Day 6 - Nothing is impossible

"Impossible is nothing", goes the slogan of a Chinese clothes brand.

When we talked to Craig, a bunch of days ago, about the route we wanted to follow, he said: "Lesotho is a ridiculous place, you can't go there, theres lots of snow, it is winter now" and a whole lot of other blablablabla.

Days later we had the exact same conversation with Harold, in the G spot. Same same: "Lesotho? On those tires? No no no no no. Impossible.There's no asphalt there. Only dirt roads, with rocks as big as (and he motions with his hands the size of a horse's butt), I'm telling you. Really, nothing. Snow and then more snow. And the kids throw stones at you, you know? And there's no asphalt up there. No real roads. And if you wanna go you'd better buy all the food you're going to need before you cross the border. Because, really, there's nothing there eh? And the fuel, there's no fuel up there, well it is really dirty, so you'd better fill up the tank before you go up. But seriously, there's nothing in there. And with those tires it's just gonna be impossible."

What a shitty country!, would be the first thing that any unwary human that dares to listen to these words.

This constant going on and on about how horrible it was there came from everyone. How there's no paved roads, it's terribly cold, the only thing there is up there is snow, and children will throw stones as you as you pass because they want you to give them sweets or dollars, one of both.

Daring, intrepid, thoughtless, ignorant and unwary. That's who we are. Two goofballs that constantly decide to ignore everyone's warning calls from a bunch of rusty white people in their apartheid cities. And against all logic, decide to go across the border to such an uncivilized country where they (watch out) still ride horses with blankets on top and use donkeys and such.

A couple of years ago we had our first experience with all those things you could definitely not do according to all the guide books, and it ended up just being a load of bullshit. Back then, we were trying to get across Laos to Thailand where you could absolutely not drive without paying for an insurance. And all of it was bullshit. Everything, absolutely everything.

Laos, Lesotho. I think they have more in common than just the first letter in the name.

We are in Roma, a crappy small town close to the capital, Maseru and it is about 80km away from the border crossing, which, we were probably the first humans to cross in the last couple of days.

The current count of stones thrown by children is zero, centimeters of snow: zero, 80 out of the 87 kilometers so far were on a perfectly taken care of paved road, we've seen about 8 petrol stations and no rocks on the way bigger than a fist.

On the other hand, the number of smiles amounts to hundreds. Wherever we go, tons of children run after as just seeking a wave from the bike as they shout to call our attention and wave frenetically with the only goal of saying hello. The only things they throw at us is smiles. Shouting "Hey Mister!" or "Hey rastaman!" and throwing good vibes. And I get that Laos sensation back, the feeling that this is packed with small children and that they just want to say hello and have something to tell their friends. The amount of children that look under 12 we see along the road is just incredible.

It is funny how it hasn't been until we got to Lesotho that we've been able to interact with black people more than the two minutes it takes for them to fill your tank at the petrol station. Every place we've been to has been run by white people, as I was telling you yesterday they are still the owners and black people look at you from underneath. It is just a different type of slavery. But in Lesotho there are no white people, except the tourists and the random crazy South African that came to work here. But I haven't seen them. And it is not surprising that now that we've been able to interact, they are lovely people that enjoy a good conversation, are curious about my dreadlocks and our trip. And they laugh their guts out hearing the stories about what the South Africans have told us about Lesotho. "These South Africans are nuts."

Lesotho is a super nice country with heartbreaking landscapes and no complications.

Lesotho is impossible.

Impossible is nothing.