Camping with(out) the President

Going on my first camping trip in this country (Oct. 6th) was an adventure even before we arrived to our site.

After having driven for hours, we encountered a road block only 45 minutes away from our final destination.

For the last several hours before this roadblock, I had wondered why soldiers had been strategically placed along the road. Only now did I fully understand why they were there.

The president of this country was making his way to an area very close to where we intended to camp. As a result, the road was closed and our trip had seemingly come to an end.

The cop was nice enough to let me take a photo with him, though.

By now, it was approaching nightfall and we had to make some quick decisions. We drove a couple more hours and ended up here (see photos).

We were able to get in some great mountain biking (although I realized how incredibly out-of-shape I was). Once we returned from biking (or rather, from pushing my bike up the hills), I was able to take a quick shower in that waterfall behind our tents (2nd photo).

After negotiating the slippery rocks, the frigid water and inundating torrents kept me from lingering very long (although I did feel much cleaner afterwards).

One nice thing about getting out of our city was that the air was much crisper & cleaner here and the moon was so bright & clear that it seemed as if someone had turned a light on inside our tent (see right photo). The best aspect, however, was the great fellowship I had with new and old friends here.