Leaving the economic turmoil of Greece behind, Stergios Gogos initially set off to discover the world. By the tip of Africa he’d found much more than he’d bargained for.
RICE AND DIRT | OUR FIRST BOOK!
Follow Stergios and his PX200 Vespa scooter across deserts, mountains, tropical beaches, forests and savannas. Envisage breathing the air of the countries he visited; taste the food, share his concerns, fall repeatedly and get back up from the mud in the Congo, enjoy both solitude and the company of others. But above all, get to know the people that would change his life immeasurably; and meet one in particular. This is a story of physical, emotional and mechanical challenges, of selfevaluation and blossoming relationships.
Roaming the roads of Africa through the unpretentious writing style of Stergios and Alexandra, we are led to a place much deeper than any travelogue could take us. This book manages to steer clear of literary travel classifications and thrills with its liveliness, eloquence and welcome candour.
"Funny, perceptive, revealing and well written. Oh, all right then, it’s a very good book."
– Ted Simon author of Jupiter’s Travels
"A story that spells out the importance of packing a smile; highly recommended."
– Overland Magazine
"The lilting and uplifting text transports you into Africa’s heady blend of colour, challenge and corruption. Infused with mischievous wit and enlightening observation, Rice & Dirt might just make you want to point a Vespa towards sub-Sahara."
– Martin ‘Sticky’ Round, scooterlab.uk
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Shuvvy Press Ltd (August 2018)
Language: English
Translated from the original Greek: Katerina Soumani
ISBN-10: 0956430570
ISBN-13: 978-0956430571
Dimensions: 13.5 x 21.5 x 1.5 cm
# Africa overland book
# Africa travel motorcycle book
# Africa trip motorcycle book
If you like two wheels and adventure, you're gonna love this!
There are books that make you dream and others that make you travel along. This one goes both-ways.
Excelent read!
Alexandra is doing a great job, describing the moments of how Stergios experienced Africa and his thoughts, along with some smooth flashbacks back in his life. Through the book not only do we get to know Africa from the eyes of a Traveller, but we also get to know the traveler. I am not a big reader. I finished this one in 3 days. I got hooked right away.
Highly recommended
Really enjoyed your book…….Highly recommended!
I urge you all to read it..!
I’ve just finished reading this book. I never know what to say when asked what I want for Xmas, but last year this book was definitely it. Niall at Retrospective Scooters had told me about Rice and Dirt, published in August 2018, and recommended it. Currently a little flat; as with all excellent books I didn’t want this story to finish and now its ended I have a feeling of loss… I love a good scooter travel story and couldn’t rate Stergios Gogos’ account more highly. Written by Alexandra Fefopoulou, it is a combination of interviews with Stergios, reading his journals of the trip and her own recollections of travelling with Stergios. Disenchanted and frustrated with his life at home in Greece, Stergios sets out to cross Africa from north to south. This is much more than another travel story and touches regularly on questions of humanity in all its forms from warmth, kindness and generosity through to prejudice, violence and racism. Stergios comes across angry at the world; from his prior life to what he sees and experiences along the way often explains this but he also finds solace, comfort and shelter in some of the most unexpected places and situations along the way. It is also in part a love story – it is heartwarming, sad, frightening at times but more than anything reading it is good for the soul and in the current times we are all in need of food for our souls – I urge you all to read it..!
