cheers!

we're done! we're still friends! 3.5 months down the drain! we leave tomorrow morning for home (what's one more 48 hour transit?).

thanks for reading. we've really enjoyed writing and hearing from you.

at the end of it all, i think we are both just extremely thankful. most of the people in africa we have met along the way can't afford to see their own country let alone the continent. on top of that we've had safety, amazing experiences, and a deeper friendship. we have been blessed.

see you soon!

"be excellent to each other" - rufus

table mountain, capetown

we made it to the top in record time: 65 minutes (although, somehow there was a father-daughter combo keeping pace with us...and the daughter was about 10 years old.)

hiking the 'wild coast' in south africa

transportation: how to get from livingston to jo'burg

this journey took us 28 hrs. of straight transit. it's possible that over the course of those 28 hrs. we used every mode of transportation that has ever been invented (save rollerskating and ostrich-back). here's a summary:
livingston to kazungula (border town between zam and botswana) by taxi; kazungula to kasane (botswana) by pontoon ferry across the zambezi river; kasane to francistown by tractor trailor; francistown to gaborone (capital of bots) by night train; finally, gabs to jo'burg (s. africa) by mini-bus. once again the transport made for some great stories and experiences. special thanks to patrick, brooke and jarod for letting us hitch all the way to francistown and for treating us with such generosity. no thanks at all to the botswana rail system for "letting" us sleep in the doorways on the floor of your train.

amazing victoria falls

we even saw a "lunar rainbow" in the evening. it happens every full moon. could this be an untapped niagara falls tourism market?

bearded canadian saves frightened chameleon

matt freed this chameleon in front of a crowd of british onlookers in livingston, zambia (he's always doing heroic things like that). its tail was stuck in a crack in the pavement and he is chasing it to the safety of some vegetation.

on the liemba

this is where we slept (on the roof of the back of the boat). the only down side was that people started drying piles of fish on the corrugated metal around us...

the liemba: ferry attempt number 2

we knew we had left the sweet babying of our family and friends in burundi when our bus broke down 1.5 hours of leaving them. 4 vehicles and 8 hours later we finally arrived in kigoma where we were to board the ‘m.v. liemba’, a 90+ year old german ferry.

the ‘liemba’ is a persistent old vessel. the germans sank her when they were forced to leave after world war I, but the tanzanians resurrected her. now she putters along lake tanganyika towards zambia like she owns the joint! she stops about a kilometer from the shore at various towns along the way and blows a big horn to sound the locals. the locals come out in droves aboard small boats to load and unload cargo and passengers. this happens every few hours, night or day, and is amazing to watch (it always involves a lot of panic and yelling…). we boarded the liemba on wednesday and left her on friday.

due to a negative ferry experience (or lack of experience) in the sudan, we tried to book 1st class tickets in advance, but a mission group had already bought them all up (dirty missionaries... kidding)…so, we had to go with 2nd class (which were suspiciously similar in price to 3rd class…). as it turned out, our cabin was LOADED with cockroaches – even after a can of bug spray and about 100 dead cockroaches they were still pouring out of the holes in the wall. we opted to sleep out on the deck for 2 nights which ended up being a blessing in disguise. we found a great breezy spot, which was a double bonus since it seemed to be too cold for the africans and we got some solitude. all in all, an unforgettable 2 days!

highlights from burundi: on the road with jesus and harry potter

our time in bujumbura, burundi was fabulous. we lived with doug and deanna (madeline and elise) hiebert (lars' sisters family), and/or brandon thiessen for our entire stay. first off, thanks to doug and deanna and brando for taking us around buj-town, opening your homes to us and showing us so much hospitality. here are some highlights from our stay:

* musee vivant de bujumbura (see previous post)

* bushwacking in the mountains outside of buj (doug was a hero and took most of the scrapes)

* our mini-trip into the d. r. congo (nothing can go wrongo in the congo? yeah right rafi...i guess you've never been there)

* getting the "ins and outs" of mcc burundi/rwanda/east congo

* lars being told he looks like harry potter (yes, the hype is in central africa too)

* me being told - on a regular basis - that i look like jesus (let's keep that stereotype going shall we?)

* playing with maddy (she's the cutest kid ever...a future heartbreaker for sure!)

* watching lars hold elise ("like a football lars")

* catching and killing gustav the legendary 75m crocodile with our bare hands (do a google search on gustav and see what comes up)

* body surfing lake tanganyika with brando

* rhubarb crumble at d & d's

* our big game of ultimate frisbee

* lars' mango worm (see previous post)

*having my own wing at chez hiebert

*brandon's coffee

note: missing in photo - elise (likely "sleeping")

the living museum

what do you get when you cross poisonous snakes, careless keepers and dilapidated cages? you get musee vivant du bujumbura! this place is crazy - one safety violation after another. my heart was pounding with nervous excitement the entire time we were there. i'm not sure why though...i love reptiles. maybe it was the black tree snake that was thrown on the ground in front of us. or was it the python that i held in my arms? it's possible that standing a metre away from an uncaged gaboon viper being provoked to strike got me going. it's also a little unnerving to have the door to the hooded cobra cage left open and unattended for any amount of time. musee vivant is completely ridiculous and utterly unnecessary....but i wouldn't have it any other way.

of chimps and mango worms

travel in east africa and you’ll soon find out that gorilla tracking is the thing to do. while gorillas appealed to us, the price did not (350 bucks plus). instead we decided to head to kibale forest (southwest uganda) to track chimpanzees. i would love to say that after finding the chimps they let us join their community and we spent days living in the trees learning deep chimp secrets…but instead I have to say we spent 5 hours walking around in the rain not seeing one peep of any chimp (in other words, we were very disappointed).

BUT…i did pick up a little friend in the forest: a mango worm. he had dug his way into my hip and had been living there quite happily for a week before matt finally noticed him (his home was a large, red and PAINFUL swelling under my skin…). my new friend didn’t want to leave so, after much deliberation with matt and my family, i plugged his hole with some vaseline in order to suffocate him out (cruel…I know). The next day he poked his head out to get some air, but i was ready...i squeezed him out the rest of the way, where he died a painful death. it was all a very gross experience.

note: if anyone is still curious about the mango worm... his big, red, tumour of a home on my hip never left...so a few days ago i squeezed out another half of him (or his brother?)
the red bump is still there...but hopefully that was the last of him! (although i doubt it...)

hotel rwanda

we were traveling from the uganda/rwanda border to kigali (the capital of rwanda) via mini bus when i asked the girl beside me for advice about the hotel we were planning to stay at. the girl said she didn’t know about the hotel, but would be able to put us up with her family! we had an amazing night talking, cooking, and laughing with hariette (the girl) and her family of 12. they gave up a bedroom for us and showed us amazing hospitality. we felt especially privileged as harriette shared some of her story with us.
thank you harriette!

fun clash of cultures

today i rode in a minibus jammed full of 20 young muslim scholars for about an hour. while being a "mzungu" squished with them seemed to be enough reason to make them laugh, my answers to their questions gave them enough reason to squeal (which is actually a typical surprised ugandan response...)
"did you leave your wife/wives at home?" i don't have a wife. "ahh!" (followed by much laughter). "how many kids do you have?" None. "ahh! you're mad!" (much laughter). "you believe jesus is god?" yes. "ahh!" (laughter).
they were disappointed i didn't convert at the end of the trip, but we all had a good time. a baptist minister boarded the vehicle as they left and assured me i believe in the correct god and have lots of time to find a wife.

ps. matt and i have parted ways for a few days as he checks out his old YWAM haunts and i check out white water rafting. it was a tearful goodbye, but we'll see each other soon.

canada day

happy 140th canada!
have a safe and happy long weekend everyone.

a brief hello

so we just wanted to pass on greetings to everyone again. thanks so much for checking in on us and leaving your comments - we really do appreciate all your thoughts and prayers (especially all our unexpected readers...oh yes, that includes you jim london!)
we leave kenya tonight bound for uganda.
check back in soon again.
love and sunburns,
lars and matt.

living a dream: winter(?) wonderland

if ever there was a place that existed on the border of wake and sleep, it would be zanzibar. in the land of dreams it is easy to get lost even in the places that are most familiar to us. the same is true of stonetown: in 2 or 3 days you will know this place like the back of your hand - familiar people, distinct landmarks and unmistakable smells. but take care because the sun always sets on the familiar just like the most unexpected twist in the most common of dreams. the skinny alleys and white-wash stone buildings that made so much sense during the day shrink and shift at night making a maze hardly solvable. was it a right then a left, or a left then a right?

in dreamland tall palms sway on the whitest sand beaches. you can almost feel the cool sand between your toes...and it's finer than talcum powder. the water is so turquoise that it can't really exist outside of a dream. time somehow stands still even as the sun rises and sets again and again. but then it happens...you're suddenly roused from your mid-day hammock snooze (somewhat annoyed because of the beautiful dream you were in the middle of). you rub you eyes, look around slowly and smile. you smile because you've just realized that it wasn't a dream...or if it was, you're dream forgot to shut off when you woke up.

* snow(sand)man made by matt. location: paje beach, zanzibar

ps. our time with brandon was amazing. we look very much forward to our time with him in burundi. also, much love to patrick (the british wonder) - our new friend. all the best in pemba and in your travels back home.

lion couple: ngorogoro crater, tanzania

the friendly giant: jerome giraffe

hanging out at the giraffe center in nairobi.

up close and personal

a hungry hyena looking for some raw meat gets up in lars' grill in harar, ethiopia.

being a hyena-man is not for the faint of heart.

lars beating ethiopian kids at foosball

there was an outdoor community foosball table in every town we visited. over our 2 weeks in the country, rumour grew of a legendary new canadian who could not be beat

the beard is looking good...

matt, the envy of "thin-bearders" everywhere, is shown riding a truck through northern ethiopia (actually a very comfortable ride on those pipes!)

the big.........6?

a pleasant tuesday to you all.
we just wanted to check in to let you know that our mini-safari circuit yesterday and today was amazing. yesterday we were in ngorogoro crater, and today we visited lake manyara national park (we're in tanzania by the way).
along the way we picked up on a bit of safari lingo - mostly just that some animals are more important than others. specifically there are 5 animals that get the title "The Big 5". these include: elephant, water buffalo, lion, rhino and leopard. the other animals (i.e. giraffe, hippo, impala, zebra, wildebeest, etc.) are not very important to seasoned safari-goers. well, we are not seasoned, and so we soaked it all in (yes, even those fat-sack hippos got us pretty excited). anyway, we did see the big 5 (4 of the 5 at the crater, and our keen eyes picked out the leopard today). we really did have a lot of fun.
the other reason for the update is that we wanted to let everyone know that in a couple of days we will be making it "the big 6".....yes, that's right - we'll be hooking up with the big brandon thiessen in zanzibar for a week of paradise. we really can't wait to see brandon, and would choose no other place than zanzibar to spend our r&r time with him.
be jealous......be very jealous.
check back in a few.
love,
mambo and jambo

the narrow road

after travelling for 2 days from ethiopia's capital, we finally reached the kenyan border. how to describe the remaining 800 kms from the border to nairobi...
was it an excellent adventure? yes, one of the hardest and most unforgettable things we've done.
was the scenery nice? absolutely, an endless expanse of wilderness and desert...picture "the lion king" except real.
would we do it again? never! not if you paid us.
the trip is done on a giant cattle truck and the road (if you can call it that) is atrocious. the truck is packed full of supplies and people (many sitting up on those bars). we were in constant concentration and tightly gripped anything we could find as the truck bumped along. a few 'highlights':

9am: first of many police passport checks - money changes hands between the ethiopians on board and the armed guards - spirits are high

11am: the driver comes out and pours oil on the tarp we've been using as a seat(apparently sitting "spoils" the tarp...the oil is meant to keep us off) - it's now standing room only - spirits are lowered

1pm: we get bad sun burn

10pm: we are chilled to the bone

2am: an all out brawl erupts on the truck. people are yelling and fists are flying. after about 10 minutes the truck finally stops and things are sorted out. i remember canada with much fondness.

3:30am: i ask the guy beside me if we're close to the end - he just laughs and says no. matt hears the exchange and yells from his corner, "lars, there's no pain in memory!" the bruises on my butt and back disagree.

4am: i hear matt mumble, "oh man, lars, i would kill for your spot right now. it looks like you bounce less..." i eye matt suspiciously... (from my sweet spot)

5am: matt says, "i don't think i'll be able to walk again." i laugh - but it's a forced, nervous laughter

6am: we see some giraffe, antelope, zebras, and crazy birds as the sun rises. it almost makes the trip worth it

in the end, the trip took 22.5 hours (with only a few short breaks). we arrived at 7am in arusha and took a bus at 7:30am for a 5 hour bus ride to nairobi (...well, it would've been 5 hours except that our bus broke down...which is another story).
it's nice to be here in nairobi!

land of contrast

if i was asked to sum up my perception of ethiopia in one word for someone who had never been there, i'd say 'contrast.' this is a land of extreme contrast. in addis ababa (the capital), you can find a shoeless shepherd herding sheep and goats to the same stoplight that a mercedes suv waits at. beautiful people with their trendy jeans and shirts walk the dirty dilapidated sidewalks past brand new high-rises and broken down shacks; business men and beggars; ice-cream shops and garbage dumps. the massive compound of the stately UN building sits up on a hill overlooking a rusty old shanty-town. as we drove north from addis to bahar dar (through the blue nile valley), we were struck by the beauty of the mountains and the poverty of the villagers. farmers have all the land they could ever dream to have...but the soil is full of rocks; their fields are massive...but the land is parched. transportation is a slight peculiarity as well: to fly approx 200km (ie. bahar dar to lalibela) it would take just under a half hour. to drive that same distance (our mode of choice), it takes just shy of 15 hours.
dusty village roads are lined with locals crowding around foosball tables (yes, foosball tables by the hundreds). the most remote huts advertise for coca-cola. beautiful gardens and dried up scrub-lands. calls to prayer (both muslim and orthodox christian). electricity where it doesn't belong and no electricity (random shutdowns) where it clearly belongs. beauty and pain. love and hate. all of this lives in ethiopia.
contrast is everywhere, all the time, but somehow in ethiopia it slaps you in the face...and then again and again and again and........(you get the point).

ps. this post is in retrospect: we are now in kenya, but (as you know) we have been unable to post for the previous couple of weeks. we are now just trying to play a bit of catch-up.

Ethiopian censorship

hello everyone. due to some unforseen circumstances, we have not been able to access our blog to make any updates while here in ethiopia. our stay here has been unbelievable. we have some thoughts and stories that we want to pass on to you, but that'll have to wait another week or so when we head south into kenya (hopefully the kenyan censorship won't be so severe...haha). for now, we hope that you are all doing well.
lots of love,
lars and matt.

ps. thanks again to joseph for doing the dirty blog work for us......mucho appreciation!

An update from Lars...

this will be quick. the interent connection is so slow in ethiopia. we are in the east of the country right now in a town/city called harar. this city is walled and has packs of hyenas that come every night. we will be in the country about 3 more days...and then should be in kenya on our way to nairobi. ethiopia has been an amazing experience...

how to get to sudan

when not flying, the only way from eygpt to sudan is a 36-hour ferry ride from aswan. the ferry leaves once a week on mondays (this information alone was hard to come by). we made it to aswan on sunday only to find that the tickets were sold out - in fact, more than sold out...the 200 black market tickets were gone as well.
we went to the port the next day anyway to try our luck. the problem was 50 other africans were there trying their luck as well. eventually we found out that at 2pm a man would come with a few extra tickets. we joined the others in the plus 40 degree temperature to wait. miraculously, we found a spot in the shade. this spot became less miraculous when we realized everyone was going to the bathroom a meter or so away...
as the hours crept on, we disappointingly watched our shade disappear. it was not all bad though, the sudanese and eygptians around us were fun and helpful - sometimes laughing with the canadians, sometimes laughing at the canadians, and almost no one speaking english except for "canada dry". there is a unity that builds in a common goal (the ferry tickets) and in baking under the sun together.
chaos broke out when the ticket man arrived. i watched the bags, and was proud to be canadian as i watched matt mix it up with the mob fighting for tickets. it got only a little scary when tempers flared (in languages we didn't understand) after the 10 or so extra tickets were gone.
alas, the tickets went to other (perhaps more worthy) recipients. even matt's flirting with the guards 2 hours after the fact couldn't get us on that ferry. we were exhausted, chap-lipped, and hungry.

so, how do you get into sudan? you don't. you take the first train back to cairo and fly over it for 300 bucks.

(i snuck the photo while matt was "getting all type A" with the mob...he's in there if you look closely.)

reflections on eygpt

very nice people, but it's hard to distinguish those who are trying to make a buck off the white guys (can you blame them?) and those who are genuine. 'baksheesh' is a word you hear often (it means 'tip').

cairo is crazy! ...just a massive city. 8 lane roads are crossed by walking wherever, whenever. the key is to walk without hesitation...drivers here see the fear in your eyes and cut you off.

islam is such a presence. it's inescapable. it's hard and sad to see women dressed in a total black outfit with just a slit for their eyes (an extreme form of muslim dress). along with islam is the strong sense of "the law". matt and i both coincidentally read galatians in which paul lays out abraham's lineage and history (and in turn the history of christians, jews, and muslims). paul was writing to these galatians who were slipping back into "the law's" mode of thinking...and it's certainly easy enough for us to do the same. it is very powerful to see that lived to the extreme here in eygpt. interestingly, we feel quite safe in this muslim country. in many ways, "the law" seems less messy than christianity...less messy and less free.

...and the smells (indescribable)...and the music (so stereotypical)...and the language (written right to left)...all so very different. we're blessed to have been able to experience it.

canada dry, never die!

this is a statement that, for some reason, eypgtians love saying when they find out you are from canada. we found out today that, "it is eygptian joke". they also love asking if you are from vancouver.

we thought we'd answer a few questions:

brian and erin: we brought 1.5 t-shirts each...and yes, we have definitely gotten the kushari gas!

dave: it's true...not ALL our clothes are 'quick-dry'...but we wish they were.

kara: lars bought a top-of-the-line 'quick dry' towel while matt bought a bottom-of-the- line...we found that neither actually dry you off (but they do dry quickly).

blair: no, matt did not get his pants professionally tucked in...he's just that talented.

abby: matt says "camel".

tio theo: so far we have enough to eat, but we're not counting on it as we head south!

lucas and brody: uncle 'larsh' misses you too!

johnny fukes: T.I.A.

russel: mogadishu might be lovely, but we won't be visiting it...


...thanks for reading! remember to check out the "interactive map extraordinaire" on the top right!

pyramids of giza

Even though there are many tourists (and many camels for the tourists to ride...including us), the pyramids still live up to the hype.

last night's cultural dining experience

matt loves riding camels

it's one of his new favorite things. he is always begging to ride them...through cario, by the pyramids, through the nile, across the desert... i tell him, "matt, we should walk some places...". but no, always with the camels.

lars loves snorkeling.....and flexing

it's one of his new favorite things. this photo is taken by lars himself in an egyptian national park called ras mohammed, on the red sea.

sunrise on mt. sinai (the gasp)

we left our hostel in dahab at around 11:30pm and arrived at mt. sinai at about 1:30am. the purpose of our trip? like 2 or 3 hundred others that night, we wanted to watch the sun rouse from its slumber behind the mountainous horizon. to do that, we needed to wind our way up the long switchbacks and steep stairs carved into the rock (apparently by a monk). the last half hour of the hike - tired, hungry and sapped of energy - was pretty tough. i had to keep reminding myself of the reward at the top. by 4am we had made it to the peak (elevation = 2285m) and plunked ourselves down in prime sunrise viewing territory. it was cold at the top and we only brought 1 sleeping bag for the both of us, so we spooned up under the bag and caught a bit of shut-eye. in 1 hour the sky turned from brilliant to brilliant (the stars at 4am and the orange horizon at 5am). unsure of the exact time of sunrise, we huddled up to keep warm. then, at about 5:50am it came....the gasp of the masses. we didn't see the sun first poke its orange/red head up from behind the mountains, but we knew it had....something special had happened and the people gasped in amazement. it truly was a beautiful spectacle.
the sunrise is such a great reminder of ALL things new. thank God for every new day!

trickery

the water in dahab is beautiful....but it's also deceiving. above the surface a vast expanse of greyblue water chops in the wind and sparkles in the sun....it's very simple. not even a metre below the surface, however, there is a different world....a world of colours and textures that don't exist in the land of air breathers. last week we did our best to tread the line between the two worlds. with a small plastic tube pointing skyward keeping us human, we strapped on our fish costumes to see if we could trick them into thinking we were just a bunch of new guys passing by on our commute to work. somehow i think it worked. with a tinge of suspicion in their eyes, they went about their work and play. they treated us like two of their own (friend or foe? a jellyfish stung me in the face! so what....everyone else seemed to enjoy our company), giving us a glimpse of the everyday happenings of the world below the surface.
both worlds are full of beauty beyond our workmanship. both are full of mysteries beyond our understanding. we are all God's creatures, and together we sing with the psalmist "o lord, how many are thy works! in wisdom thou hast made them all..." (psalm 104)

ps. photo of us lazing - bedouin style - by the sea. penguin village, dahab, egypt. on most days we could see the massive desert hills of saudi arabia on the horizon behind us.

interactive map extraordinaire

hello all.
we are loving dahab so far.....it is a little piece of paradise really. we're staying at a place called penguin village (incidentally we have not seen any penguins at our camp). we are very much looking forward to heading to ras mohamed national park tomorrow morning (the southern most tip of the sinai peninsula).
anyway, the purpose of this post is really to draw your attention to the interactive map set up by our good friend joseph. please check it out (a link on the top right of the page)....it's really fun and we're going to try to keep it as updated at possible.
also, thank you all for leaving comments......we love hearing from you all. we'll try to write a blog answering some of your questions soon.
keepin' it real in 2007,
lars and matt.

at the egyptian museum

our hostel in cairo

"eygptian hospitality"

we have heard these words many times in cairo, and have discovered that there are two kinds:
1st) someone gives you a coke ('free of charge') and then expects you to buy perfume
2nd) someone chases you down a subway tunnel to give you the ticket you forgot

while the prior is more prevalent, we prefer the latter.

kushari

our first taste of egyptian cuisine. identifiable: rice and noodles. unidentifiable: everything else. it looks like a mash up of whatever was found on the banks of the nile, but it tastes delightful. how to describe it? made with a tomato base, it is spicy but not overwhelming (a 3 at salah thai...haha). i think the different textures is what made it so special. the rice and noodles are soft, but there are crunchy bits mixed in too (think cornflakes). this culinary experience was enjoyed on a small, yet happening, side street in old cairo (straight out of aladdin). locals played cards and dominos and chatted about their days. we just watched and laughed and enjoyed our break from the bussle and comotion of downtown cairo.
have some kushari....welcome to egypt.

if it's not 'quick-dry', we don't want it

matt and i have adopted an all 'quick-dry' wardrobe for this trip on advice from brian and erin rowan. if you are not familiar with this subculture, it's essentially any clothing that 'wicks away' moisture. Pretty much anything that is unnatural or made without cotton is 'quick-dry'. it's working great so far!

Here we are the night before we leave (yesterday). As you can see, emotions are running high.

3 more sleeps

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,
this is crazy. lars and i leave for cairo, egypt in a couple of days (sunday, may 6). i think that i can speak for us both and say that we have a certain nervous excitement about us. we are trying to leave all of our expectations behind because we're entering a land where we can expect the unexpected.........that much is a sure bet.
we anticipate a most excellent adventure, and decided that creating this blog was the best way to keep you all (everyone choosing to read this) informed of our whereabouts and happenings along the way.
hope you enjoy.
"be excellent to each other" - rufus (b and t's excellent adventure)
lots of love,
matt (for lars too).

ps. for those who don't already know, we're starting in cairo, egypt and working our way slowly down to cape town, south africa (may 6 - august 19)