Chapter two or three

"The time has come the walrus said to talk of many things, of shoes and ships and ceiling wax and cabbages and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings". So this week meant four very sad goodbyes for me. Let me go through each one.

Firstly, after two months of traveling together, my time with Bra Jules (aka: jellibean, jerribean or Julian Vincent) and his little brother Nugs (aka: Ricki Rambo, Lambo, Richard Vincent) has come to an end. We all started planning the trip last year and it went through many different plans until we landed up buying bikes and heading out into darkest Africa. After two months of cycling and hitching together, it was time for them to go home. It was a privilege to travel with both of you. There is no way to condense this into a sentence. Every night cooking dinner, every day planning to do a service on the bikes, an unforgettable two months on the road. I'm only happy i dont have to listen to Nugs snore anymore. But besides that i will miss having you guys here. Thirdly, with the boys went Barney (aka: Carlsberg, Rabbi Donkey Beard, Daniel Barnett). It was magic to have another jew on the bikes. It turns out we are actually built for sport. Loved sharing a tent with you and the 1000 ants. Take care of those massive calves.

On Sunday they packed all their remaining bikes (Jules traded his at a craft market and literally got half the guys store - the guy got a sweet bike, so it was a pretty good deal) onto a truck transporting steel parts to Blantyre. They are heading down to Mozambique to fetch the car and get back to Cape Town. We waved good bye. Nugs shed a tear and Barnett played with his beard. It was all very sad.

And last, but not least. I said goodbye to Red Betty - my beautiful 4x4 bicycle, home and friend over the past 2 months. I kind of get attached to inanimate objects sometimes, so it was hard to let her go. However the big stack of money that i got given for her made the pain a little easier to bear :) Red Betty, you were a good bike. Besides your constant issue of breaking peddles and some sand in your gears, you did an outstanding job. I hope you enjoy your new home.

All very sad...

....However, like the catchy 90s melody went - "every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end". I am in Nkatah Bay right now just doing a quick post before hitting the road. I am heading towards Livingstonia and then Tanzania. I am traveling with 3 quality Israelis (Who remembers the three Israelis at Fiction every Friday and the trance parties every second weekend this past summer? Well its them - Amit, Or ve Yoni) and two crazy American girls who have been on the road for 2 years now. We are driving by bakkie and the iPod cable is working! Plus we have loads of snacks, supplies and im sure we can manage to strike up some good conversation along the way. I am writing down possible topics of things to talk about already.

The sun is shinning, the rain is holding out and im wearing my comfortable Moz pants that i just got stiched up. So i just need to go pick up my new backgammon board and new book (catch 24) and its on like donkey kong. So yeah, goodbyes are always sad. But things are not looking too bad. So up/north we go

And they'd eaten every one.

ETA: This week in Malawi, next week in Tanzania.