The Bold, the proud, the Marines

I know we said four days and it's been much longer than that but the scenic route turned out to be a bit more than we bargained for. Hopefully you all haven't been too worried. We're o.k. now but it was touch and go for a minute there.

We found ourselves at the Airport in Yemen trying to get a plane ticket to any East African Country close to Kenya...this is where the story begins. We approached the transfers desk to ask about a ticket and and hour and a half later we were still waiting there. Remember we wanted to fly to Djibouti but it turns out the flight wasn't leaving until Tuesday and it was Saturday. No way we were going to be in Yemen that long.

After we spoke with the airline reps, the security asked for our passports to put with the rest of the passengers. This was the biggest mistake we made. After 3 hours we were still trying to get our passports back. If you didn't know, Hajj (the muslim pilgrammage to Mecca) just ended. The airport was filled with hajj travellers and they assummed we were headed to Dar es Salaam with the group who came in right behind us.

It's kind of exhausting to tell this story so please bare with me...

Ok, so the airport is filled with security in different uniforms a lot of them are carrying heavy artillery. In the effort to retrieve our passports we follwed around a guard who was promising us the documents were coming. When we did get them back it was with a few men around us trying to get us to leave the area and pay for a visa which we read we didn't need to get into Yemen. During hour 4 we tried to purchase a ticket and I had to be escorted by the military police to the salees office while Mateo watched our bags. The guard escorted me to the ATM then into a small room full of military men where he had the lead guard tell me in English "this man will help you but you have to pay him...is this ok?" I said no and inched my way to the door behind me. The guard escorted me back to the sales office where I bought what I thought was an airline ticket.

Hour 5 we tried to confirm the ticket but security tried ushering us up the stairs. They gestured that we would go to jail if we didn't listen. All for a ticket confirmation. When a manager came over we were walked back to the ticket office with all of our things and given our money back. The manager yelled at the sales guy in Arabic and moments later we had our U.S. dollars back in our hands. OK great...but were in Yemen. We sat outside the security gates with our big packs on trying to figure out what to do. We saw a securitydissappear past a wall an a few seconds later come back with an armed guard. Great!!! We are now being monitored inside the airport with no ticket to fly out and no way to walk out the front door.

Mateo went to the only other airline open and after being surrounded by all types of guards he was able to go pay for visas and get the number to the U.S. Embassy where this airline rep suggested we run to.

Hour 6 we're in a taxi headed to the Embassy. In front of the fort guarded by Yemenia military guards we got a supervisor who got a U.S. Marine on the line. I have never been so happy to hear an American accent. He said "we'll take care of you". We got in the Embassy and Cpl Preston gave us info and what felt like great security. We stayed in a hotel next to the Embassy and baracaded ourselves inside for 2 days. We still stayed in Yemen until Monday but after another visit to the Embassy we were on a plane to Qatar. It turns out the Embassy was celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday so they were closed for business when we needed them.

Joronda