Please sign my Guest Book before you leave!
I hope you enjoy the images and text as much as I enjoyed my adventure. The links will take you to the described pages, and I hope I have included things for everyone who visits here.
The Map Page is for reference only and the maps are not warranted for accuracy as boarders change in Africa as quickly as the weather. These maps represent the area when I traveled through them and are courtesy of Michelin Guides. The reference to "West Sahara" on the map is only for the sake of giving an area of Africa a name. In our travels the people in our group simply referred to it as Morocco since it is a military occupied country of Morocco.
The Photo Page is filled with 196 thumbnails of pictures linked to higher resolution photos. The higher resolution photos are small in data size for quick loading on any dial-up modem, but more than adequate for viewing. This will enable you select various pictures for your own viewing pleasure.
This is my story and I'm sticking to it! This is an expanded text story with pictures taken from the diary I kept as we traveled along. I "wrote" my story as notes and memories during the trip, then wrote this from those notes. There is a lot of adventure presented here, and I have tried to relate what I was feeling at the time both physically and emotionally. I hope it gives the reader a clear picture of how I experienced the trip.
Now a word about the technology to present this:
Even though my job involves the use and management of the latest technology in computers, fiber optics, scanning pictures and storing data on massive disk arrays, I am still in awe and amazed by the technology available to us today.
I was on the way to Africa while the committee in my head was still debating whether or not to take my laptop computer. They were wondering if I could live for 3-4 weeks without touching a keyboard or receiving emails! Well, I left feeling I had compromised to a fair solution as I armed myself with a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and a Digital Camera. Of course I had purchased enough AA and AAA batteries to nourish my digital minions which I relied on to capture and retain the information and cherished memories I was sure to have on my trip. I realize now that not only did I make the right decision, but my digital companions and I have a deeper relationship and better understanding of each other.
"CAMERA OBSCURA"
I decided I didn't want to take rolls and rolls of film, worry about heavy lenses, sandy viewfinders and after trip film processing, (after all, I still have film that needs processing from my sons births - and the eldest is 26 years old!) so I purchased a digital camera. The digital camera I bought is a Kodak 3700. Instead of film, I bought 5 memory chips the size of postage stamps, each chip holding 133 pictures! I find that amazing! I'm still in awe of the camera and we've become best of friends during the trip.
Now I only wish for two things:
That it would take it's own lens cap off. I wouldn't have to delete so many "Black Holes" from the memory chip if the lens cap automatically came off. For you digital novices, a "Black Hole" is the picture you get when you take a picture with the lens cap on. Unlike a camera that allows you to view through the lens, this camera has a separate view finder and you don't notice it is on until you see the resulting "Black Hole".
It knew how to refuel itself. It eats more AA juice than a teenager sitting down to dinner after a day long fast! I know; you're probably thinking "rechargeable batteries" and I had them. One problem with that theory is the recharger was configured for the US electrical system and I WASN'T IN THE US! As a matter of fact we didn't have electricity most of the trip - even in the hotels - when we stayed in one.
I can't really complain though, my digital photographer took not only great pictures but was a hero of sorts on the diplomatic front. The people I took pictures of got so excited to see their picture immediately, that I was liked and cherished almost more than one of my traveling companions handing out suckers. The lollipops did win out though...
"PDA PAL"
The PDA I bought before the trip is a Handspring Visor Neo. I can't say enough about this handy device. Not only did it translate English-Spanish-English at my every whim, read a story to me anytime I wished - usually at night with the backlit screen, but it also acted as my personal secretary to record and file my notes as I tap-tap-tapped them on the on-screen keyboard. I must have insulted it when I purchased a pen and notebook and started hand writing my diary of the trip, but after I nurtured it with a couple of double A's and promised to loose the pen, it agreed to perform all of the duties requested of it. I found it easier to tap the letters on the on-screen "keyboard" than write with a pen and paper while we were bouncing in the cab of the truck I was riding in. At least if I happen to tap on the wrong millimeter sized square representing the letter I was trying to enter, I was able to back space and correct it. On the other hand, I am still trying to decipher the few notes I scratched on a pieces of paper when my PDA was not immediately available, while violently bouncing in the truck cab on "roads" that didn't exist.