24 hours to go

Today we met up with the Dragoman tour group to have a pre-departure meeting. Only half an hour late after going to the other Niagara hotel in Accra, it looks like there are about 16 travelers and two guides.

Dinner tonight at 7pm, departure at 7:30am tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to getting on the road, sitting on the roof of the bus, and taking in the wind.

Last night--uneventful. Got a little local joopa(?) rice, turned out to be quite spicy, mostly rice and chilis I think. Did some reading, did some more sleeping. Woke up only once in the middle of the night to Alia freaking out about a mosquito (though I don't like them either). There haven't seemed to be too many bugs yet, but I've been assured by David, our guide, that it'll get worse and malaria is a real problem here.

Things to look forward to:
1. Ougadougou
2. Dogon trek in Burkina Faso
3. The largest mud building in the world, the Djenne (pronounced jenny)Mud Mosque.

It sounds like there is going to be very little internet access until we get back on the 25th of June.

12 days to Timbuktu!

Hotel Hansonic

Arrived into Accra last night at just after midnight. Yesterday was a busy day.

6:45 am: Wake up, head to the Madrid Airport
Madrid's Metro is quite amazing. The trains are clean, run on time, and seem to go everywhere. Something for New York to live up to.

10:30 am: Depart Madrid, fly to Casablanca
A short one. Luckily our bags are checked all the way through to Accra, so we won't have to worry about them later in the day.

10:10 am: Arrive in Casablanca. Time travel!
The plan is to take a train into Casablanca, about 35 minutes away. Get some lunch, try to see some sights, and kill some time until our 7pm flight out. Got a good mozzarella pizza for lunch, had some killer sweets for dessert. Too bad Alia can't eat them--most things look like they could have almonds or almond oil in them.

We got back to the airport a bit early. Even though our boarding passes were labeled terminal 1, and the monitor didn't have our flight up, it took half an hour to figure out where it was actually leaving. Note to anyone flying there, all international flights go out of terminal 2. No matter what. Even if everything says differently.

7:00 pm: Leave Casablanca
More like 7:30pm, though nobody cares we're leaving late. The airport was hot and stuffy, and I was hungry. Had another sandwich.

Midnightish: arrive in Accra!
See Alia's blog for a good recount of the visa process. She's a better writer than I am anyway.

1:00 am: arrive in the hotel
The taxi guy asks for EUR 15 for the ride. From our research we see that it should cost something like $5 (screw our tanking dollar) and Alia doesn't feel like haggling much. The alternative of spending the night at the airport doesn't seem to be much better either. We end up getting a ride for EUR 10, though I think I could have gotten him down to 7 or 8.

Go to bed around 2:30am after showering, getting settled. I don't think I'm going to miss hot water showers. Cold water feels so good.

Highlights of the day:
-Delicious baked goods in Casablanca for... $0.30 each?
-walking around a lot. Didn't go for a tour of the mosque, but saw some of the downtown area.
-applying for an "emergency entry" visa in the airport in Ghana. What fun!

Lowlights:
-it is going to be hot this summer, very hot. It's about 90F inside the hotel room...
-I'm going to be hungry pretty often. Lunch took about an hour to arrive and we were the only customers in the restaurant.
-I'm hungry again already. Ate breakfast/lunch two hours ago, but portions were small, time to go find some street good. Maybe bananas or papayas or watermelon would be good.

I tried to upload some photos, but the internet is quite slow. Alia says to paint pictures with words... right. That's why I'm a mechanical engineer. Maybe another day...

Los Amigos Sol Hostel, Madrid

In Madrid, pretty tired. I think I´ve been up for more than 24 hours straight, and it is starting to catch up to me. Tomorrow I think we will just explore around the city for a bit, buy some things we forgot, and catch up on sleep.

Things forgotten so far=
-toothpaste
-a lock
-extra toilet paper (for africa)

Just heard that Prop 8 was upheld in court, what a bummer.

One down, three to go

The internet just ate my last post. Safely at the Frankfurt airport, should be leaving for Madrid in two hours.

Tomorrow night is the Champions league final-- does anyone have a recommendation on where to see it in Madrid?

Packed

I think I'm fully packed.

CLOTHES


1 hat
1 light beanie
1 rain pants
1 rain coat
1 fleece layer
4 t-shirts
1 collared shirt
2 hiking pants with zip-off legs
1 lightweight long pant
1 swim shorts
1 gym shorts
3 cycling socks
1 light hiking sock
2 cotton socks
5 underwear
1 light hiking shoes
1 flip flops
1 sunglasses



GEAR
Protection:
1 big bottle bug spray - 25% DEET
1 small bottle bug spray - 98% DEET
2.5 bottles sunscreen
1 500 mL Campsuds - used as dish soap, hand soap, shampoo, etc.

Hydration:
1 Katadyn Hiking Pro water pump
1 set iodine tablets/taste neutralizer
2 1L Nalgene bottles
1 2L collapsible bladder

Fun:
1 Canon PowerShot SD1100
2 4GB SD memory cards
2 camera batteries
1 universal charger for camera
2 pocketknives (I'll probably lose one)
8 AAA batteries
1 Petzl LED headlamp
1 SD-USB card reader
1 Moleskine notebook

Health:
2 deodorant (I'm smelly)
2 Ciproflaxin
1 Mefloquine
1 Immodium AD
Many Pepto Bismol pills
1 toiletries (toothbrush, floss, nail clippers, etc)
1 quick dry camping towel

L.L. Bean backpack for day trips
Lowe Alpine 90+15 Backpacking backpack to hold everything
tent dropcloth

Needed:
a watch
gallon-sized ziploc bags

Flight plans:

United Airlines 929: SFO-->Frankfurt, depart 6:56pm, arrive 3:00pm 5/26
SpanAir 118: Frankfurt-->Madrid, depart 5:55pm 5/26, arrive 8:25pm 5/26

48 hours and counting

Packing for the trip.

I think I finally got all of my camera stuff together. I bought a xD card reader yesterday, thinking it'd work for my SD card (you know, x = S). Too bad when I plugged in my SD card it must have toasted it, because it wouldn't let itself be read anymore.

2 4GB SDHC cards and an extra battery.
2 tubes of sunscreen.
1 larger tube of 25% DEET insect repellant.
1 smaller bottle of 98% DEET insect repellant
1 towel.

Time to figure out the everyday clothes to wear.