Sasha
Alexander Joined: October 7th 2004
Logged in: January 14th 2009
Logged in: January 14th 2009
I am currently in Central African Republic, the most difficult country I have yet visited.
Travel Blog Posts
From Caleta I knew that I had to move fast if I wanted to get to South America. I was a couple months behind schedule, though I didn’t feel any time had been mis-passed. After wandering alone in the hills for a few days, I was happy to be back on the road, nothing but the deafening pounding of the engine firing, banging, spinning, whirring, and hurling out loud bursts of exhaust, the sound of the air moving around me, my own thoughts, sun. I went first to Guerrero, and I passed through Acapulco, which was a nightmare of civilization compared to the peace and even elatedness of Caleta. After passing through the city I decided to spend the night in some of the suburbs of Acapulco, where there were some very unholy Semana Santa ... read more
I left Paul on the side of the road and went to the nearby town, called Caleta de Campos. There was a huge deserted beach lined by palm trees, cultivated fields looking to yield Papaya and coconut most obviously. I got to the town, which consisted mainly of one cobbled street with shops and a few restaurants on it. The street ended in cliff that overlooked the sea. I asked a few people about mechanics, and was sent to the house of a strangely lucid looking young man in grease covered clothes. He told me to wait and that we would then go and get Paul and the KTM. I stopod in the intersection of two dirt roads and waited. After a few minutes the KTM arrived in the back of a blue pickup truck. ... read more
I had been eager for months to leave the US which I sometimes allow to build like a poison inside me until the pain is unbearable. I have crossed the Mexican-US border by land four or five times now. One thing that an overland traveler realizes very quickly if he or she is at all lucid is that borders are a criminal and absurd tragedy. This border illustrates this well. The US side is a little chaotic, and it becomes much more chaotic once on the other side. I had crossed before in Tijuana, but never in Nogales. They are similar but Nogales seems less sinister and is much more navigable. A few moments after crossing(there is no control entering Mexico, at least for the border zone) I nearly hit a woman crossing the street. ... read more
After the desert of California, we emerged from the desert to an illusion of non-desert that was in reality a desert superimposed over what had been less than a hundred years ago desert, in the normal and arid and sandy sense of the word. I'm going to write about my impressions of Phoenix, Arizona, and if you're a fan of the city you may not want to read. I'll start with a few general impressions, since these are the easiest, and then I will try to support them with specific impressions. If there was a reason that I got stuck here for two weeks, it was to make sure that I had no remorse whatsoever about leaving the United States. Phoenix is a city that exists with its only real resource being the constant sun. ... read more
Thought I'd start up the blog because I wish there had been more info on crossing the Darien with a motorcycle so now I post this because I realize that there are some people who read this blog and well, I think it will be useful to future travelers. I will fill in more or less what has ahappened on this trip, going backwards since right now I am in a place where I am happy, Colombia, and that has cheap internet, and I have nothing to do but wait right now. In Panama I set off to sort out a boat. I had some ilussions about crossing the Darien by land, but I heard they won't even let you past the military checkpoints to try. After riding in the jungle a little with a ... read more
Kabila rally
It was sad to leave Kisangani, I was there for several days, and I still spent time and took meals with people I had met on the boat. But in the end I decided to buy a plane ticket to Goma, in the far East of the DRC. I would’ve liked to go by land, but quite a few sources said that it was not advisable because of security, as well as bad road conditions, in spite of this, I still would have gone, but it would’ve ended up being about 50 dollars more expensive than the flight, so I flew. Flying was easy enough, but nearly every official asked for money, though it was easy enough to refuse. The one honest immigration official was completely disgusted when he looked at my passport; the officer who ... read more
My first glimpse of DRC
The Congo is exciting and relaxing after CAR. Dense forests, plenty of rain, amazing hospitality. As soon as I find a USB cable I will post pictures for the last few entries. I took the pirogue from Bangui to Zongo, lots of fisherman sit out on islands in the river and on the bank casting nets from their dugout canoes. Leaving Bangui behind is leaving most of modern civilisation behind, which is nice. The border was predictably a hassle, with people wanted more than 60 dollars in bribes, but with plenty of patience I got through quickly and payed less than 15. Then I learned a lesson that has been slow in setting in since my arrival in Central Africa; money here is like water in the desert heat; if you leave it unattended even ... read more
Goodbye, Bangui!
I don't think anyone travels to the Congo without being well informed about it, but I don't think anyone who goes to the Congo fails to compare it to the Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, since it was the setting for this book. Yeah, it's fairly heart of darknessish, but so is all of Central Africa. This is where the guidebook ends, so I gave my guidebook away to a kid at the local restaurant. He wants to use it to help him learn English. Everyone wants to learn English here. This is an intense place to be, it is really a place of extremes... the friendliness of people is overwhelming, the energy is great, I am eatting better than I have since I've been in Africa and for cheaper, and of course, I ... read more
Slippery
Before talking about CAR, I will talk a little about my excellent time in Cameroon, really a pretty nice country. I encountered no bureaucratic hassles here, everyone was friendly, and compared to where I am now, scamming and money grubbing were almost non existent. Despite their intensive logging the forests of Cameroon are still incredibly beautiful, especially in south. I like the Anglophone west, I met some really nice people and learned a lot of interesting things about the country. I did not meet any white people, though I saw many in Yaounde, so I didn't get the expat angle on the country. I did not like Douala, probably because I was only there a short time, but I did get to enjoy staying in a shanty town/slum in a sad wooden shack with no ... read more
Getting to Cameroon by land from Nigeria durng the rainy season has not been easy or smart. It would have been much better to take a boat, but it's an adventure right? More adventure than I can stomach actually. I have never seen a road in all of my life and travels that even comes close to being one third as bad as the road I just travelled. It's absolutely incredible. The worst section is seven miles long and has to be walked, because no four wheel drive vehicle on earth could cross it. At points it looks more like a canyon, with abandoned trucks at the bottom, at other points a living river of mud. It's nearly impossible to travel it by foot, often the mud is hip deep, and some sections would just ... read more
