NorthCape-SouthCape:
060123
The
sunglasses
Today our guests Gustav Tapper from Dagens Industri and Robert
Eriksson who works for Lundin left us. They have followed us from
Khartoum to the Ethiopian border, driven by doctor Alam Bagi from
Lundin Petroleum.
Has any among my Swedish friends tried to open a sand pit in Sweden?
The procedure demands documents to guarantee the bureaucracy that
no, but really not one single, law is violated in the ensuing proceeding.
The time invested exceeds the time needed at an Egyptian border crossing.
It does create jobs, but is frustrating for the user. Wonder if this
small operation knows about these problems?
When I take my papers for the vehicles to the Ethiopian customs I
dread what’s coming. Will there be another three hours needless
discussions and stamps here and there? Imagine my surprise when I
have to wake the man, who is sleeping on a cot in the office. Getting
two cars and three bikes took as much time as buying a bag of crisps
at a service station. Here, one person did the job of 15 in Egypt.
This is the station where the passports were checked, practical huts
of clay.
While I did this, Stefan checked to see if there were B-vitamines
in fluid form in cans. Only bottles and it was 4.5 percent. An interesting
discussion took place. Is it possible to drink this and then ride
a bike? Ian thought about it and launched the theory that one percent
means one metre in width of the road. It took a while before I understood
his reasoning. The logic is, the bottle holds 4.5 metres width of
the road. We have been together long enough now that we only discuss
the real important questions. The intake of B-vitamines will remain
our secret.
In Ethiopia I was surprised at the number of people everywhere. Few
cars, but lots of pedestrians. The state of the roads is much better
than in Sudan.
The feeling of it – riding through Africa in 38 degrees and
then stop at some stands and enjoy a bottle of cold Mirinda on site,
is like taking part in the local culture.
And when you sit there, the local bakery arrives and the world is
a perfect place.
When the dream is at its best, with bread and drink, school is over
and the peace is a thing of the past. The children invade the market
and Mikko is in the range of fire.
In the afternoon Lukas stops with a puncture. When I arrive a couple
of minutes later, I can’t see him for all the people, but we
decide to wait for the car with the spare tyres. Lukas takes off his
helmet and his sunglasses and goes to buy a drink and somebody pinches
his glasses. When he sees this, he asks who took them. No answer,
so he offers to buy them back for five dollars. An older bloke says
it will cost 50.
I see a certain look in Lukas’s eyes and know this will be serious.
He got his glasses back for five dollars and gave another five as
a tip.
The mountains we have passed this afternoon are fantastic. We have
been mostly over 2,000 metres high, with a top of 2,560 above sea
level.
/PG
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High
Performance Riding
www.pgdakar.com |
Per-Gunnar
Lundmark
Fjällbonäs 15
933 91 Arvidsjaur |
Per-Gunnar
Lundmark
Eva.PG.Lundmark@swipnet.se
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Updated
2006-03-06
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