November 6, 2009
I wrote this blog 4 days before I left Africa… so here goes.
10/29/09 Mali, Central Africa
A week and half later we are finally in real Africa… or at least what you would think Africa would look like. We have left the deserts of northern Africa and its Muslim brothers behind and now are officially in sub Sahara Africa!
West Africa is whizzing by at an alarming pace as the kilometers tick away. The smiles are getting bigger and brighter the further we push south. After spending the last 5 years traveling as an American under the Bust administration… I must say I need to send a personal shout out to Obama…. “Thank you!”
Obamamania is in full effect here in Africa. Never before has it been such a cool thing to be traveling as an American… but before I go too far, this is still only Africa… the rest of the world is still on the fence!
Tensions are running high… the group is now splitting up. Nico and Kim are going their separate way, leaving Sam, John and myself in 1 car to continue on this ever growing pointless mission.
UPDATE 11/6/09 Barcelona, Spain
After coming to grips with where this trip was headed, I finally made the decision to cut the West Africa trip short and save it for another day when the time and friends are right. It’s now time for India and some much needed good food and friendly faces! But before India I had to make a stop off in Barcelona to meet with my designer and sort out a few things before I leave for mother India.
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October 30, 2009
The sight of dead dogs and cats on the side of the road is nothing new, but a dead camel… that’s a first!
Old tires litter the side of the road. I think about those tires and the stories they must hold about how they came to rest here in the middle of nowhere. As far as the eye can see there’s nothing but sand. Every now and again I see a silhouette of a camel on the horizon. The desert heat today was intense, it felt like someone was putting a hair dryer in my face. Driving through the Sahara desert with out A/C was definitely a bad idea. I feel like god must be listening to my thoughts, as a big grey cloud has just moved in and is now giving us some relief from the suns rays.
Crossing the border from Morocco to Mauritanian proved to be an interesting 5 hour adventure. Morocco and Mauritania have all but recently been at war, so the border is filled with landmines. If driving across the 2km stretch of rocky dirt road wasn’t bad enough, the thought of landmines loomed in the back of my head. Fortunately the only major problem we had was getting stuck in the sugar sand and having to push our cars out and also beating the shit out of our cars. The actual border process was much easier on our nerves, it just ate away at our time. It took us 5 hours to get our lovely Mauritanian visas. I wont go into detail as I have no real explanation why it takes so long… but lets just say things in Africa take forever. As Leonardo Dicaprio says in the move Blood Diamond…. “TIA”….. This is Africa!
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October 24, 2009
It’s been over 4 years since I last set foot on the African continent. Last time I was here I did the east coast route from Cape Town to Egypt, this time around it’s down the west coast from Morocco to Cape Town… or I should say, as far as these cars will take us.
I now find myself at a place I never would have guessed I would be, at the edge of the Sahara desert. It’s going to take us 4 to 6 days to drive through the Sahara. No guesthouses or hotels, so we will be camping in the sand.
Driving in Morocco is very similar to India, people, goats, cows, camels, motorcycles, trucks, cars, dogs, cats and pretty much anything else that you can think of, jump out in front of you every other second. At this point I’m glad I haven’t hit anyone, although the site of dead dogs on the side of the road is getting old fast… I have always hated the sight of dead animals.
The cars seem to be holding up, other then a few things that have fallen off, but it was nothing important. It is taking us a lot longer then planned, the roads are packed with slow trucks and sheep crossing the roads that have cut our time in half. The Malaria pills have been messing with my stomach or maybe it’s all the street food we have been eating.
Well I need to go get my hair cut…. here are some photos of Morocco!
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October 21, 2009
Waiting to the last minute is my middle name, it’s pretty much the way I live my life. This Africa trip is no different, but it feels good to be with people that operate the same way.
After pissing away our 2 week “getting prepared” time, we left Barcelona like a band of gypsies in two piece of crap cars that would be lucky if they made it to the Spanish border. The only useful thing we had in our cars other then our stinky clothes was some cheap tents and sleeping bags that already have busted zippers. For some reason we thought it was a good idea to leave Barcelona at midnight and drive through the night hoping to get the ferry port early in the morning. Unfortunately we under estimated the time it would take to drive through Spain. 18 hours later we limped into Algiers looking like a bunch of beat dogs lacking food, sleep and a shower. It’s for sure the wrong way to start such a crazy trip.
Crossing the border into Morocco was full of adventure and chaos and cost us 3 hours. I think we have now learned how greasing a palm can get you to the front of the line and save hours waiting like retards. So after spending some quality time in sketch-ville we finally made it to the beach where we planned to camp. We pulled into a town called Asilah on a Saturday night, which was full of colorful sketchy dudes standing on the streets. We decided to drive a bit outside of town, which we thought would be safer. We found a dark dusty road that looked like it might lead down towards the beach. It for sure lead to the beach but also lead of right into the arms of 2 crazy looking guys with machine guns. We either drove onto a military test range or some sort of national park. I was just glad we didn’t already pitch the tents and have to repack them. It was now 1am, which was over 24 hours since we left Barcelona. We finally found a quite area on the beach, so we popped the tents and got some much needed rest. I only woke up once during the night wondering where the hell I was, the sounds of the ocean through me off. So I guess you can say that my trip is officially underway. Here are some pictures from the last 2 weeks.
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October 3, 2009
It has been over a week since my tired and tattered corpse limped into Istanbul. After 4 months, 15 countries and endless partying…. my body was dead! I was in need of a major detox/recharge.
Istanbul has turned out to be the prefect solution. I have spent the last week doing absolutely nothing other then getting a tan and going to the dentist. It’s amazing how just sitting in a place for a week and doing nothing can make such a difference in someone’s mental and physical wellbeing.
A week later and probably a few pounds fatter thanks to the Iskender, I feel 100% again and ready for what lies ahead. The “Summer of Love Tour” has officially come to an end and now it’s time for the next adventure.
I fly to Spain on Monday where I will meet up with my business partner to do the unthinkable and drive from Spain to South Africa! We are doing a scout for our up and coming adventure race “World Cup Trek”. The route will take us down the west coast of Africa for the next 8 weeks. For more info check out our site www.nomadicnation.org
But for now all I can say is, “I am ready!”
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