Friday, February 27, 2009
Video
I have been trying to upload a few videos... unfortunatly the upload rate is increadibly slow. Here is a link for the two I was able to upload to date. If I can ever get some good upload rates I may try to load more in the future. http://www.youtube.com/user/jonathansbarrett
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Nile Valley
Monday, February 23, 2009
Missed Train/Updates
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Luxor
Yankari/Magog (Nigeria)
Holly and I had a great time visiting in
Nigeria. Mark and Joce showed us around, taking us to Yankari Park (a nature reserve and home of an incredible warm spring). Another day they took us on a great hike through this bolder field, which required a fair amount of agility. Then they drove us to Kano where we did some market exploring before they took us to the airport very early the next morning.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Cairo
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Flights South
Holly and I have been having a great time visiting Mark and Joce here in Jos, Nigeria. They have been showing us around the past few days and keeping us busy. We have been eating like crazy since we can make a number of things which we have been craving along the way. Such as crepes with strawberries & whip cream, salads, good meats and lots of colors... We are still working on getting a flight out of Nigeria, as it has turned out to be a bit of a challenge. We booked a few flights all which have come back rejected for various reason. Hopefully we can get one setup in the next day or two without paying too crazy of a fare...
Jon
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Nigeria
After an intersting couple days with numerous stories to be told, some
day at least, we made it up to Jos, Nigeria and are visiting with my
friends, Mark and Joce. We had an excellent supper here with lots of
greens and veggies, which is a luxury for us these days. It will be
great to relax and have some local guides for the next few days.
day at least, we made it up to Jos, Nigeria and are visiting with my
friends, Mark and Joce. We had an excellent supper here with lots of
greens and veggies, which is a luxury for us these days. It will be
great to relax and have some local guides for the next few days.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Nigerian Visas Approved
Holly and I were able to pick up our visas today from the Nigerian Embassy. I thought it was about 75/25 that we were going to get them since we did not have all the required paper work right in front of us when we submitted our applications yesterday. And just the way they were when they took our paper work made me question our approval. It all worked out in the end and they must have received or saw enough to give us a few weeks in the country. I was especially surprised that they gave it to us in 24 hours compared to the required 48 hours (may have to do with us being there the day before, but not having anything close to what they wanted for paperwork and having to come back). With this being said we will be moving on from Accra in the morning heading East through Togo and Benin on our way to Nigeria.
Jon
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Good Story or Truth - Your Thoughts
The other night, Holly and I were walking about town looking for a spot to eat. We saw this decent looking hotel with a restaurant so we checked it out. When we went in there was a church service going on, but one guy got up and came to help us find another spot to get some food. He even sat down to eat with us so right off we were wondering what was up. We just thought he was trying to promote his business, but we were unsure. He seemed nice enough. After we ate he let us go and we thought... That was it, we actually just met a nice guy who wanted to help.
That was not it though...
The next evening he came to our hotel looking for us. He even waited at the gate till we walked by. He then began to tell us his story. How when he went back to the service he found out that his little girl had been hit by a motor bike and had to go to the hospital for a broken leg. He then started to cry for us saying that it was his only little girl. Following that he finally came to the point that we knew was forthcoming. He could not afford the hospital bill and had not purchased insurance (which is only $25 a year). He then said the bill was for $34 and that he was able to pay $25, but needed our help for the last $10. Being a bit skeptical myself of anyone that approaches me I asked for the medical bill. He brought the following back to me in about an hour.
Bills from the ministry of health that looked 2 years old and with dates that were altered and no breakdown of costs that we had asked for. It was just a receipt for $12 that was scribbled out then written $25 over top. Very sketchy... We then asked the man from our hotel and he said don't mind him... maybe give him a couple Cedis if you want... He will probably use it for something else.
In the end we gave him gave him 5 Cedis ($5) almost just to get him off our back as we did not feel that his story was real. Especially after we talked to a few other people around. When we did give him the bit of cash he was not even thankful for that at first. He was like where is the full amount. In the end he did give us a bit of a thank you that did not really feel sincere.
What is your though? Do you think he was for real and we were jerks for not giving the full amount? or that he was fake and we supported yet another defrauder as I have done all to many times?
Jon
That was not it though...
The next evening he came to our hotel looking for us. He even waited at the gate till we walked by. He then began to tell us his story. How when he went back to the service he found out that his little girl had been hit by a motor bike and had to go to the hospital for a broken leg. He then started to cry for us saying that it was his only little girl. Following that he finally came to the point that we knew was forthcoming. He could not afford the hospital bill and had not purchased insurance (which is only $25 a year). He then said the bill was for $34 and that he was able to pay $25, but needed our help for the last $10. Being a bit skeptical myself of anyone that approaches me I asked for the medical bill. He brought the following back to me in about an hour.
In the end we gave him gave him 5 Cedis ($5) almost just to get him off our back as we did not feel that his story was real. Especially after we talked to a few other people around. When we did give him the bit of cash he was not even thankful for that at first. He was like where is the full amount. In the end he did give us a bit of a thank you that did not really feel sincere.
What is your though? Do you think he was for real and we were jerks for not giving the full amount? or that he was fake and we supported yet another defrauder as I have done all to many times?
Jon
Accra
was very discouraging. There was much more paper work than we had hoped and expected. Thankfully this morning things seemed to come together a bit better and we have a pile of paperwork now submitted. By tomorrow afternoon we will find out if things were put together properly. Hopefully it works so we can go visit Mark and Joce in Nigeria come the end of the week.
Ghana is a very religious country and many shops have names such as above. It is quite funny at times what the signs actually say and just their spelling (yes, even worse than mine). On the right, a good way to get some grub on the streets, lately unfortunately there seems to be more fat, skin and intestine for sale (which I am not a huge fan of) than actual steak (which I like)...
Jon
Cape Coast
into tropical vegetation with lots of green (a great change from the dry brown experienced over the past month). The beaches were lovely in the Cape Coast area, although we did not spend too much time on them as we had reports that there had been a few lost cameras/cash from travelers who wandered too far down the beach. We had time to visit the Elmina and Cape Coast castles as well while in the region. They were both interesting experiences learning some more history for this part of the world.
Both the forts were originally built for trading goods (for gold), then
Jon
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Walewale
Jon
Monday, February 02, 2009
Ghana Visa
Holly and I applied for our Ghanaian visas today. We were hoping that they would get them back to us today, but it didn't happen. Hopefully they will be ready tomorrow morning so we can start heading south again. We plan on visiting Walewale where Holly worked two summers ago. After a few days there we will continuing on to the coast.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Burkina Faso
After another interesting journey we made it to Ouagadougou (Waga-doo-goo), Burkina Faso this evening. Thankfully we were able to change enough money for the bus and entry visa. Once here we were able to find a bank machine that works which is great news. So far it seems like a very poor country from the drive through today. The temperatures are getting much, much warmer (I would even say hot) during the days. In the morning we hope to get some visas sorted out for Ghana and see what Ouagadougou has to offer a traveler. (at least fast Internet)
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