On the third day of my visit we went to Dongola for Heba to interview some govt. types (an exhilarating 7:30 AM ride on the back of the pickup on patchy pavement at 100 kms. an hour because we were late for an appointment. Don’t you do that girls. Or Adam! Enyways…) We were stopped in a Sudanese army checkpoint and I had to produce the photocopy of my passport (the actual passport being in Khartoum with my application for my multiple entry/exit visa. Without that ME/E visa, I would not have been allowed to return to Sudan when I left on my first holiday). Enyways, that was a tense couple of minutes. Heba, as she so smugly remarked, didn’t have to produce her passport. I didn’t care, in fact I wanted to show them my passport photocopy.
Enyways, we drove around the town of Dongola (population 30,000) a bit, had a good lunch of something brown in a bowl that we all ate out of (as Mohammad says, sometimes its best not to know what you’re eating, if it tastes good just eat it. My sentiments exactly. I know what you’re all thinking and you’re all wrong, I never got sick once up there, no upset stomach (other than from eating too much), no gastro-intestinal distress (I love that term), nothing. It was like being back on my parents’ farm again, eating well (and often, too often in fact), slept well, felt well rested, relaxed frame of mind, everything in good working order. Enyways....
After the lunch we met up with some govt. officials and they took us with them on the ferry to the other side of the Nile, then we drove an hour and a half on unpaved, rough roads to see the ancient fortress/town site/burial site of Kerma. Check it out: http://archaeology.about.com/od/kterms/qt/kerma.htm
These pictures are from the trip up there, touring the site and the last one of me is on the ferry ride back; also on the ferry there were three army pickup trucks with 50 caliber machine guns mounted on the back and the boxes was full of AK47s. You can see one of them behind me in the picture. The soldiers were telling Heba that the high school students, after their graduation, have to undergo six weeks of military training including weapons instruction. Nothing personal Melanie, but I just can’t see putting assault rifles into the hands of you and your friends…
Then back to Dongola, Heba and I (belatedly) registered as tourists, (it took so long I thought we were applying for citizenship), then another not-so-exhilarating ride back to Taitti. We were out in the sun most of the day and quite dehydrated and tired that night. I could barely stay awake till 10:00 o’clock to eat.
After the lunch we met up with some govt. officials and they took us with them on the ferry to the other side of the Nile, then we drove an hour and a half on unpaved, rough roads to see the ancient fortress/town site/burial site of Kerma. Check it out: http://archaeology.about.com/od/kterms/qt/kerma.htm
These pictures are from the trip up there, touring the site and the last one of me is on the ferry ride back; also on the ferry there were three army pickup trucks with 50 caliber machine guns mounted on the back and the boxes was full of AK47s. You can see one of them behind me in the picture. The soldiers were telling Heba that the high school students, after their graduation, have to undergo six weeks of military training including weapons instruction. Nothing personal Melanie, but I just can’t see putting assault rifles into the hands of you and your friends…
Then back to Dongola, Heba and I (belatedly) registered as tourists, (it took so long I thought we were applying for citizenship), then another not-so-exhilarating ride back to Taitti. We were out in the sun most of the day and quite dehydrated and tired that night. I could barely stay awake till 10:00 o’clock to eat.
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