to piss anyone off, so I left the camera. Art, however, didn’t have to give his up!
The lab is pretty basic and reminds me a tiny bit of the Medical Museum I toured in Indianapolis last month. They have two rotary processors like the one we are going to be setting up, a microtome, an embedding station and a stainer rack. They get most of their supplies from Pakistan, or the USA. Our doctor from Jalalabad was supposed to come meet us at the hospital so he can talk about suppliers and see a working lab, but he didn’t make it in time. We watched the technician do an FNA on a woman with enlarged cervical lymph nodes. When we looked at the slides, there was a lot of blood and it was not really enough to make a diagnosis. The local pathologist wanted a repeat FNA, but we all pushed for a core biopsy. It is very interesting to hear their thought process.
After the tour of the hospital, we went to meet the doctor from Jalalabad at Babur gardens. He convinced us to take a shortcut through the neighborhoods, on some lovely narrow bumpy roads. It was quite the adventure. We drove by what looked like a landfill, but may have just been a field filled with trash. Eventually there was a small drainage ditch in the middle of the road that we had to straddle. Once again our driver was amazing and got us there safely. We did have to stop a bunch of times to ask the locals which way to go.
Our shortcut roadThe gardens were reconstructed in 2004. It’s a terraced setup, with a marble tomb and mosque at the top. There are great views of Kabul from the top, although they are partially blocked by trees in some areas. Art has a picture of the place from his first trip and it looks so different because all of the plants are small. Near the entrance are a bunch of shops. We went in one and saw some male carpet weavers in training. The room next door had females inside, so Kim and I were allowed to go in. It takes them about 4 months to make one rug. It’s no wonder they are so expensive!! We went into a little shop which had vases & bowls of blue glass from Herat, and some pretty wooden pieces. I didn’t have money on me right then, otherwise I would have bought something. Hopefully we can go back when we are in Kabul.
View of Kabul from Babur Gardens
Afghan carpet weaving We took the “long” way back to the guesthouse and it took us about 2 minutes to get back to the start of the “shortcut.” Weird. We had some leftover lunch, and relaxed until dinner. I was starting to feel pretty tired, because I hadn’t slept more than 2 hours at a time in about 48 hours. It was only 4pm though, so I pushed through to dinner.
We went to a Lebanese restaurant in the city and met with some people Kim knew, James & his friend Fred. It was interesting because the outside of the restaurant looks like nothing. Just a guy sitting out front. You go inside, check your weapon, and go down a long hallway to a fancy door. Then you step into the restaurant. They had some giant hookah apparatus there. I was only a little hungry, so we ordered hummus for all and I got falafel. Well, the waiter brought us chicken soup, a bunch of appetizers, and dessert on the house. There was so much food for 5 people that it was impossible to eat it all. I felt bad wasting it, but I just wasn’t hungry enough.
When we got back to the GH, people were hanging out drinking at the bar. It was only about 8:30 but I couldn’t take it any longer. We had such a long day that it felt like 2 days. I had to go to sleep. I took half a sleeping pill, set my alarm for 6am (had to convert the time from EST first) and went to bed. I woke up once and my clock said 3:30. I figured that was 6.5 hours of sleep, not too shabby, and I didn’t have enough time left to take any more sleeping pills. Well I forgot the time was EST. It really was only midnight. I still had about 6.5 hours to go! Another night of crappy sleep.
Moonset over Kabul
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