This morning after a quick shower I walked out of our hotel to the closest tea vendor stall and ordered a "qahwa turkuyq" (Turkish coffee). Served in a tiny glass cup, it was strong, sugary and spiked with cardamom and cinnamon; exactly what I needed to start another hot day.
The electricity is not as intermittent as in Ethiopia, thank goodness, but we were warned it goes off every night from 1am - 4am, which means our ceiling fan stops. We thought we could bear it and we did, just. Even with the extreme stuffy conditions in our concrete room, it is nice to have a 'home base' for a couple of days and not one where we have to put up and take down every time we want to drive around.
Not that we could do that either. Foxy was still in dire need of some special TLC and our mission today was to find someone who could fix her, temporarily if not permanently. Just enough so we can get to Egypt, where there are more spare parts and mechanics available.
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Like yesterday, we ate lunch at the police station canteen. Not the most inviting of environments, but it has ceiling fans and a television. We ordered fuul (stewed brown beans) and cheese sandwiches, and freshly squeezed lime and lemon juice. Yum.
A few of the police officers came over and plopped themselves on plastic chairs around us. It seems 'police duty' in Wadi Halfa equals eating falafel sandwiches, chewing quat, and watching Bollywood movies starring scantily clad Indian actresses with (I noticed) big hungry eyes.
Stereotypes aside, they were friendly.
They asked us why we didn't have children yet after having being married for almost three years. They all had an average of 5 kids each. When we explained to them our reasons, they would have none of that and retorted: "You must go now and start a family because you don't know when you will die and you must make sure your name lives."
It's hard to know what to say to that, so we promised them that we would try harder.
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Well, turns out miracles do happen in small Sudanese port towns. Mustafah the mechanic, Magdi's cousin, had a Land Rover Defender slave cylinder that, with a little push and shove, fit just nicely into Foxy's gear box. "Thanks be to God" we had a functioning clutch again!
After paying him 140 SPD (a real bargain, including parts and labour), Mustafah asked Matt when we would be coming back down to Sudan. Although we have no immediate plans to do the same overland route from North to South, Matt told him maybe in 5 or 10 years' time.
This caused quite an excitement in Mustafah who said: "Don't forget about your friend, Mustafah in Wadi Halfa who will be waiting for you to bring him Polish Vodka." He whispered the last two words.
Apparently he had a friend from Poland who managed to smuggle in some of this Polish vodka over the border, and for someone who's probably never tasted many alcoholic drinks in his lifetime, fell in love with it.
Start: Deffintoad Hotel, Wadi Halfa, SUDAN.
End: Deffintoad Hotel, Wadi Halfa, SUDAN.
Distance Traveled: 0
Road Conditions: -
Temperature: burning heat
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