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Surprise, we are still in Pointe Noire, Congo. Surprise, vi er stadig i Pointe Noire, Congo. We were originally planning on passing through the Congo on our way south in only two days but the powers that be decided that we needed to spend a little bit more time here. Vi var oprindeligt planer om at passere gennem Congo på vej syd på kun to dage, men de beføjelser, der besluttede, at vi havde brug for at tilbringe lidt mere tid her. One month to be exact. En måned for at være helt nøjagtig. We have been here for so long, I should probably look into hiring a real estate agent. Vi har været her så længe, jeg bør nok undersøge ansætte en ejendomsmægler. To make matters more interesting, we have now overstayed our Congolese visas which is potentially a big problem, but here in Africa, even when you see a problem like this looming on the horizon, you are in many cases powerless to act on it. For at gøre tingene mere interessante, har vi nu overstayed vores congolesiske visum, som er potentielt et stort problem, men her i Afrika, selv når du ser et problem som dette truende i horisonten, er du i mange tilfælde magtesløse til at handle på det. In the continuing saga of hearing absolutely nothing from the Angolan consulate on the status of our visa applications, we anticipated that we might be here longer than our original visas permitted, so last Wednesday, we started the process to extend them. I den fortsatte saga om retsmødet absolut intet fra den angolanske konsulat om status for vores visumansøgninger, vi forventede, at vi kan blive her længere end vores oprindelige visum er tilladt, så sidste onsdag, vi startede processen med at udvide dem. The visa extension process was reportedly only supposed to take a day, but three days later, we still do not have our passports back. Visummet forlængelse proces var efter sigende kun skulle tage en dag, men tre dage senere, har vi stadig ikke har vores pas tilbage. The main reason for the delay in processing the extensions is the arrival of the Congolese president here in Pointe Noire yesterday. Den vigtigste årsag til forsinkelser i behandlingen af de udvidelser er ankomsten af den congolesiske præsident her i Pointe Noire i går. Apparently, every public official and half-ass, passport stamping bureaucrat was needed to prepare in advance for his arrival and to attend all of the ceremonies celebrating the great and wonderful things the president has done for the country. Tilsyneladende, hver embedsmand og halve æsel, pas stempling bureaukrat var nødvendigt at forberede sig på forhånd for hans ankomst og til at deltage i alle de ceremonier fejre den store og vidunderlige ting at formanden har gjort for landet.

Being stuck here in the Congo for a month longer than anticipated has forced us to change a lot of our plans. At stå her i Congo for en måned længere end forventet, har tvunget os til at ændre meget i vores planer. Zambia and Victoria Falls will have to wait for another day as will the wildlife reserves in Botswana and South Africa. Zambia og Victoria Falls må vente til en anden dag så vil dyreliv reserver i Botswana og Sydafrika. I came to Africa hoping to see some exotic wildlife, however, I fear that the only wildlife I will most likely see on this segment of the trip are the lions and cheetahs prancing through the savannah in faded paintings hanging in the musty office of the Angolan consulate in Pointe Noire. Jeg kom til Afrika håber at se nogle eksotiske dyreliv, men jeg frygter, at det eneste dyreliv jeg vil højst sandsynligt se på denne del af turen er de løver og cheetahs prancing gennem savanne i falmet malerier hængende i muggen kontor for angolanske konsulat i Pointe Noire. “C’est tres tragique!” "C'est tres tragique!"

We were also on a relatively tight timeframe so that we could fly back to the States from South Africa to attend the wedding of Steve S’s sister, Katie. Vi var også på en forholdsvis stram tidsplan, således at vi kunne flyve tilbage til staterne fra Sydafrika til at deltage i brylluppet af Steve S's søster, Katie. In order to avoid a lifetime of regret and condemnation to the dog house, Steve was forced to spend an extra $1,500 to ensure that he did not miss this important event. For at undgå en levetid beklagelse og fordømmelse til hunden hus, Steve blev tvunget til at tilbringe en ekstra $ 1500 for at sikre, at han ikke glip af denne vigtige begivenhed. In total Steve spent about $2,900 on his flight back to Denver including the original ticket. I alt Steve brugt omkring $ 2900 på hans flyvning tilbage til Denver herunder den oprindelige billet. Mark and I on the other hand had no choice but to stay behind and continue to try and get the trucks and ourselves out of the Congo and past the giant roadblock that is Angola. Mark og jeg på den anden side havde intet andet valg end at udsætte bag og fortsætte med at forsøge at få lastbiler og os ud af Congo og tidligere kæmpen vejspærring, der er Angola. Steve waited until the last possible moment, but was ultimately forced to fly home yesterday. Steve ventede indtil den sidste mulige øjeblik, men i sidste ende blev tvunget til at flyve hjem i går. Luckily for Steve, he flew out in the morning because officials closed down the airport a short while later to receive the president and his entourage. Heldigvis for Steve, han fløj ud i morges, fordi embedsmænd lukket lufthavnen en kort tid senere at modtage præsidenten og hans omgivelser. Steve will make it to his sister’s wedding, but will miss the last 5,000 or so kilometers of Africa and the trip down to Cape Agulahs; the southern most point on the continent and the end point of the “cape to cape run.” (North Cape, Norway to Cape Agulahs, South Africa) So TWBR is one man down until we are reunited in Argentina… a country that for the time being feels like it could not possibly be any farther away. Steve vil gøre det til sin søsters bryllup, men vil savne de sidste 5000 eller deromkring kilometer af Afrika og turen ned til Cape Agulahs; den sydlige mest punkt på kontinentet og slutningen punkt i "CAPE til Cape køre." (North Cape, Norge til Kap Agulahs, Syd Afrika) Så TWBR er en mand ned, indtil vi er genforenet i Argentina… et land, der for øjeblikket føles det ikke kunne muligvis være noget længere væk.