Round and round we go

Day Total: NO RIDING (Rest Day in Khartoum)

Song of the Day: Neil Diamond – Cracklin’ Rose

I’ll keep this update brief because for the most part Khartoum as a rest day location just wasn’t very restful. The people were very hospitable, the food plentiful and flavorful (particularly fresh squeezed juices), and the modernization fairly present. The heat was bordering on insufferable at around 110 and on the whole it was nearly impossible to stay properly hydrated.

We did visit the Al-Fayat hotel – an up-market, $500/night affair – to view the confluence of the various forks of the Nile river. In a word, impressive. In another word, a long, hot walk back to our hotel to pick up our bags and head back to the campground. Frugality got the better of us and we opted to save some money and camp for the final night in Khartoum.

I did laundry, though with the amount of dust in the city it did not dry very cleanly. Paul and I went to the Afra market – a pocket of ultra-modernization that featured electronics stores, a hyper-market, food court, and most importantly, air conditioning. We each ate two dinners, bought multiple chocolate bars and yogurt drinks, and finalized preparations for the upcoming 8-day span of consecutive riding days. We had the opportunity to meet the new sectional rider Jan. Great guy who I look forward to having around camp in the coming weeks until his departure in Nairobi.

We sweated out the night in our tents under siege from the heat, road noise, and a previously unknown enemy the mosquito. We had begun taking our malaria prophylaxis 3 days prior, but even two mozzies in your tent knowing they have the potential to cause a deathly illness makes you take killing them very seriously. It turns out it is easy to see the mosquitoes inside the tent, but difficult to kill them as the walls flex when you hit them. In the end a sweeping, swiping motion proved effective. Coupled with a wild, frantic swatting motions that seemed to knock them to the floor of the tent I had a solid strategy. Paul heard me flapping away and started doing the same only to realize that his tent door was still open. I had a good laugh over that one.

In the end, not an entirely restful evening, but hey, it is what it is. Sometimes you want ice cream and instead you get melted milk.