Dakar: Day 18 "My Dakar" quotes

MY DAKAR
Everyday feelings of those who are not specially famous but who dare the challenge and give a dream for those who stay behind...

TIBAU/TRIFENE 200

"Elisabete Jacinto (Mercedes)- Por - n.429
"I am Portuguese and a Goegraphy professor. For ten years, I've done quite a few bike competitions. I actually did four Dakars from 1998 to 2001. I finished two of them. It was too diffcult for a person alone so I decided to stop. To ride a race like the Dakar is really difficult because you give everything you have. That's why I'm back in a truck because I love the race. To live a Dakar in a truck is a lot different because you can talk, eat. You have company. I also enjoy driving the truck. It's true that I lack in experience and that I still have a lot to learn but I'm getting there. Before the Dakar I drove a bit and went off-piste in Morocco. I believe that next time I can do a lot better than this year. The Dakar is very difficult but it's a real challenge for me. Today I manage doing things that before I would have never imagined. To come to Africa is great for my job because I can discover landscapes I had only seen in books. I see fantastic landscapes, extraordinary geographical sites. It allows me to understand things in a better way and tell them to my students. Dakar 2003 is a desert edition. For kilometres and kilometeres you see no-one, just sand. It's completely different from the Africa I know better, Western Africa where there are villages everywhere and you discover a lot of interesting things. In the desert, there is nothing except the poetry of the scenery."

-aso-