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Archive for September, 2006

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South of the Border Planning

Friday, September 29th, 2006

I have been really stuck with the South America planning for a number of reasons, but I think I had a breakthrough today.  I woke up with a new plan in my head so maybe I was working on it in my sleep.  This seems to happen to me regularly and I am glad my brain is solving my day-to-day problems when I am not aware.  I used to wake up with solutions to problems in school and work so why not continue it with the travel logistics.

I plan to depart for Central America around November 1st.  I’m not sure where yet, but I want to spend a month somewhere and take a Spanish immersion class.  I will be in Panama for a kayak tour of the San Blas islands over Christmas.  I may sneak in a trip to Buca (new name for a small island 90 miles south of Key West) before or after the kayaking.  Early January may place me in Colombia before arriving in Ecuador by January 19th for a kayak tour of Galapagos with my sister, Julie, and California friends, John and Jean.  My niece, Jillian, will then meet us in Quitos at the end of January and the two of us will take a couple of weeks to see Ecuador and Machu Picchu. 

Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela will follow.  Venesuela was not on my original list, but I am less scared of places now and I would like to see Angel Falls and the Yanomami people.  Maybe end the leg in Jamaica.  This will push out my adventure in South America until May which will allow me to see the Pantanal area in Brazil.  This also means that I will not get back to Africa until next summer and there are ramifications considering the Sahara gets a little toasty at that time of the year.  That’s another problem for another night’s sleep to solve.  This new plan solves enough logistical problems to satisfy me today.

The End, Don’t Rock My Boat and Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Friday, September 29th, 2006

I flew from Windhoek, Namibia to Jo’Burg Airport where I was met by Rod and Tam Cassidy. Rod is the guide that was chartered with getting eight of us into the far reaches of the Congo Basin and more importantly responsible for getting us back out. We also met Troy Inman who is working with Rod and arrived from Durban. After a night at the Cassidy residence (thanks Rod and Tam), we headed back to the airport for an Inter Air flight to Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. The flight was a couple of hours late – a first for me in Africa – but won’t be the last! ROC is a country that has emerged from civil war. It used to be a communist country and I guess the money from the northern motherland dried up. It doesn’t seem like a stable country or at least not as stable as others that I visited. ROC is French speaking. It presented the first time that I was hampered by verbal communication – something I will need to get used to.

[read on]

Deep in the Heart of Lightness

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
We have to drop the Heart of Darkness and Dark Continent stuff. Although our white western world may contain the dark hearts of Marlow and our racism may get the best of us at times, I found nothing dark ... [Continue reading this entry]

Timeout!

Monday, September 25th, 2006
Hi there.  Sorry for the long delay in posts.  Actually, it wasn't so long - three weeks, but unbeknownst to me this web site managed to lose everything after August 18th.  Luckily, Google caches the site and I was able ... [Continue reading this entry]

Out of Africa :(

Tuesday, September 5th, 2006
Just a quick update since I am using a French keyboard and the computer is slower than my patience.  I just had an amazing time in the Congo hunting with Ba’Aka tribe, tracking Western Lowland Gorillas, watching gorillas, forest elephants ... [Continue reading this entry]