Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Cairo
Tom Baxter (left) and I (guess). A couple of tossers showing off for the camera in Point Pleasant.
The beginning always seems like a good place to start. Three years ago a good friend (Cosmo) and I sat around my university apartment talking about what we would do with our futures if we could do anything. We said we would adventure, travel, and do some good by it. We also wanted to film whatever we did in order to inspire others to take a chance on themselves and try something outside of the daily grind that life will prescribe for you if you let it. The idea evolved from biking from Ireland to China playing practical jokes on people in different countries, to biking across Africa, raising awareness for type 1 diabetes. Cosmo is in the Airforce having he own great adventures (but wishes he could be here) and others have become involved since.
Friends (Tom, Christine, Andrew Gough) and I were planning on cycling Africa using a support vehicle, but it turned to be trickier than we thought for a small band of Canadians to cross Africa independently. We have joined Tour D'Afrique (www.tourdafrique.com) and I am writing from Cairo, the departure point of a 4 month, 10 countrybike race that covers 11,900km, the length of Africa. Forty of us, on average, will ride an average of 120km/day and camp at night , taking every 6th day to rest. Tour D'Afrique is described as "the most grueling race on earth", I will record what I can on video. Tom plans to join me later on the journey, Andrew has stayed in law school, and Christine is in Halifax at school and helping us with PR and communications. I have presented here two revisions of the bike trip plan since its conception, but there were many more. The lesson here is perhaps that if you strive to do something, no matter how ridiculous, idealistic, or impossible your plan, you can usually achieve what you set out to do - one way or another.
I arrived in Cairo, a bustling city with the same population as where I'm from (Canada, that is), only yesterday. The traffic moves like bubbles in a stream, interlacing and weaving unpredictably with no rules. Donkeys, horses, people, and mostly cars all move over dusty roads at their own top speeds. Cairo is where construction, writing, sailing, and civilisation began - I am revising my grade 6 history lessons on the Nile, papyrus, the pyramids, the gods, and aincient history in general, live. But it's not that glamorous. I have just used the filthiest bathroom I have ever used in this internet cafe but I think it will get worse, in Africa you shake hands and eat with your right hand because you (not me yet) use your left hand and water to clean yourself when you use the bathroom. Everyone here slaughtered an animal yesterday morning (mostly cows, but also sheep or goats, hopefully not tourists) to kick off a 4 day feast. Cairo is a city in the desert, none of the trees and grass (that we are so used to that we do not even notice) in North America, just sand covered roads and sand colored buildings, with occasional crops and trees of the desert variety. People are friendly and fairly honest except the ones with machine guns guarding various buildings and fences - but then again, I haven't tried talking to them so you never know. I already know that everyone with a shop sees fashing dollar signs above my head, which is to be expected when you are a supidly-lost-looking white kid meandering the streets.
I do not yet know what will happen or how I will feel when this little bike ride sets off on Saturday from the Pyramids, and that is my favorite part.
The beginning always seems like a good place to start. Three years ago a good friend (Cosmo) and I sat around my university apartment talking about what we would do with our futures if we could do anything. We said we would adventure, travel, and do some good by it. We also wanted to film whatever we did in order to inspire others to take a chance on themselves and try something outside of the daily grind that life will prescribe for you if you let it. The idea evolved from biking from Ireland to China playing practical jokes on people in different countries, to biking across Africa, raising awareness for type 1 diabetes. Cosmo is in the Airforce having he own great adventures (but wishes he could be here) and others have become involved since.
Friends (Tom, Christine, Andrew Gough) and I were planning on cycling Africa using a support vehicle, but it turned to be trickier than we thought for a small band of Canadians to cross Africa independently. We have joined Tour D'Afrique (www.tourdafrique.com) and I am writing from Cairo, the departure point of a 4 month, 10 countrybike race that covers 11,900km, the length of Africa. Forty of us, on average, will ride an average of 120km/day and camp at night , taking every 6th day to rest. Tour D'Afrique is described as "the most grueling race on earth", I will record what I can on video. Tom plans to join me later on the journey, Andrew has stayed in law school, and Christine is in Halifax at school and helping us with PR and communications. I have presented here two revisions of the bike trip plan since its conception, but there were many more. The lesson here is perhaps that if you strive to do something, no matter how ridiculous, idealistic, or impossible your plan, you can usually achieve what you set out to do - one way or another.
I arrived in Cairo, a bustling city with the same population as where I'm from (Canada, that is), only yesterday. The traffic moves like bubbles in a stream, interlacing and weaving unpredictably with no rules. Donkeys, horses, people, and mostly cars all move over dusty roads at their own top speeds. Cairo is where construction, writing, sailing, and civilisation began - I am revising my grade 6 history lessons on the Nile, papyrus, the pyramids, the gods, and aincient history in general, live. But it's not that glamorous. I have just used the filthiest bathroom I have ever used in this internet cafe but I think it will get worse, in Africa you shake hands and eat with your right hand because you (not me yet) use your left hand and water to clean yourself when you use the bathroom. Everyone here slaughtered an animal yesterday morning (mostly cows, but also sheep or goats, hopefully not tourists) to kick off a 4 day feast. Cairo is a city in the desert, none of the trees and grass (that we are so used to that we do not even notice) in North America, just sand covered roads and sand colored buildings, with occasional crops and trees of the desert variety. People are friendly and fairly honest except the ones with machine guns guarding various buildings and fences - but then again, I haven't tried talking to them so you never know. I already know that everyone with a shop sees fashing dollar signs above my head, which is to be expected when you are a supidly-lost-looking white kid meandering the streets.
I do not yet know what will happen or how I will feel when this little bike ride sets off on Saturday from the Pyramids, and that is my favorite part.
