http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sasha/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Sasha en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:53:49 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:53:49 +0000 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 didnrsquot feel any time had been mispassed. 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/blog-319484.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Michoac-n/blog-298572.html 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 MexicanUS 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 lit http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Michoac-n/Barra-de-Nexpa/blog-298163.html After the desert of California we emerged from the desert to an illusion of nondesert 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 impres http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Phoenix/blog-297768.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Kuna-Yala/Archipielago-de-San-Blas/blog-271264.html 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 wouldrsquove 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-99699.html 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 whi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Congo-Democratic-Republic/blog-96840.html 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 restauran http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Central-African-Republic/blog-93239.html 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 Anglophon http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Central-African-Republic/blog-92620.html 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 sev http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Cameroon/blog-91105.html Well Nigeria has without a doubt been the most anticlimactic destination on my trip so far as it is not even remotely dangerous in any way and corruption has yet to affect me in any way. Driving through the country though did remind me of Baby Police as every few miles police officers stopped the car and collected money without saying anything. I was thinking about the Nigerian police ac http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Nigeria/blog-88735.html Well I haven't written for a long time mostly because Alana who is travelling with me has been writing so I didn't feel the need to but there is one island I went to that she didn't so I will describe it. It was Roxa in Portuguese but Canhaba in Bijago. I went with an English banjo researcher we met at Bubaque the most developed of all the islands. Bubaque seems to have seen more prosperous da http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea-Bissau/blog-81299.html So difficult to write here but out of respect I will try to. I am here in Senegal though Mauritania is for all purposes other than geography part of subsaharan Africa it's not really. Here is the Sahel. I spent some time in St. Louis and now I am in Dakar. This country is the most touristic in West Africa and for this reason I really didn't enjoy my time in St. Louis very much. Aside from a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Senegal/Cape-Verde-Peninsula/Dakar/blog-67221.html I made the same trip I had intended before but without any catastrophic car accidents happily. So I am seeing a lot of familiar faces and back in Nouakchott spending some quality time. But I am starting to become very sick of French. It makes two months now that I've been speaking very little english and while I am getting quite good at French I want to study a different language now. Ahh th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-62973.html I am in Rennes practicing French and studying with my fellow students my logic being that I will be able to travel more safely in Africa if I am fluent in French also I just get along very well here I get along well with everyone the food is very good and at least no one says I am arrogant. French people at least. So France is a much better known country brittany is a distinct region with http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Brittany-/Rennes/blog-54687.html Since I last wrote I went through Marrakesh Agadir Laayoune Dakhla and then across the border into Mauritania where I have so far been to Noadhibou and Nouakchott. Marrakesh was pretty and interesting but too touristic for me. Laayoune and Dakhla are in Western Sahara which is disputed and there seems to be some tension between the Moroccans who are sort of occupying it and the Saharans. T http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Western-Sahara/South/Dakhla/blog-11825.html I can't help but enjoy Morocco. It feels so good to be back in an Islamic country. I got a 60 euro ticket from Paris to Casablancavery cheap and as soon as I left I might as well have arrived with the Arabic and Berber music blaring in my ear the smell of foreign food and sweat. It occurs to me that my friend Muhamad said he thought I was Moroccan before he talked to me on the bus and I wa http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Grand-Casablanca/Casablanca/blog-10982.html Now that I am out of Ireland I'll make a short summary of my trip there though the fact that I am using a French keyboard will keep it short. I left from New York and landed in Dublin intending to stay a few days before moving on to France and West Africa or wherever though I stayed one month. First thing I noticed of course was the huge amount of cranes that now dominate the skyline of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/blog-10140.html Right. Well I was travelling with my father for a while but now I'm on my own and with my spare time I will come to internet cafes when they are available and write here. It really seems to make sense. I've been thinking about it though and as far as writing goes it's an interesting audience one writes to in a 'blog.' But I don't think I'll censor it too much.In Bishkek there was a photo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-1607.html Well since I last wrote... ehm many things have happened. I guess it's been ten days but it seems about a month. When I went to the airport to fly the next day the weather didn't favor me and the flight was cancelled so I decided to wait it out till the weather was better. I sat thinking what to do because I didn't want to stay at the overpriced Great Game Tour Company again so I decide http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/blog-1731.html