Angola: What were we thinking! (1992-93)

(Apologies for the old, degraded photos) CARE Canada’s offer of a posting as Regional Coordinator for the Southern Angola Relief Programme sounded good.  We would be in the small provincial town of Lubango, away from the problems of head office. We spoke adequate Portuguese, or more accurately ‘Portuñol’: a mix of Español and Portuguese. After … Continue reading Angola: What were we thinking! (1992-93)

Ecuador: A Hike from the high Paramo to the Oriente (Ecuadorian Amazonia)

We were working in Nicaragua at the time. I was working for CARE Canada as Project Coordinator for a rural potable water and sanitation project in the north of the country. Claire was doing some consulting for CARE USA, a tricky undertaking given the US government was funding the Contra guerillas at the same time. … Continue reading Ecuador: A Hike from the high Paramo to the Oriente (Ecuadorian Amazonia)

Tales from Africa: Paddling the Zambezi and climbing Kilimanjaro

(Note:  Once again, my apologies for the blurry, old photographs.) In our last post I touched on our misadventures in the Okavango Delta of Botswana and finished with our hitchhiking north to Zimbabwe.  Our plan was to check out the world famous Victoria Falls then continue downriver (overland) to Kariba Dam where we would join … Continue reading Tales from Africa: Paddling the Zambezi and climbing Kilimanjaro

Tales from Africa: Dirt roads across Lesotho and the Okavango Delta by dugout

(Note: Apologies for the poor image quality. All our old photos seemed to have deteriorated with age. Blame it on the tropics!) Our abrupt departure from Mozambique (Nov/1986) was tough emotionally but, in the end, a huge release.  Both Claire and I had been working with the International Red Cross assisting in the development of … Continue reading Tales from Africa: Dirt roads across Lesotho and the Okavango Delta by dugout

Life in Mozambique, 1985-86

Preface:  What with Covid lock downs and travel bans our wee adventures, modest that they are, are on hold for the foreseeable future.  Claire suggested we change tack and blog about past postings in far flung corners of the globe and the many challenges, near disasters and unforgettable experiences we shared. The following is more … Continue reading Life in Mozambique, 1985-86

Homeward bound

We left Medellin for the 5 day ride to the coast at 6:30 AM hoping to avoid the chaos of rush hour traffic. Following the location-indicator on our GPS app with the phone mounted on the stem of my handlebars, when on a multi-lane road, with on/off ramps in rapid succession, in fast moving traffic, … Continue reading Homeward bound