March 24th, the beginning of our trip. 

 

Having said good-byes and packed up one small suitcase each, Hiram and I began our trip to South Africa in Boston with a flight to Atlanta. We were excited about the visit to a continent neither of us had been to, and to a country with the highest crime rates for any country not currently at war. It was the reason Guardian Angels were around, and we were ready to do what we had to do.

 

It was a nice easy flight on a plane that was not crowded. These were features that would sadly not be carried through to the other flights. We stayed in a hotel in Atlanta. There was a shuttle from the airport. I got on the shuttle, which had the name of our hotel emblazoned on every side. The driver asked me what hotel I was going to. I guess he just wanted to be sure. In hindsight, he fit right in with the staff at the hotel, a bit off-kilter and comical when viewed from afar.

 

The name of the hotel was "The Brokendown Piece of Crap Hotel". It was in a bad neighborhood, which was fine, we like that. The problem was the building and the people that worked within. Work, in this context, is to be translated as "sitting around". The employees of this hotel excelled at it. I respected them for not even putting on a show of work. In some places you might have had ruffling of papers or going in and out of rooms to appear busy. These fellows would have none of that.

 

We were booked in a 'deluxe' suite, which cost us $47. The deluxe suite looked remarkably like every other hotel room I had seen, except that it resembled a large closet. There were to be three of us that night in the room, as Tut from Chicago, was joining us. We got a rollaway bed for him. It fit perfectly in the room, once we had removed all the rest of the furniture.

 

I made the fateful decision to take a shower. It quickly became a bath of its own accord. The drain was just there for looks. I was happy I was the first one to hop in there. At this point Hiram, who from now on will be referred to in the story as "Bull" his Guardian Angel code name, went downstairs to have a little talk with the people behind the desk. He doesn't have what you might call a high threshold for BS.

 

He got himself another room free of charge after giving a little "motivational" speech to the staff. I think they appreciated it. Except for the security guard. He was asleep. He positioned himself in the lobby in such a way that  any number of gang members from the surrounding area could cartwheel by him without crossing his line of sight. He was curled up in a chair with a novel, but I didn't see him move, or turn the page the whole time we were there. I went up to him and asked a question just to see if he was a real person. He was, but he didn't know where a convenience store was.  It was a block away.

 

Tut, Bull and I got up in the morning early and headed straight to the airport. We thought we would have a good chance of getting an exit row or something if we went early. It didn't work out that way. Bull and I are both around 6' 2". He weighs about 280 to my 210, however. Tut, on the other hand, is smaller than average. He is also much stronger and smarter than average. He has been one of the best Guardian Angels in the world for the last 25 years. He joined the group when he was 15, he is now 41. He is an excellent fighter and a quick thinker. He is also a topshelf wiseass, which I was thankful for, because a lot of angels are too serious for me.

 

I had trouble getting on the plane. It would continue through each flight  I took. The problem was that my ticket had been a free one. Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels and leader of this trip, had received one free ticket after buying five. The type of free ticket I had relegated me to standby staus on every flight. I got used to the ticket agents frowning and shaking their heads when I gave them my ticket. "It's not looking good, Mr. Grant." was what they said. They all said that. It must be in the training manual. However it looked, I got on all my planes.

 

Our flight to Capetown on South Africa Airways, would take us to Sal Island in Cape Verde, then to Johannesberg, and finally to Capetown. Time in the air: 19 1/2 hours. The airplane was ok. The leg room was terrible, but each seat had an on-demand television installed, and the flight was only half-full. We were able to watch a large variety of movies and had the luxury of open seats next to us.

 

There was a prisoner on the plane with us. He was escorted by three men and was in hand-cuffs throughout the flight. He was taken off the plane at Sal Island. I felt bad for him as he was paraded by the tourists and business people, though it was a familiar site for me. The only other thing of note that occurred on the plane, was my hiatus from vegetarianism. I had been a vegetarian for a full 8 days, but had to retreat to chicken briefly as there was no vegetarian option and I had no wagon wheel to eat.

 

We stayed in Johannesberg Airport for a few hours and talked to people there. They had never seen Guardian Angels before and they had a lot of questions about the group. Every one of them said Capetown needed the group. 

 

Hiram went off to the bathroom without informing Tut. When he came back Tut took him aside, put his hands on his hips. "Yo, Bull. I need to talk to you for a minute." He paused, glaring at him. "Ok, where were you?" he said, in a nagging tone, then he bent over laughing. "Just kidding," he said and walked away. Tut kept up such banter with all of us throughout the trip.