| Date: | 05/19/2002 |
| Title: | the long ride |
| Location: | lome, togo |
| Text: | km 65'947 'ill drive to save today' i thought when i got up in the morning. it's about 370 kilometers away, a good distance for a days ride. the roads here in benin, however, were so good, that i reached save before noon. i wasn't tired so i drove on. i wondered if, this time, i would find alain, the french man i had met in abidjan and who had invited me to his house in abomey - calavi. it's quite a ride down there, but the distance is no problem on these roads. during the ride i realized the rainy season had already started in these parts of benin, that the air is cool and everything gets greener the further south i got. i even got cold and put on another shirt! i arrived in abomey - calavi around 17:00 and asked around for alain. but nobody, not even the french owner of a hotel knew anything about him. i didn't want spend the night here and wondered where i should go. i will need a visa to gabon soon and i consulted the 'lonely planet' about where i could get that visa. when i read that the only place with a gabonese embassy around here was togo, i thought of the great food at 'chez alice'. i decided, that i could handle another 150 kilometers... it was a tough drive as it was getting dark after the lenghty border formalities between benin and togo. i was exhausted and happy when, after driving 750 kilometers, i arrived at alices' camping where i was warmly received. to my surprise, i found that several other travellers are here, facing similar problems about their route as myself. i might even convince one of them to join me on my trip to angola. |