Gijs’ travelogue

ile de Goree (5)

ile de Goree (5)

to Ile de Goree, an island about three kilometres from the coast of Dakar. This small volcanic rock is inhabited by 1200 people. According to a local, there are 800 Muslims and 400 Christians. But when it's Christmas there are 1200 Christians and when a goat is being slaughtered there are 1200 Muslims. The island is an Unesco World Heritage Site. The houses are built in a colonial style and are coloured intensively; there are no cars allowed on this island and everywhere you look you see cactusses.

Ile de Goree (4)

Ile de Goree (4)

to Ile de Goree, an island about three kilometres from the coast of Dakar. This small volcanic rock is inhabited by 1200 people. According to a local, there are 800 Muslims and 400 Christians. But when it's Christmas there are 1200 Christians and when a goat is being slaughtered there are 1200 Muslims. The island is an Unesco World Heritage Site. The houses are built in a colonial style and are coloured intensively; there are no cars allowed on this island and everywhere you look you see cactusses.

Ile de Goree (3)

Ile de Goree (3)

Ile de Goree, an island about three kilometres from the coast of Dakar. This small volcanic rock is inhabited by 1200 people. According to a local, there are 800 Muslims and 400 Christians. But when it's Christmas there are 1200 Christians and when a goat is being slaughtered there are 1200 Muslims. The island is an Unesco World Heritage Site. The houses are built in a colonial style and are coloured intensively; there are no cars allowed on this island and everywhere you look you see cactusses.

Ile de Goree (2)

Ile de Goree (2)

Ile the Gorees history is not light-hearted. In the 18th and 19th century the island is used as a port to transport slaves to North and South America. "La maison des esclaves" is a visable remain of that time. Small stuffy rooms were the temporarily homes for thousands of future slaves. Naked and chained they had to wait for days and sometimes weeks for the boat to arrive, which would bring them to a further life of imprisonment. If slaves would become ill during the waiting they were thrown into the sea where they would eventually drown.

Ile de Goree

Ile de Goree

Ile the Gorees history is not light-hearted. In the 18th and 19th century the island is used as a port to transport slaves to North and South America. "La maison des esclaves" is a visable remain of that time. Small stuffy rooms were the temporarily homes for thousands of future slaves. Naked and chained they had to wait for days and sometimes weeks for the boat to arrive, which would bring them to a further life of imprisonment. If slaves would become ill during the waiting they were thrown into the sea where they would eventually drown.

Mitad del Mundo

Mitad del Mundo

Equator in Ecuador.

Close to the capital of Ecuador lays the equator, a line that devides the Northern hemisphere from the Southern.

Due to the gravitational situation on the equator it is possible to balance an egg on a pin. Everybody who succeeds in doing so receives a 'you-have-balanced-an-egg-on-a-pin-on-the-equator'-certificate.

Mitad del Mundo

Mitad del Mundo

Equator in Ecuador.

Close to the capital of Ecuador lays the equator, a line that devides the Northern hemisphere from the Southern.

Mitad del Mundo

Mitad del Mundo

Equator in Ecuador.

Close to the capital of Ecuador lays the equator, a line that devides the Northern hemisphere from the Southern.

This line marks 'the centre of the world.

mud Vulcano, Cartagena/Colombia

mud Vulcano, Cartagena/Colombia

In the north of Colombia, two hours away from Cartagena lays a Volcano. Not a regular one with lava, sulphur and volcanic rocks b ut one filled with mud. This mud is supposedly healthy. The volcano is a cone-shaped hill, no higher than fifty foot. On the foot of the hill there are small shops selling the healthy mud in Coca-Cola bottles.

Especially the first seconds after getting into the mud are quite an experience. It feels like your weightless. You sink into the mud up to my chest. Much deeper is not possible.

Mud Vulcano, Cartagena/Colombia

Mud Vulcano, Cartagena/Colombia

In the north of Colombia, two hours away from Cartagena lays a Volcano. Not a regular one with lava, sulphur and volcanic rocks b ut one filled with mud. This mud is supposedly healthy. The volcano is a cone-shaped hill, no higher than fifty foot. On the foot of the hill there are small shops selling the healthy mud in Coca-Cola bottles.

Especially the first seconds after getting into the mud are quite an experience. It feels like your weightless. You sink into the mud up to my chest. Much deeper is not possible.