Africa has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them. – Miriam Makeba Crossing Africa will probably be the highlight of my two-wheeled adventure across the continents that make up this planet. After crossing the Americas, I got to Cape Point / Cape of Good Hope south of Cape Town in South Africa and then soon headed for sparsely populated and wild areas to Namibia. I continued north and arrived in Angola where I spent an afternoon as a clandestine. Crossing the
There are more people dying of malaria than any specific cancer – Bill Gates Although there is malaria in Latin America, the chances of contracting this parasite are very remote and 90% of travellers do not plan any type of prophylaxis. In Africa it’s another story. There are three types of malaria in Africa and these kill far more people than I would have guessed. Once the parasite enters the human body it is difficult to eradicate it and can remain hidden for years in the liver and then awaken
Remember me my love, I’m the one you’re dreaming of Going for a ride, I’ll keep you warm inside I’m Gonna roll up the sidewalk, I’m gonna tear up the ground Comin’ round to meet you, The long way round Sooner or later, I’ll get me off this track Gotta do what it is that I do and then I’m – coming back Got sun in my face, sleeping rough on the road I’ll tell you all about it, when I get home Gonna roll up the sidewalk, I’m gonna
Man’s real home is not a house, but the Road, and that life itself is a journey to be walked on foot. – Bruce Chatwin There is always frustration when you relate to someone who does not speak your language and does not seem to make the slightest effort to try and understand you. In Latin America the frustration sometimes made me fume because I knew I did not speak Arabic (by now my Spanish I spoke it was relatively fluent) but sometimes it happened that people looked at me
Live, travel, adventure, bless, and don’t be sorry – Jack Kerouac. Disclaimer: I will use the term Americas referring to the whole continent. Americas to me is the whole of North America, Central America and South America. Where I come from in school you learn there are five continents like the Olympic Rings, one is America or Americas. It’s been almost a month since I arrived in Ushuaia, the world’s southmost city in, in Patagonia and the point of arrival of my crossing of the American continent from tip to
Foreword: I usually never write about my routes because I find VERY boring blog posts that say: I got up at X hour, pedalled for X Km, stopped for lunch here, water supply there. However, I’m gonna write about a route that might offer an alternative way out (or in) from Villa O’Higgins other than the $50 boat ride. The data on this route is scarce and there is lot of misleading information out there. Boat owners in Villa O’Higgins prefer to scare people away from Paso Mayer for obvious
Happiness is only real when shared.” Christopher McCandless Firstly, let’s start from the conclusion: for me, cycling is an activity to be undertaken on one’s own, at least for the most part of a long adventure. Number of companions: zero is the ideal, one acceptable, two or more are a crowd. I travelled solo for a long time; sometimes with a friend or companion met on the road or with couple of other biketourers or even a small group. Consequently, after nearly two years of life on the road I
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ― Mark Twain Gotta do what it is that I do, Then I’m coming back. Got the sun in my face, Sleeping rough on the road, I’ll tell you all about it, When I get home. ― Stereophonics, Long Way Round The greatest danger in life
“Where you travel to, I would love to receive a beautiful postcard.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita “My mother is a great artist, but she always treated her paintings like minor postcards. Had she pursued it, she would have been a great artist. Instead, she looked down on her art.” ― Isabel Allende My journey is long. What I try to do is live in the most frugal and stoic way possible. My daily budget is well below 3/5 € per day. Most days you do not spend more than $
“When a man’s stomach is full it makes no difference whether he is rich or poor.” – Euripides When I was researching and getting ready for my journey I knew that my inexperience in travelling by bike and camping would have not made my life easy. Having decided to start from the Alaskan wilderness meant a steep learning curve right at the beginning. I therefore decided to remove one of the problematic factors that could make me lose a lot of time: food. To remove the problem of preparing breakfasts,