Today, I started the day with a walk in my new hotel's new neighborhood. The contrast betweenn one street and the next is remarkable ... one street is paved with nice, new, tall building ... and the next is all dirt with shop after shop of things like metal work, electric motor repair, moped repair, door and window making.
The wealth disparity in the country is noticeable but it all seems to co-exist seamlessly ... European quality businesses like a patisserie are beautiful but usually deserted ... street vendors selling food are crowded ... the price difference is also staggering ... a fried pie on the street is about $0.75 USD and at a nice store it could be $5 USD. It quickly separates people when considering that most laborers here make $50-$70/month.
A caravan of 20+ nice motorcycles escorting a few Range Rovers went by with all their lights on ... is African politician excess endemic? : )
Around noon, it was t time to head to the cargo terminal at the airport to build the crate to put my motorcycle on. The airport is 70 km away! This new airport was put in operation in 2017 and it is pretty big. Nothing around it, just good old African open fields ... why soooo far!
Found the people that were going to build my crate and we got busy ... we decided to just do a base and then just shrink wrap the whole thing ... i.e., no side walls or top. This will make it significantly lighter also. After disconnecting the battery, removing the windshield, lowering side mirrors, lowering GPS holders, and lowering the handlebars, it was time to strap it to the base.
When done all of us wanted to say "this baby is not going anywhere" buy I could not figure out how to say in French : ) ... these guys definitely have done this before.
The Air France cargo official came by to inspect and give its approval. The bike is scheduled to get on a plane in about a week ... too many vegetables being exported at the moment apparently ... but maybe earlier if there is room.
Got a ride to the main airport terminal to have snack, a cappuccino, and to wait for my flight to Madrid tonight and then connect in Madrid to my flight to Dallas.
Wow ... what an adventure!
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