Blogs from Benin, Africa - page 3

May 11, 2010 Hotel: Hotel Chant d'Oiseau, Cotonou, Benin Today we were going to do some sightseeing around Lome before heading over to Benin.. Togo is kind of low on sights to see. We walked down to the beach, which seemed quite nice with palm trees and lots of sand, but not good for swimming due to strong currents and the fact that it's used as a public toilet. We could definitely tell the difference between Togo and Ghana.. the buildings were run down, the cars were in worse shape, just a sense of neglect. Togo used to be quite a popular tourist destination back in the 70's before there were political problems in the 80's/90s, we noticed there were several old hotels that had seen better days. As we were walking down the beach we ... read more

Geo: 7.18456, 1.9903Today we finished off our last chaotic border crossing. I've got to think that running the gauntlets that are major West African border crossings gives one a preview of a Mad Max apocalypse in motion. People running in all directions, everyone shouting instructions and no one actually listening, overloaded vehicles just daring a customs official to undo the one rope holding all of the legal and illegal cargo in place, livestock desperately searching for grass and shade (at least those critters not tied securely to the top of a truck or hanging upside down from a piece of string), and stamp-happy immigration police writing our personal details into a large 1984ish ledger book that could not possibly be a meaningful future data source. I think there must be a lesser known prize among African ... read more

And here I am. About to embark, yet again, on a dangerous, scary journey, across vast expanses of space, through time and the universe its self. However this time, the journey wont be quite as scary as one would imagine. The journey is with Otesha. Again. This time, a Tour Liason position, is what I will have. I will be in charge of everything awesome, when it comes to corresponding with communities we pass through. In return for mountains of paperwork, I do not have to fundraise for my tour. Which is awesome. The tour its self, rides two months long, from Calgary, AB, to Regina, SK. Holy freaking awesome. After this tour, I intend to return to the west coast, leaving me out that way come July. As always, during epic ventures across vast expanses ... read more

No I'm not going to "add" anything. But here are 3 more photos, taken since my last update. They have the internet, over here in Alberta, so I mind as well put it to use. The truck: Fricking huge. Kind of crazy to walk underneith it. Or stand in front of it. The valley: So, this last Thursday, myself and my teammates had a day off, in Fernie. We rode a little over 100km the day before, so we threw in a rest day into our scedule to keep from killing us all. And my, what a rest day in Fernie it was. We decided the best form of relaxation was to climb Mt Fernie in the morning, before our performance that day. Here we are on Saturday, and my quads now hurt even more than ... read more

Framleis er alt vel. Eg kjem ikkje inn paa yahoo mailen og for derfor ikkje skrive mail. Dette beklagar eg. I ettermiddag vert det eit moete med CHRISC styret her i Mbulu, og der haapar vi aa faa mykje nyttig informasjon som vi kan vidareformidle til StudentKRIK i Bergen. Naar dette er gjort vert det truleg volleyball med dei lokale heltane! Jaja, det var no berre ein liten beskjed. Ha det bra!... read more