Why am I so Grumpy!

So I've now been away for about 10 weeks and it has got to the point that it feels less like an extended holiday and more like a lifestyle... and as lifestyles go there are some slight downsides, mainly
- sleeping in a tent
- being devoured by mosquitoes
- the inevitable Delhi belly
- moving 'house' most days
- repeatedly struggling through the most rudimentally basic french conversations

Right now I'm particularly struggling with a dodgy stomach, and a string of things that have broken, including my phone, the bike's fork seal (suspension),  my stove, my widget that transfers photos to the tablet etc. You may have noticed I'm not in the best mood.  I'm really considering turning back to Europe,  but I know things will change,  I just need to keep going and my mood and luck will change, hopefully.

In terms of what I've actually been doing I wild camped on the beautifully deserted Varela beach, though to get there I dropped the bike 3 times in 15 mins in the deep sand. 2 were so close together that I got help to pick the bike up from the same fishermen! So deserted is it that most of the time my company was the odd cow. This was where I found out my stove has stopped working, so bread and water was my diet for 2 days.

Since then I have been in Bissau for a week trying to recover and fix things (without success). Initially I stayed at a campsite/hotel on the edge of the city where I met Ferry and Gulcin again and we got to know a Swedish guy who was very coy about his business, apart from he owns a plane and has a Guinean diplomatic passport from the president. We suspect he is a drug dealer, as most South American drugs arrive in Bissau before going to Europe. After this I stayed with an English guy, Patrick and Magdiel on couchsurfing. They've been great hosts, looked after me and given me a comfortable bed! Patrick is funded by the overseas aid budget and is working for the bissau ministry of finance, which has meant I've got a really different view of Bissau. It's an interesting and really chilled place, but has some real problems to develop and be a functioning country.

And I have to mention that I've had rain for the first time since Europe....a very strange experience!

Hopefully I'll be more enthusiastic next time I check in.Read more