Counting down

In four weeks, and a few hours, I will be on a flight bound for Morocco, Casablanca.

After 10 hours the flight will end - with every ending something must surely begin - and at Casablanca's airport, come 13h50 local time, four Tuesdays from now, the next chapter in my life will start to tell.

Chapter 30's (my age) title will read, The Journey: Morocco to Cape Town, by bicycle.

An adventure which will see me spending the better part of a year making my way down the Atlantic coast, through 21 countries, experiencing, living and sharing with you interesting stories, and some awesome photos, about a philosophy that dates back generations and generations, and is essentially African, The spirit/philosophy of Ubuntu.

"A travller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him - that is one aspect of Ubuntu."                       
                                                                                                                                             ~ Madiba

So this blog, which will probably only be a worthwhile read once Chapter 30 is well underway - anytime after 23 November at 13h50 - is to keep those interested up to date with encounters and experiences that West Africa will show and teach me.

Like anything, the more you practice the better you get. I haven't written anything (excuse) for sometime now - a friend from afar, who I so enjoyed keeping in touch with through long emails, now lives just a short drive away, and so the practice went out the window ~ I feel things are best said in person, if not then a phonecall is next best, followed by a long-hand letter or email, finally texting, twittering or BBM'ing someone..

I'm not sure how many postings there will be on this blog before ETD. Perhaps you'll find a 'post' on here that has nothing to do about riding through Africa - this could very well be the case, but practice makes perfection - and I just had to get the proverbial ball rolling with this blog ~ which by the way is quite intimidating to say the least - opening your thoughts and feelings to joe public is a daunting experience, to some extent more so than the idea of crossing a continent.

I think it's taken me 2 hours to write a few short paragraphs -> as I said, tougher than you think, but I'm going to somehow bring this to a close, push the PUBLISH POST button and VWOALA blog is underway... and can only get better. Be paitent. Be open-minded.

Thanks, and have a rocking day..

Chat soon,
PAOLO