Heat and warm hospitality SUDAN (continued, p.2) The main event of our trip was to visit the family of Muhammad, who lives in Bahari, north of Khartoum. Since we met Mohammed on the ferry, which went from Aswan to Wadi Halfa,. He invited us to stay in the house of his family, and we accepted this invitation. Bahari is located very far from Khartoum, it took us about an hour on the way there. The city is very different from the modern districts of Khartoum. The family of Mohammed was very poor. They live in small mud houses, but because of the heat most of the time on the street. They sleep on the street too. Wash there could only be with buckets and shovels, the toilet is outside and the kitchen - it's just a clay hut, where you can find only the most necessary for life products. Despite their poverty, they showed us amazing hospitality and generosity. The whole family, and then all the neighbors came to us to greet and shake hands. They are constantly smiling. Never, we have not heard from them stories about difficult fate. The only thing they needed - the ability to survive in these difficult circumstances. Most of us enjoyed a strong degree of cohesion and that the Sudanese are very fond of children. Coffee here melyat manually Family Muhammad lived in the same house since the time he was born. All of his friends live on the same street, and now they have their own families and children - 8 children - it is quite normal for the Sudan. Women all day working tirelessly: wash, sweep, wash, cook and spread the drinks while the men sit and drink tea. They were very happy to practice their English and are laughing at our Arab! Family home of Mohammed's aunt Muhammad was responsible for making coffee. Grain brought from Ethiopia, melyat hand, then pour into the kettle with hot water before you pour the tea into a beautiful pot of Chinese porcelain, add spices. Sudanese like sugar, and a small cup of coffee put at least 4 teaspoons of sugar. The coffee was delicious, and always had to drink 4 cups - might otherwise find this a manifestation of incivility. Kitchen Married women in Sudan have traditionally covered the tips of the fingers, toes and feet with henna, which is obtained from the leaves and the juice of lawsonite (1,5-3 m shrub, ca. Perevi.), And strongly colors the skin. Of course, I was asked if I wanted to put henna on your hands. Refuse was not easy, but I decided to confine coloring only one hand. All were pleased with the obtained results, and I suspect that figure will last a couple more weeks! Mohammed with his niece for dinner we ate a traditional Sudanese food. Ate with his hands. We managed to eat the stew with vegetables, bread, yndzheru (sour bread that we eat meat) and salad. Then filed a delicious watermelon and, of course, sweet tea. A little later the same night Mohammed took us to get acquainted with their friends. Location was walking down the street, in a small "park". Here, the men met, they drank tea (tea girl is always somewhere nearby), smoking hookah and having fun. Women, of course, do not give up smoking and do not even invited to these meetings, so I felt somewhat uncomfortable. And again, the friendliness of local people impressed us deeply. They were very interested to learn something interesting about New Zealand, although we regret that we did not have a map of the world. As a result, our Sudanese friends for some reason, decided that New Zealand is in Europe. For all time we spent with Muhammad, we never gave nothing to pay. Even the taxi in which we went back to Khartoum, had paid Mohammed. Relatives and friends of Mohammed At dawn, Mohammed kindly took us to the bus station where we could catch a bus to the town of Gedaref, where we had to stay overnight before heading to the Ethiopian border. At the bus station in Khartoum's going real chaos. First we had to buy a token to get us missed the station. Then we had to show a passport police officer who, frankly, did not care at all these formalities, so that we could not understand why they needed our documents. After that, we are surrounded by a crowd shill. In the end, we found a bus, took their places, but then they asked us to come out and show your passport. At this time our papers want to see representatives of the security service. Fingers in henna in Gedaref, we decided to stop just because our guidebook says that the city Gallabat, which is located on the border with Ethiopia, a real hole. Well, I am not difficult to imagine the look Gallabat because Gedaref - he still gadyushnik. We had to stay in the horrible room for our whole trip. Recommendations in the guide do not have anything to do with reality. Hotel Al-Havard "obviously built long ago, and certainly there are very dirty. Next we drove to the Hotel El Motavakil. It proved to be prohibitively expensive, and the hotel "Amer" was so disgusting that we had to go back to Al-Havard, from which we started to cruise the local hotels. We reluctantly signed up, ignoring the flies, but the last straw was the lack of water in the faucet and toilet, which exuded an odor, and was in such a state, as if he was 100 years. In the end, we decided to fork out and go to "El Motavakil. They charged us 61 pounds per day. It was the most expensive hotel where we stayed from the beginning of our journey. Service at this hotel was at the middle level, and besides, the night we are haunted bedbugs. But still there was a little better than in other hotels. Sudanese children are very fond of posing the Sudan in general proved to be an expensive destination, and hotel rooms here are obviously more expensive than you might expect. Many manufactured goods into the country imported from abroad, so prices are kept at a high level, and U.S. economic sanctions still in force, the reasons for high prices is obvious. Niece of Muhammad Sudan absolutely not suited for tourists, apparently, that's why we have not seen here visiting with the Wadi Halfa. We were not just traveling to this country. Heat and dust are just relentless, but stay for the night is almost nowhere. On the other hand, we liked the ride. You do not know how friendly and kind locals, yet not experience their hospitality for yourself. People are ready to prove, despite media reports that not all of Sudan, life-threatening, and some of its regions and at all can be called the safest in all of Africa! So, we head to the border to spend a month in Ethiopia, where, as we hope, will not be so hot. But the mosquitoes will show up at one hundred percent! Start material:
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