Between administrative difficulties (Karim's visa was refused at the Morroccan border and he was forced to go to Madrid and fly directly to Nouakchott) and health issues (RV came down with a sickness, but it's not really a big surprise since the man had been working 18 hour days for the past month to leave his mountain farm and yurt business in good enough condition for him to take the winter off) they arrived today in good spirits.
Here's a picture of all of us, save the mysterious Yannick who I have yet to meet. Clockwise from the left we've got Pierre, Roxanne, Lucie, Christine, Karim, Solange and RV.
We're all staying 'chez Olivier' at the Auberge Menatat, which is a great place to stay. Friendly staff, lots of flexibility and it is always full of really interesting people. There was a Japanese computer technician who had taken the year off to bike from Spain to South Africa, motorcyclists on a transcontinental adventure, a camelherder from the northern deserts, a historical journalist investigating the legacy of the Portuguese empire and plenty of people from all walks of life brought together by the spirit of adventure... it makes for great late night conversations!
Most interesting, is that 2 weeks ago I got sent a scan of an article from Canada describing a project started by some British guys. The idea was to roll from England to Timbuktu on biodiesel derived from waste chocolate. Since we were both in the area, maybe we'd meet up. I didn't really expect it to happen, but last night these three tired and more than slightly frustrated brits rolled in an impressive convoy covered in "carbon aided" stickers and bearing a website title: www.biotruck.co.uk !! Sure enough, it was they, and they've really got a cool project going on. Ecotec is a company which produces a production unit that converts waste chocolate from factories (which otherwise would end up in a landfill) and converts into a fuel which can be used in any diesel engine! They're a cool bunch and have big plans for promoting some other enviro friendly fuels in the future.
In the slightly less good news category, if not the downright bad news category, our yellow chariot has blown it's gearbox. Pierre and the girls were rolling back from Chingetti (I stuck around Nouakchott to spend some strategy time with Karim) when mechanical chaos broke loose and a cacaphony of grinding sounds started coming from the motor. They were only rolling in 2 wheel mode, so Pierre was able to switch to 4x4 and limp home. He took it to a mechanic today and disengaged the front wheels, and it seems to be rolling better, but we're not sure we'll make it to Bamako under our own power.
Luckily, our new friends on the Biotruck will be rolling behind us and say it shouldn't be a problem for them to tow us if we break down!
As such, tomorrow morning we hit the road and have about 3 or 4 solid days (and not so solid roads) to go before we hit Bamako, the capital of Mali.
When possible I will blog about the man who is making this trip possible, Karim Sanogo, a political refugee from the Ivory Coast who lived for 5 years in Mali working with associations and schools. His is an amazing story, you'll see it soon enough.
Until then,
Peace
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