Home Again

After 27 hours of travel, I made it home safe and sound.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Gabon...

I decided it was time to come home. The truck problems have kept us in Cameroon, and the parts still haven't arrived yet to repair the engine. Even with the best case scenerio of getting the parts on Monday and leaving on Tuesday, we still may not make the Angola-Namibia border until the beginning of April. To fly home either from Angola or to Nairobi to catch my flight would have been too expensive, especially since the next few weeks would be spent in the back of the truck for 14 hours a day. Add into that the fact that the part of Angola that we are going to has bad roads with land mines located just off the road and the fact that Congo has been rated as the most dangerous place to travel in the world (yes, apparently more dangerous than Iraq and Afghanistan) and the decision was a no brainer.

If all goes well I will be home Monday at 1pm.

False Start

So we didn't leave Cameroon today due to engine problems. I guess it was only a matter of time before the truck gave us problems, so better in a big city than in the middle of Angola. At the moment we are waiting for either a new head gasket to arrive from somewhere else (the UK, Tanzania or Germany, none of which are close) or for a new one to be machine here in Cameroon. I think I would rather wait for a new one, but I'm not a mechanic and I go with what Paul, our driver, decides on.

To quickly fill in the gaps, we have spent the last week or so in Kribi, a beautiful seaside town, and Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. It has been very hot, but you would expect that as we make our way ever closer to the equator. We have all of our visas in hand (or at least the ones you need in advance) and don't have to make a stop in Libreville, Gabon, like the rest of the trucks doing the route (it is only two others at this point). We have bid them both adieu and won't likely see them again. That is unless it takes a long time to get our part, as we are about 6 days ahead of them at this point.

No new posts means that we have gotten the part and are on our way...keep your fingers crossed.