“Aaron In Africa” Shows Us the Real Togo

by Willy Volk on

When I first landed in Zambia to volunteer with the Peace Corps, my impressions were not at all in line with my expectations. For example, I expected to see lions romping through the bush. Didn’t happen. I expected I’d be celebrated as the Bringer Of All Good Things and Haver of So Many Unbelievably Wise Ideas. Yeah…that wasn’t so spot on, either. I also expected to be very active in the promulgating the so-called third goal of the Peace Corps: talking about your experience and bringing a little of your PC-life back home. I guess I do a measure of that here on Gadling, but nothing like Aaron.

You see, Aaron’s currently serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo. In addition to his work at the local school, he maintains a blog about his experience, and in this way he’s satisfying the third goal before he even returns home. Of all the third-goaling Aaron does, I particularly enjoyed reading about The Market (and watching the video); learning about the ritual of Greetings; hearing about Clean (?) Underwear; and, of course, learning about eating dog and cat. If you want to know what the “real Togo” is like, this is it. It don’t get no realer, folks.

Not too knock Aaron, but he seems to be living large, with a multi-room, cinderblock house, a sink, a propane stove, and more. That said, imagine trying to forge ahead with a computer center project for this school:

Karl Bushby’s Goliath Expedition

by Erik Olsen on

There are epic trips and then there are…well, there is Karl Bushby’s Goliath Expedition. Bushby, an ex-paratrooper is in the midst of undertaking one of those trips that truly flabbergast. He’s trying to walk around the entire globe. The self-declared stats he has on his site say it all:

12 years
36,000 miles
4 continents
25 countries
6 deserts
7 mountain ranges

But I guess those numbers don’t truly reflect the magnitude of this journey .And this being the 21st century ,you can go to Busby’s site and follow his journey in text, video, audio and photos. According to the site, Bushby, if he succeeds, will become the first person to complete an unbroken round the world walk.

The site says that Bushy is readying himself for the next leg of his journey, and he should be heading out from Russia sometime, well, I’m not sure when. He has apparently been having problems in obtaining the special permits required for the Chukotka region of Siberia. Here is the route is has taken and plans to take. Coming up from Tierra del Fuego way way up then over the Bering Sea and then all the way across Russia through Europe. The BBC has covered some of the story, and I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of it on US media. But maybe that will happen soon.

Bringing Books to the Nepalese

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s always nice to return a little bit back to a country which gave so much to you–especially if it is a third world country.

For the most part, however, we simply tool through as travelers, soaking up the local beaches and mountains and then moving on.

Occasionally, a traveler stops and looks around and wonders what he or she can do to help. According to a recent article in the LA Times, this is exactly what happened to Toni Neubauer, the president of the Myths and Mountains travel agency. After visiting Nepal with with clients, Neubauer noticed that the country suffered from a shortage of books as well as the ability to read them.

As a result, she launched a nonprofit organization to help out with the situation. READ, or Rural Education and Development, aims to bring books and knowledge into the hands of Nepalese by embracing the following mission statement: “To empower communities by increasing literacy and access to education through the creation, advancement and leveraging of a replicable library-based model for sustainable economic development.”

Sounds pretty cool to me. Want to get involved and help out the wonderful people of Nepal? Click here.

Website Helps Locate Local Insiders

by Neil Woodburn on

A local friend is the best resource one can have when visiting a foreign country. Unfortunately, it is impossible to always have a local contact everywhere one travels. A new website, however, is aiming to do just that.

InsiderAgency.com seeks international volunteers to help show tourists around their native city. The idea isn’t just to provide a free tourist guide to out-of-towners, however. The site asks volunteers to list their hobbies and passions so they can be matched with likeminded tourists. In this way, some one from Denmark visiting Los Angeles can meet up with a Los Angeleno who has a similar passion for sports, shopping, or some other hobby.

Right now the data base is a little anemic. I looked up Los Angeles, for example, and found only four “insiders.” Hopefully the site will grow and if it does, it will certainly be something I will use in the future.

Moscow’s Pink Taxis: Women Only

by Neil Woodburn on

One of the great things about Russia is when you need a ride you simply stick out your hand. Someone will stop, negotiate a price, and you have a way back to your hotel. During Soviet times it was a way to make a little extra money.

Unfortunately, in post communist Russia, it can be a bit dangerous–especially for women. In fact, even licensed taxi cabs can be a dangerous proposition in the anything-goes capital of Russia.

That is why two Moscow women have launched Pink Taxi, a taxi company run by women, with women drivers that only pick up women. The company which began with only two cars has quickly exploded in popularity and now maintains a fleet of 27 taxis and handles 140 calls per day.

If you happen to be a subscriber of the Moscow Times you can read more about the company here. Otherwise, click here for a less detailed story.