We made it to Cameroon!

We have been travelling hard in the last week and a half since we updated anything. From Burkina Faso we headed south through Benin, spent a day in Abomey seeing the UNESCO sponsored museum about local history and culture, and then headed into Nigeria. We spent 6 nights total in Nigeria. It was a relief to speak English a bit (everywhere else is Francophone), and the people are extremely friendly. We stayed one night at Yankari game reserve with Wiki Warm Springs which was relaxing. The last 20 km before the border to Cameroon was muddy rocky track where the guys got out of the car to get a bit more clearance and I drove like hell through the muddy bits to keep from getting stuck. A couple times we all (7 total in the convoy of 3 cars) had to work together to get one of the cars out of a bad part. We made good use of the tow strap and kept at least one car on somewhat solid ground at all times. It was a great deal of fun, but it took us several hours to do the last 2 miles to the border. Shortly after entering Cameroon yesterday afternoon, we came to a river that was flowing up over the bridge and had to wait until this morning to pass. 6km later there was another slightly flooded bridge, but we paid the locals about 5 dollars a car to push them across (water was too high for air intakes and electrics in the engines). Now we are in Maraoua Cameroon for the night. We hope to make it to the beach in Kribi for the second party they are holding on Saturday. Everyone is excited about getting to a beach and getting to sleep in the same place for more than one night.

Mali is great!

After Mauritania's frequent police checks on the road and lack of beer, Mali is fantastically laid back. People just seem happier and there's music everywhere. I really like this place. Last night we ate at a really nice restaurant called San Toro that has typical Malian/West African food. We ordered three delicious juices and three main courses and rotated plates. After eating lots of bread and tinned fish (and very little food at all across the desert, because it was just too hot to eat much) a nice meal was a welcome change. Now we have done some laundry, we all took our first thorough baths in about a week or more, and we are rested enough to continue on. I feel good.

Apes!

Here we are in Gibraltar, where we spent the afternoon hanging out with the Barbary apes. We're getting our last internet fix before heading to Morocco tomorrow. We hope to make it to Fez tomorrow night.

 The car is basically ready. We got some wood and nails to make a frame to attach to the roof rack, so eventually we can hold not only two of our spare tires (in addition to the proper spare in the boot), but two jerry cans to be filled with gasoline for the Sahara crossing. It's pretty tight sitting in the back seat right now, so getting some extra stuff up on the roof will be good. We'll still need to add a bit of water carrying capacity, but basically we are ready to cross over to Africa.

 The Spanish food is good for the soul; we've had some delicious things already, and we're still hoping to get Arroz Negro (rice with seafood, blackened with squid ink) tonight. Also, some more Spanish wine. I mean, that's really what this trip is about: good food, good wine, and tremendous adventure. Maybe raising some money for charity, too. Speaking of which, if you'd like to donate, check it out: http://www.willwemakeit.com/joshuatreemotoringclub.