10/17/05 - 10/21/05
Well we ended up sitting and relaxing several days in a nice little beach town outside of Banjul. This area turns into a mad tourist destination for Brits and Germans in mid-november but now it is still quite quit. I had the feeling I was in a small mexican tourist town, nice beaches yet run down buildings with some new hotels right next to them.
One night Anna wasnt feeling too well so Thomas and I went out and had a few beers. Well a few beers turned into allot and we ended up drinking till the wee hours of the morning. We even acquired a personal assistant who kept all the other hustlers and prostitutes away so we could enjoy the evening.
The next day was Annas birthday so i had asked our personal assistant to meet us the next night and if he could get us a birthday cake. Sure enough while we were eating dinner at the restaurant where he worked he delivered a personalized cake for Anna. She was extremely surprised and was quite happy. Well it turned out the guy decided to add his fees on for a cake delivery. So $35 later I enjoyed my slice of cake.
Thomas and I have been looking at the map allot lately trying to plan our route.
Anna and I cooked most of our dinners at the hotel. We always cooked some extra food for the night watchman who was unbelievably grateful for the food. His monthly salary is in the neighborhood of $50 a month so he was quite grateful for extra food. When we gave him a piece of Anna's birthday cake he was quite grateful and returned a few minutes later with a bag and wished Anna a happy birthday. Anna and I shared glances, as she opened it she revealed 3 bananas and potato. Now the bananas where quite nice but we couldn't figure out the purpose of the potato. Anna swears it is the best birthday present she has ever gotten, I am telling you polish girls are the best.
After a couple days Thomas started pricing flights from Gambia to Kenya or Tanzania. Thomas decided he has had enough of west Africa and would like to see more of the big game parks in the south. Unfortunately Thomas only has 3 months so his agenda has to be more time driven than mine. I had a long evening of trying to figure out what I wanted to do and what was I trying to accomplish. There where two options fly the bike with Thomas or continue on the route I had planned. The biggest thought on my mind is what I am trying to accomplish on this trip. I know the rest of my life I would look back and think I took the easy way out, I am not on a time line so I should be seizing the moment. I would always feel like I almost accomplished something very tough both mentally and physically but took the easy way out. These are my demons so I decided the best course of action for me was to push on and ride all the way to South Africa. So with promises of planning to meet up again somewhere south of here our roads parted way. And for some reason if our roads don't cross south of here I will definitely be visiting him and sharing stories of Africa over several bottles of wine in the Cote De Azur. Anna was supportive as always and was willing to go either way.
On the last evening Anna and I sat down and drinks with a Serbian at the local corner bar. It turned out he was a waiter at the bar that was owned by a friend of his who is an ex-milatary person and not allowed back in Serbia. I looked around and quickly picked him out sitting in the corner with a mountain of man sitting next to him with a crew cut and a few serbian tattoos. You never know who you will run into while traveling. So after finishing our drinks and a few pictures of the motorcycle we said our goodbyes.
Todays Specs
Weather: 95 F Sunny Hot
Distance: 0 miles Serekunda Gambia
10/22/05
This morning after saying goodbye to everyone at the Kunte Kinteh guest house Anna and I were on our way back to Dakar to get the visa for Cameroon. I looked at the map and picked out a small road around the south of Gambia before heading up into Senegal. What looked like a nice road on the Michelin Map turned out to be a pothole pretending to be a road. It took us almost 8 hours to go 100 miles. I can not describe how bad this road was and how big the potholes were. By the time we reached the ferry to cross to Senegal we were completely wiped, I checked Annas mouth and made sure she didnt loose any fillings from hitting so many potholes.
We found the only hotel in Nioro. It was a nice attempt at a hotel thats day had longed passed. Behind the building were 4 bungalows with grass roofs. Well half grass roofs, they were in desperate need of repair. So after a quick dinner of eggs and bread, and a bucket of water shower we crawled under the mosquito net with the lights left on, figuring the big bugs wouldnt like the light.
Todays Specs
Weather: 100 F Sunny Hot
Distance: 130 miles Serekunda Gambia to Nioro Senegal
10/23/05
After crawling out from under the mosquito net we packed up our things and headed off to Dakar. I began to mentally prepare myself for Dakar, hearing horror stories of the hassles, hustlers, and beggars. So after 2 hours of uneventful riding we pulled into the outskirts of Dakar. Greeted by chaotic driving in a cloud of dust with sound of car horns everywhere I knew the GPS was correct, welcome to Dakar. After making it through the outskirts the city center was quite calm. I think the fact that it was Sunday so all business in this area were closed. So after a quick drive around, seeing the presidential palace we started looking for a hotel. We found residence at the Hotel Continental and after quick negotiations they allowed me to park the bike in the lobby.
After unpacking our stuff we hopped on the bike and went in search for dinner. about 500 meters away from the hotel a police officer flagged me over. I was only able to produce my homemade drivers license since all my other papers including insurance where in the hotel. He quickly wrote 6000cfa (about 10euros) on the ground with a stick. He didn't seem like to hardcore of guy so I decided to try a tactic I had heard about. I quickly raised my voice and accused him of harassing tourists and extorting money. At first I could see him look around and back pedal a little bit so I laid it on a little heavier. After a few minutes he was handing my drivers license back to me and shaking my hand. Anna was a little freaked out, she said if I had tried that in Poland we would have both been in Jail. I assured her that if I tried that on the wrong cop here we would have also been in jail, wrong approach she was even more worried.
So off we went looking for food, rumor had it there was a McDonalds here but that turned out to be untrue. Instead we found Chez George's or more correctly George found us. So after quite a good dinner with the owner George checking in on us every two bites, we were quite tired so back to the hotel we headed.
Todays Specs
Weather: 100 F Sunny Hot
Distance: 130 miles Nioro Senegal to Dakar Senegal
