From Zurich to Accra

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noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:24:00 +0000

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Bye Bye

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:20:00 +0000

Good bye

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:22:00 +0000

After 5 hours the car was finally loaded into the container, fixed, doors closed and sealed. By that time we were already sweating in the heat like a swiss mountain river. We will now drive to the airport and fly back to Europe. Well, there will be a lot of stories to tell, we had a great time, and I know one thing for sure: a part of myself still belongs to Africa. But right now we are tired, dirty, smelly, unshaved and looking forward to meet our family tomorrow in Zurich. Good bye.

Tema harbour

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:12:00 +0000

Today we drove to the final stage of our trip: Tema harbour. To ship the car back to Switzerland we had a prearranged deal, including all preparations Of course, nothing was prepared. Hey, it's Africa. After some waiting, some talking and some laughing we were allowed to drive to the container section of the harbour. It was a whole new navigation challenge to find the way between valleys of containers and lorries.

Cape Coast Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Today we drove westwards. Thomas wanted to visit the place he used to go to the beach as kid. Well the place was no longer worth seeing... But further west we found a nice little lodge under palm trees...

Cabin

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:14:00 +0000

When you spend so may hours in the car, you start to arrange it like a little home. We mounted the computer on a white kitchen plate, so that it held to the dashboard of the passenger seat. We used the computer for navigation and to keep detailed account of spending and gasoil consumption (remember, Thomas was a consultant. Keeping track of expenses lays in his nature). On top of the computer we fixed the ipod (surrounding it with duct tape and attaching it with removable velcro bands). On the back of the computer we fixed some reflective foil, so that it doesn't overheat. The maps and guides lay on the dashboard behind the computer. The devices are loaded by two 12V plugs in the front dashboard. That the plugs don't fall away with vibration we fixed them with an ELVIA business cards (yep, it's multifunctional).
In the middle you see the two water bottles to keep us alive (the soft drinks, the wine and the whiskey are in the fridge behind).
The red fabric in the middle is a Mondial Assistance neckscarf. I did wear it for some time, but later used it to wrap it around my cellphone.... and indeed, the cell phone is still working, while most other electronic devices hat failures at one time or another (overheating for the computer, shut down of the ipod for hours and the autofocus of the camera stopped working a week ago).

Cape Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:13:00 +0000

Cape Coast was the capital city of the british colonies in West Africa, and it was the main passing point for the slave trade. About 10 million africans were deported to Europe and the Americas, most of them from West Africa. Many of them where held prisoners in the dungeons of this castle, until the ships took them away. A very sad place.

Heavy duty cars

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:13:00 +0000

Two heavy duty cars next to each other. For those fluent with car mechanics, you may recognize the reinforced suspension. By the way, the car doesn't stand straigth any more. There will be some work to do in Switzerland....

Local food

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:12:00 +0000

Thomas is always kind of courageous regarding local food. Yesterday he ate Frufru (a meal with peanuts, chicken, yams, plantains to be eaten with the fingers). Today it was another local dish with palm oil sauce and at least one entire chicken in the sauce (well, we hope it was chicken.... on the street to the west people held up dead rats for sale....)

Trip into the past

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:44:00 +0000

Thomas's trip into the past goes on. Unfortunately this friend close to Accra was not at home, so Thomas left him a note....

Nice city

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:43:00 +0000

Accra has some nice restaurants....

Blast from the past

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:43:00 +0000

Today we visited some old friends of Thomas. The guy on the right is a swiss guy, who travelled in 1956 to Ghana, married and still lives here. His son (to the right) used to play with Thomas when they were kids.

Landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:42:00 +0000

Objective reached

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:41:00 +0000

We have reached our objective. We are on the beach in Accra. So far we used 1500 liters of gasoil, for 9000km.

Accra

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:41:00 +0000

By african standards Accra is a big and rich city. The roads are large, but still to small for the numerous cars (pro memoriam: Ouaga and Bamako were the cities of bicycles and bikes...not enough money for cars). The basic layout of the city hasn't changed in 30 years, so Thomas can still orient himself fairly well.

Accra

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:40:00 +0000

Catholic Mission Akwatia

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:15:00 +0000

We spend the night at the catholic mission in Akwatia. Thomas visited the Mission and its german nuns several times as kid.

Landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:13:00 +0000

Landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:13:00 +0000

2nd shock absorber

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:13:00 +0000

We destroyed our second shock absorber. It happened on the very bad road to Akwatia. Fortunately we bought two pieces in Bamako. A mechanic at the hotel in Accra replaced it within 20 minutes.

Landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:12:00 +0000

There are some nice hills when approaching the coast.

Nun

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 21:12:00 +0000

Thomsd with a german nun. They met the last time 31 years ago.

Another african dish

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:23:00 +0000

Fried bananas, fried maniok and boiled maniok....

On the road to Kumasi

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:35:00 +0000

Banana Trees

noreply@blogger.com (Jurg) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:34:00 +0000