To the ends of the earth...and then some

April 3rd we left N'Djamena for Abeche. We got a comfortable ride in MAF's 10-seater plane, with 2 very friendly pilots who even pulled a small stunt for us. We only flew for about 2 1/2 hours, but below us for most of the time was landscape that looked like this:

My thoughts about the voyage were not very interesting, but through the eyes of someone else: "If the world was flat, I'm sure we would have flown off the edge." First impressions of Abeche: dry, hot, but windy, and bigger than I expected. Here's a picture of the town from the air (that doesn't quite do the size justice):

In Abeche we stayed on an orphange compound, which was actually quite nice (as we realized more fully after returning from Guereda): we had electricity almost 24/7, a real shower and a real toilet, and it was much cooler than N'Djamena, especially at night when we would sleep outside and actually needed a sleeping bag to keep warm! Quite the contrast from the heat in the middle of the day.

From Abeche we travelled to Guereda...6 hours (although only 90 kilometers) on a bush taxi through endless sandy and rocky terrain, dipping into and out of numerous wadis (dry river beds that are only full in the rainy season). What is a bush taxi? It is a truck (a pick-up or larger) that is piled high with belongings and then loaded up with people. Your only security is grasping onto a piece of rope that is tying down the luggage, or perhaps grabbing another person (but you have to be sure they aren't falling off either!). Definitely gave new meaning to "holding on for dear life" as we all were doing that at various points in the voyage.

Eventually, the luggage and people shifted and settled a bit, and we all slid into the whole in the middle that was somehow created...feeling somehow certain that we could now relate exactly how many vertebrae were in the back of the person who was not holding us up. The first 30 minutes were perhaps fun, but after that...it was a long hot ride that seemed like it would never end. Despite our efforts with sunscreen at the beginning of the day, we arrived in Guereda thoroughly burnt and longing for some shade and some cold water (both of which Dawn amazingly provided). For those that felt like we were about to fall of the earth before we got to Abeche, Guereda felt like we had travelled to the ends of the earth and then some. Other descriptions...its like a beach...with all this sand you keeping thinking you'll find an ocean, only to be disappointed. Kirsten was pleasantly surprised to disscover that Guereda's buildings are actually made from mud bricks and are not little round huts with straw roofs.

Here's some pictures of the trip...more to come in the next installment: