Happy New Year! Hi Alyssa, We sure missed you at Christmas this year and it was too bad we weren't able to get through on the phone but it sounds like you had a great time. So nice to see all of your pictures and hear of your continued adventures. Hard to believe it's been almost a year, time sure flies.
We love getting your post cards. It's nice to hear about places in the world where Christmas is not so commercialized and being with family is more important than receiving gifts or money.
Love and miss you, Jenny
Hey I hope you had an excellent christmas and beautiful new years Alyssa! You were in my thoughts. Love the photos as well! Awesome pics of wildlife, that must be mind blowing to actually see/interact with these animals up close and personal, as well as experience the landscapes where human life/civilization began. Mind blowing.. Glad to hear that everything is working out and that you are truly taking in as much as you can with your trust in yourself, others and chance (a double suite! not bad!) I smile wholeheartedly just thinking about you out there enjoying your life en Afrique. Not much time to comment right now, be well and enjoy Cameroon! Love you. Take care, Cooper.
how are and how is your journey? you have explore africa into details i like that you are a hero and keep it up.... how are and how is your journey? you have explore africa into details i like that you are a hero and keep it up.... that is good to know that you have make your way to nigeria and i am happy for you , i am an africa but i dont even know quater of what you know. thanks for the time you spent with my family in ghana. always have me in your prayers like i do here.
Happy New Years - Alyssa Just a quick note Alyssa to wish you a happy new year - 2011 - and best wishes for your adventures.
Excellent pictures and travel blogging - I have been really enjoying reviewing then this first day of 2011, while the rest of the family sleeps after a long night.
I am still wondering about the reasoning around "losing Kyle's croquette balls and selection of destination" -
Take Care - Steve Grosz
I can't tell you how many times I have told your blackberry story now :o)
Loving the pics, as usual. I didn't know the kids there love balloons....I guess what kid doesn't! So cute...
Merry Christmas Chica...miss you xoxo
Hey Ha, ha. "Bitch, give me banana." Love that. Sounds quite interesting, I used to work with a whole bunch of refugees from Cote D'Ivoire, we were called "the french boys" at that job, and they used to tell me quite a bit about the war back home. It was really irritating for them, but like you said, hopefully the peace treaty lasts. Like Oriana said, awesome pics! I love the milipede and milking of the rubber trees especially, never knew what that would look like- white sap eh?!. Sad how it works with free trade that the farmers can't really compete in global markets and that due to subsidies and whatnot that their own product is sold back to them at double the price. It's quite unnerving. Have any of the farmers/co-ops indicated any solution to this? I know "fair trade" isnt always fair, but how do people truly feel about the economic stranglehold that they are in? Or is it similar to the cocoa farmers having to destroy thousands of year old rainforest, not because they want to, but simply because they have to feed their family. Would be interesting to know. So happy to hear that the hospitality isn't wavering at all in any new place that you explore! And I actually sponsor a small community in ghana - ask about me! lol, I write them all the time.! Anyways love you, stay safe, have fun!
-Cooper
Ps. we just got our first snowfall! C'mon, you know you miss it! hehe
hey,
really enjoyed reading through your blog. myself and two friends are considering heading to senegal/the gambia in early december. any recommendations? thanks!
Wow! Alyssa, I don't know you but I just wanted to say how refreshing I find your blog, which I just stumbled across through Couchsurfing. You are an inspiration to all those of us who wish to take the road less travelled. You really grab the opportunities presented. Thank you and happy trails!
Malaria Sorry to hear about your Malaria . Hope you are ok as your Dad called me at work worried about you . He then said he heard you were doing ok . We hope to come visit you next year . I am off to London England and Canary Island Lanzaroti 40 miles off the coast of Africa so the best of both world s shopping and the sun . Dad says take care of yourself and Grandpa and Jenny . We will miss you at xmas . XOXO
Beautiful I can't wait until the day I can finally visit Africa . Nature is such a beautiful thing. This view is so overwhelming , it takes my breathe away.
Love You Hi Alyssa, It is nice to read about your travels and your reflections of everything you observe and experience. Your writing skills are very impressive and you bring your experiences to life. I am so incredibly proud to have such a intelligent, inquisitive and open minded sister. If everyone else spent one percent of the energy you do discovering the world around them the world would be a much better place. I find it very hard to hear of people slaughtering child soldiers. That is something that is impossible to understand being so far removed from the situation but how can murder ever be condoned?
Reading your blog it really strikes me how being open and positive about your situations leads to all of your good "luck".
Tony and I are on are vacation driving across Canada to B.C. We drove 23 hours straight to Winnipeg Friday night and are leaving for Regina tomorrow. It is going to be a very hectic two weeks with a lot of driving but I am looking forward to seeing so many family and friends I haven't seen in so long and enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way.
I am as always looking forward to reading your next blog. Grandpa tells me how much he enjoys your calls. You two must have some very interesting and enlightening conversations.
Love and miss you so much,
your sister Jenny
The Harvest -- Hi Alyssa - Was happy to read your paragraph on "harvest" or how you are feeding yourself from the land. Having grown up on the farm where we boiled SAP in spring to get syrup (first harvest of the year), picked dandelion greens for salad, raised and slaughtered chickens, milked the cow, grew crops, slaughtered the hog and in the fall harvested deer for freezer (last harvest) so many city dwellers in North America do not understand principal of harvesting the land. In the farming community not harvesting to full potential in a sustainable manner was always viewed as sign of a lazy or weak minded individual. Currently I find a lot of my friends not exposed to farming or the ethic of sustainable harvesting, frown upon the act of harvesting from the land i.e. taking venison in the fall. While I can understand their lack of knowledge on this I always appreciate seeing when others figure out the rhythm of the harvest. A lot of ancient religions and traditions pay tribute to the harvest or earth being able to give our nutrition to survive. Thanks for keeping the blog and sharing your adventure Alyssa it’s been excellent reading. Thanks Steve
Mind-lifitng adventure! Greetings of LOVE from rainy Regina! It was 10.8 degrees C @ 7 AM this morning!
1)Thanks for the Skype phone call - I wish I would get one from you ONCE a day!!!
2) I have never seen GREEN scorpions nor would I like to sit on one!
3)Skinnie-dipping is fine BUT it scares me a little: If you jump into the ocean - fine - but DONT go too far because of sudden tides???!! If not - holy cow - I hope you know the lake/river or whatever or have a local friend come along!!!
4)Keep on "trucking" but somehow let us know MORE OFTEN that all is "A - OK"!!! With lots of Love, your GP August 15th 2010
Marvellous Alyssa,
What an amazing adventure you have undertaken. You are sharing with your friends and family all that is wonderful about Africa and its people. Stay healthy and safe.
Richelle
LOVE THIS BLOG!! Hey BFF :)
First I want to say WOW.....I absolutely loved reading this blog!!!!....you had me smiling (e.g. imagining you happily riding on the motorcycle) and laughing (e.g. c-walking (I guess our years of subway surfing to break the ice with other people must have helped in this respect lol), scaring children) throughout the whole entry. I couldn't help but read it over again multiple times :-)
Are you going to try again to get into Guinea-Bissau?
Hitchhiking, walking and cycling across Africa and beyond.
New website: Open Destination
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It's not the destination, it's the journey.
New website is http://www.opendestination.ca
I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true. - Debi Thomas
Whatever you are by nature, keep to it; never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you for and you will succeed. - Sydney Smith
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Jenny
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Happy New Year!
Hi Alyssa, We sure missed you at Christmas this year and it was too bad we weren't able to get through on the phone but it sounds like you had a great time. So nice to see all of your pictures and hear of your continued adventures. Hard to believe it's been almost a year, time sure flies. We love getting your post cards. It's nice to hear about places in the world where Christmas is not so commercialized and being with family is more important than receiving gifts or money. Love and miss you, Jenny