http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sarah-and-Jonathon/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Sarah and Jonathon en-us Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:04:48 +0000 Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:04:48 +0000 My mom defied her every instinct and flew a million miles around the world to see us in Africa. Thatrsquos not exactly fair of course because her instincts told her very strongly that she wanted to see us preferably back in the US but short of that shersquod settle for Africa. What made her hesitate were her instincts about endless hours of air travel not to mention the backdrop of harr http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/blog-91425.html I am a muzungu. A white chic. No doubt about it. But with five hours and fifty bucks even a muzungu can become an African Queen. I took the plunge in Mombasa on the Kenyan coast just a day before leaving the continent. It took me until the 11th hour in Africa to get up the guts so now Irsquom a Muzungu African Queen in China. Not a regular scene on the streets of Beijing thatrsquos for su http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-91419.html Lake Kivu sits on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo the DRC. It is surrounded by deliciously green hills every last inch of which is cultivated with sorghum maize beans potatoes tea bananas bananas and more bananas. The soaring mountains of Volcanoes National Park and their famous inhabitants the mountain gorillas watch over the lake from the north. Count http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-75877.html The sea of people surrounding us parted and a single man walked through. ldquoHello. I am Providence.rdquo Providence indeed. The day was ending light quickly escaping from the sky as it does here day turns to night barely bothering to pass through dusk. The bumpy dusty windy hilly and absolutely stunning road that skirts the eastern shore of Lake Kivu had spit us out on a stretch of tar http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-75876.html The first thing I noticed was the trash.Wersquod made our way into the Democratic Republic of Congo past the cheery Rwandan border guards the painfully indifferent Congolese border guards the swarms of motorbike taxis and pushy guys who wanted to show us around. But we were determined to do this on our own and our obstinacy led us right into the filthy center of town. The amount of trash http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Congo-Democratic-Republic/blog-75878.html Children have a space of their own here. The winding trio of rooms feels empty except for the ten floortoceiling photos of individual children. Each photo is accompanied by a simple plaque with the childrsquos name age and a few details like favorite foods best friend character traits last words and cause of death hacked with machete smashed against the wall clubbed with rifle butt http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-75880.html We took a little detour. It was kind of like going to another universe but it was actually just over to West Africa. Going from Ethiopia to Ghana is like traveling to the moon. Everything is different. Faces body types and geez let me tell you about the mens' bodies in Ghana food climate sites sounds smells. All the tangible things are more different than you can imagine. But the intan http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ghana/blog-75881.html Heading north out of Khartoum we passed through many miles of desolate landscape. Lots of sand and rock countless sand colored walls enclosing clusters of sand colored huts a massive spooky petroleum refining plant shimmering behind the heat distorted atmosphere tall pointy Muslim tombs and a distant ribbon of Nileinspired green.About 150 miles from Khartoum we hopped off the crowded bus a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Sudan/blog-66022.html Have you ever been somewhere breathtaking I mean literally. Somewhere that you arrive and your breath is taken by the sight That happened to me for the first time in the Simien Mountains. The pictures canrsquot do them justice but they give you a sense of these mountains that rise up out of northeastern Ethiopia. Really rather indescribable. We had great luck to find an eclectic group of frie http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/blog-66007.html Northern Ethiopia is all about living history mostly the ancient living history of Orthodox Christianity. We made a big bus loop through the north visiting all the main hitoric sites. The roads are horrific and the buses are hot slow and unreliable but it is well worth the hassle. Here are some of the key stops. The Islands of Lake Tana Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and home o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/blog-62145.html For those of you who are counting you'll know that we have passed the 11 month mark on this journey. Eleven months of long bus rides washboard roads trickling showers overflowing squat toilets sagging beds no place to cook same two pairs of pants and three shirts and . . . the wonderful luxury of home. We would be back in the States by now were it not for a handful of phenomenal hosts w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-59348.html After my five years in the world of development assistance and aid policy Ethiopia revealed to me the secret to increased aid effectiveness creative reuse. Roughly 12 million Ethiopians depend on food aid. The countryside is dotted with huge canvas tent warehouses emblazoned with the World Food Program emblem. The roads are crowded with massive trucks loaded to the gills with USA grain sacks. An http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/blog-62132.html Guess where we went for Thanksgiving Let me give you a few hints. Turkey stuffing apple crisp pumpkin pie fabulous friends dressup clothes the Scottish Ball Sex in the City reruns and Cindy Crawford workout videos. You got it Sudan. While half of you were getting stuck in Chicago Midway we were on our way to Khartoum Sudan. Flying into Khartoum is like flying into a dust bowl. It is re http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Sudan/North/Khartoum/blog-59343.html So many of you have asked about the work we are doing on our travels. Well here goes. Hint if you are not dazzled with aid policy banter you might want to skip this entry...or just read the Jonathon's Summary.Jonathon's SummaryA lot of rich countries are giving big money to these poor countries we're visiting. Managing all this money is creating some big problems as well as some big help. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-59347.html People organize themselves in every imaginable way. In the Konso villages of southern Ethiopia's Omo Valley everything is close and inside. 7foot thick neatly stacked stone walls surround entire villages offering protection from hyenas and other outsiders. Narrow stone pathways wind between houses packed tightly together. Every so often when the village is bursting at the seams another wall i http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/blog-59341.html We arrived to a dead calm in Addis 45 dead to be exact. The previous week's protests against election irregularities and the antidemocratic tendencies of the reelected government had spun out of control with hundreds of civilians shot or injured by military and tens of thousands in jail including all the opposition party leaders and a host of treasonous journalists. Our dear host Russel bra http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Addis-Ababa-Region/Addis-Ababa/blog-59339.html Warning This story deserves a real story teller. One of those people with a gift for painting pictures in your mind and bringing every site smell and sound off of the paper into your heart. I am not such a story teller but I must at least try to give you a sense of this day this day that we made the move from South Africa into Mozambique. It started innocently enough. Optimistically even. A http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mozambique/blog-23147.html We love Joburg Don't let anyone tell you its not an interesting place to explore unless they mean the suburbs that is. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/blog-23142.html Adventures in Transport 1 Point DownSo far Joburg has been rather challenging to navigate. Everything is really spread out and cardependent. We had a fun experience with local collective taxis today though. There is a stand of collective taxis near our hostel which we thought would take us to our destination. Turns out they did not go there but one driver said that if we just walk over ther http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/blog-23155.html How could we not love this tent that allows us to camp for a couple bucks in the nooks and crannies of hostels on beaches in grassy fields on a rocky ledge over Lake Malawi and on treehigh platforms with baby elephants and big ol' hippos munching on leaves below stlclick Full Text for more pictures http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/blog-25773.html