Having ceased to fall through clinging liquids

Our plummet from the Sahara slowed considerably in Southern Africa. The last two months, three countries and several thousand miles were composed first of whipping cream, then of cushion foam, then of pudding, then of peanut butter. This whole region thickened relentlessly around the momentum of our trip. It sought to outmaneuver our sizeable combined desire to be challenged with a well orchestrated appeal to the hibernating sloth in each of us that will always cling to comfort and familiarity, a sloth that grows more weary so far away from real jungles.

Whereas before I would react to a favorable atmosphere with the pleasant thought that I would someday like to return; now I think about remaining behind-about stepping out of our crotchety non rocket for the last and final time. It is not out of preference for this region that I have considered lingering or searching for work here-many of the places through which we have already traveled are far more attractive to me-rather, it is a consequence of general fatigue. Arguably worse, this exhausted compromise making attitude leads me to consider returning to the United States, despite having promised in absolute sincerity to a great many people that I would not return there until it had begun a massive cultural and political about face.

Nevertheless, we have begun moving north. We have traveled several hundred miles along the second axis of this trip. The car continues to deteriorate (another day by the side of the road, another stressful search for a new rear shock-this time the two of us guarding the car were left to fret about hijackings and South Africa's vicious roadside banditry, much more frightening after darkness fell-though, I confess some pride in our ability to accomplish the whole shock extraction/replacement exercise in little time with no trouble) and our funds are all but finished-the car repairs and fuel alone in the last three countries have set us back over two thousand dollars. The website should be updated soon to indicate that we are motoring through our last thousand dollars.

A number of our aspirations with regards to media attention-especially here in South Africa-have proven ill founded, which is discouraging. None of us feel eager to initiate a fresh round of self-promotion and ignored email distribution. If, at this point, we were snuggled into the lap of a sponsor whose principal interest was our research into the locally fought war against HIV/AIDS, I do not think any of us would hesitate to claw our way back out of this confusing almost Western part of Africa and up its eastern coast-visiting our friends in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania.

But as things stand, it is far more likely that we would need to be sustained, once more, by our well-wishing and supportive network of friends and relations, whose interest has clearly been focused on our travel blogs and photographs. I have been moved by the generosity of you people, by your comments, interests and encouragement; but I do not feel comfortable asking for a second helping. We hoped that a larger corporate or charitable organization would pick up our story and give it perpetuation, which has not happened. We are in the midst of our final search efforts in that category; but, as this blog might indicate, I am preparing for disappointment.

I am not explaining this to create a sense of obligation in our readership, far from it. I mention these concerns to lessen the surprise that our readers might experience if our trip concludes, unexpectedly, sometime in the next month or two. We are not rolling over; each of us continues to mine for attention and assistance in personally determined ways; but as you might have noticed, we don't have the only website on the internet and we haven't yet been on the news (outside of Ghana or Nigeria).

In a different vein, I would like to mention that Mike will shortly be posting an interesting feature on an organization working in Johannesburg's famous Soweto Township and I'll be supplying a piece on the Treatment Action Campaign-an organization driven by South African activists unafraid to take their government to court, to embarrass it internationally or to occupy its buildings. Good people.
* posted by Nathaniel at 1:14 AM