Day 88: Nova Africa south of Freetown, Christmas Day

Christmas. How crazy.

All around us are white herons, the first hummingbirds, bee eaters.

We are dedicated to self-organization. Western Union wants to be set up. Every day is now laundry day. We'll arrange an appointment in Bo. We send our Christmas greetings.

The topic of oil changes is difficult. Friday's workshop has not yet given a price and basically it can be assumed that Monday will be closed – after all, it is the British Christmas holiday. Another option is still emerging, but we won't hear anything about it until Tuesday, if at all.

The man in charge of organizing almost everything here is trying to find something for us in Waterloo, but without success.

Maybe we buy the necessary things from Toyota and go to some workshop? Toyota in Freetown as well as in Monrovia seem to be more of the same disaster as in Dakar. On iOverlander it says “Don’t go there”…

And back into the sea and then into the shower – we will still have to get used to the rather tropical climate. It is already the time of Harmattan. Advantage: There is a slight breeze every now and then. Disadvantage: It remains hazy.

In the evening we have something cooked for us: rice, black beans, cabbage, carrot and cucumber salad, a kind of mayo and a kind of mint paste. Unconventional, but what the area offers. And it's really filling.

Jennifer has put Christmas decorations on the table and candles, and the Christmas tree is turned on (a generator produces electricity). And so our group celebrates Christmas Eve: Patrick and Ira, Almut and Simon, Wolle and me and Lorenz, a 20-year-old Swiss cyclist.