God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Early in the morning we pack and leave Quito. We are still so tired that we don’t realise that we cross the equator line and are driving on the southern hemisphere of the globe. Short after Riobamba we turn in the direction of Machala. The mountains are in the clouds today, so we definitely will not see anything from the Tungurahua volcano and its explosions. We reach altitudes of 3850 meters above sea level with temperatures under 10 degrees Celsius.

In the mountains almost only Indio’s are living; the descendants of the once so powerful Inca culture are now living in poverty, looking after some crop and their cattle. But it seems that they are very friendly. As Katrin wants to use the restroom of a petrol station, she only has US Dollar notes and no local currency to pay. The old female Indian employee recognises her need and waves her through without making her pay.

In a little village named Palliatanga we stop to beam up emails via the CPN satellite dish. At the same time we hand out some flyers and our inflatable water balloon globes. Within minutes the whole village is alive and we bring out as many balloons as possible. Mocca and Oliver give out hand held ventilators and caps sponsored by Provinzial insurance company – the kids of Palliatanga can’t get enough of them…

When we reach the coastal region in the afternoon, temperatures are rising again towards the 30 degrees Celsius and humidity kicks in again. Coffee plants and banana crop as far as the eye can see. In between we pass villages with colourful life, but clearly there is a lot of poverty in this region of Ecuador.

At 4.30 pm we are at the border to Peru. As there is virtually no traffic due to the referendum in Ecuador we are done within 2 hours, just in time to see the flag of Peru been taken down – the officers are closing the border post as we pass.  We follow the costal line and close to Talara we find a place to camp. The sky is full of stars and we are cooking our trekking food and preparing for the night, Oliver and Mocca already fully integrated. 850 km we have done today, 1000 km are still waiting for us tomorrow.

And no, we did not forget the German Mothers Day: We congratulate all our mothers – their kids are marvellous… thanks for that… and all the best from a dark Peruvian night.

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler

The guerrillas have finally stopped us. Because it is too dangerous to drive at night through the disputed territory we sleep at a petrol station 100 km before the border to Ecuador. Even the police are not willing to enter the “danger zone” at night. After a couple of hours of sleep we are on the road again in the early morning of Friday; but not before we sang a “Happy Birthday” for our birthday boy Stefan, the priest, who turned 51 years old this very day.

From Popayan we drive via Posta to the border close to Ipialu. The road is an on-going serpentine, right, left, right, spiced up with gravel and disappearing road parts and potholes of enormous sizes. Heavy Lorries and buses, mostly technical old-timers, create a constant line of cars behind them and we are waiting for the next chance to overtake without causing any accidents. But each time we passed such a line we have peace for a while.

And the surroundings are marvellous – the landscape becomes a real thrill for everybody accept Max and Uwe. They continue to look like they will start to cry at any given moment: so many motives to do photos or to film but no time for it. And indeed one can only admire the breath-taking landscape. Green mountains, rivers, deep valleys, waterfalls, all what nature has to offer until the horizon.

In the early afternoon we arrive at the border post between Colombia and Ecuador. And we are lucky, all paper work is done within two hours. But there is unfortunately no official meeting in Quito – we are here on the day of a national referendum regarding several changes of the constitution, so no assemblies allowed. A real pity as the German Embassy originally had planned a day of action with kids in the capital.

Nevertheless we fight our way through the heavy traffic till Quito, where our first guests wait to be part of the expedition for a couple of days:  Mohammed “Mocca” Errahmouni and Oliver Schilz will be with us till Buenos Aires, both are employees of the “Provinzal” insurance company, which had an internal competition giving away this opportunity to be part of moving the world in persona. They have just arrived in Quito and now they meet with us together with Sebastian Jaramillo, who is importing the Volkswagen brand into Ecuador. He also gives permission to camp on the grounds of VW Quito.

But before we go to sleep for a couple of hours, we cross the road to the pizza restaurant to celebrate our birthday boy and to welcome our new part time expedition members. They have to learn quickly about expedition tradition – and the first night in the roof tent gives them a first taste of it. Expedition is no holiday, right!

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler

It is early in the morning and we are standing on top of the Andes – somehow chilling with 13 degrees Celsius and the serpentine road leading to Medellin, a very populated area of 3.3 million people.  Small little houses of the shanty towns cover the surrounding hills while the city itself is a mixture of historical and modern structures as you can see it in the major cities of Spain.

10 am on the dot we arrive at the “Germania” Volkswagen Centre of the city, where an hour later a well-attended press conference takes place. Even the national TV station has sent a camera team.  The German Honorary Consul Alejandro Tieck as well as the marketing director of VW Colombia, Oscar Franco – flown in from Bogotá – are also present.

Once again on the road, six policemen on motorbikes accompany us, forcing others to stop and make way for our 5 Amaroks. Even road works have to take a break for us – we almost fly through this part of the Andes, in between breath-taking views when there is only the road and nothing on the right and left hand side but a beautiful scenery quite some steep meters below you. Then we cross the rainforest again, changing between the forest and banana and coffee crops. And when we pass through villages, the people seem to know us: yes indeed, they saw us on TV.

Via Cali we head to the border of Ecuador, where we are expected tomorrow morning. But there is once again an obstacle: the last 200 km before passing into Ecuador is FARC guerrilla area and night drives are not recommended. The danger to be taken hostage or become a victim of crime is too high.  But we are under the protection of the national security and hope they will make sure we arrive safely when we continue our journey.

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler

A day full of pain, but at the end all smiles.

At 7.30 am we are readily standing at the harbour customs at Cartagena full of energy and expectations to get our cars as it was promised yesterday. Well, there is always a discrepancy between promises and realities in some sectors of life: 25 signatures to collect per vehicle plus 4 fingerprints; in total 125 signatures and 20 fingerprints, additional the visit of 7 different waiting areas…

14 hours and several high blood pressure symptoms of Joachim later the miracle happens: the boom opens for our five Amaroks and the game between customs, harbour administration, insurance companies and agent has finally come to an end. 14 hours also hanging around for the rest of the team comes to an end – we say farewell to 40 degrees Celsius, almost 90% humidity in front of the Café Zona Franca at the petrol station opposite the gates of customs.

But there is more good news: Our well-armed police protection unit has also arrived in time and in no time we take petrol and then we are on the road again. One police bike in front of us, one covering our back, we start our challenge against the time: tomorrow at 11 am we have to be in Medellin to attend a major press conference – 700 km still to go and we are optimistic that we will make it. 30 minutes into this race against time we stand again: one tyre is heavily punctured due to a sharp cut – the disintegrating asphalt can be razor sharp. But Lothar is directly on top of the situation: tools out and within 15 minutes we are on the go again.

The road improves, but the weather now starts to bring on a tropical thunder storm with rain and thunder and lightning causing potholes to fill with water, trees to lie across the streets, mud from the terrain right and left of the road. But we cannot afford to stop anymore…

During night time our policemen change now and then, but there is nothing to report about serious incidents, the weather clears and we climb up through the rainforest till 2800m above sea level. Medellin, we are on our way.

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler

It is killing our nerves. We are stuck, really stuck. Today we checked out of our hostel, all our luggage is already in the courtyard of the hostel and part of our team has gone to the harbour to get our cars. But now the long way to freedom starts: from office to office, from clerk to clerk, from stamp to stamp and in between: waiting periods spiced with different messages:

“Today all will be done” – “Not today” – “Maybe today”.

And at the end, when all the paper work has been done, there is the clear verdict: no chance of getting our cars today. The containers arrived but there is no space at customs, which has to deal with up to 5000 containers per day. And so, a rather depressed team is back at the Media Luna Hostel where the rest of us were waiting watching our mountain of luggage and sweating in the soaring heat of Cartagena.

Sandra multitasked with all the laptops, while the rest of us are answering questions of curious fellow guests of the hostel. Otherwise there is nothing to do and we indulge in waiting boredom and chit-chat.

At the end we have to check in again with the advantage of getting a much needed shower opportunity. But every advantage has a flip side, also showering: mosquitoes love humidity and persons attached to it….

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler