Day twelve- Wadi Hafla 149kms
When the ferry boat landed the next day, we
waiting to witness the offloading, which ran incredibly much smoother than the
onloading. Likely because it was without the sense of panic that persisted in
Egypt, that air ofsurvival of the fittest...everyone crawling over each other to
get on board. We saw ourTDA vans for the first time and collectively breathed a
sigh of relief, but not quite as loudly as our staff...and this sigh soon turned
to frustration as we later tried to cram all our gear into a box which seemed to
equal the size of a shoebox. But the look cool factor went up tenfold, which
made me happy. We had our first taste of the kindness of the Sudanese people at
the border crossing with a wonderful dance put on by some of the locals and the
ease in which we entered Sudan with all our gear, EXCEPT that so-called
'dangerous' printer that staff was carrying...which they were forced to toss.,
randomness prevails even here. Our first riding day in Sudan was a bit of a
mixed bag with mostly tailwinds, but those Wadis have that magical property of
flipping their winds suddenly and quite randomly, following no general rules of
road direction or design. There is an ancient wisdom in all the Wadis that I
have visited, they feel like a world unplagued by the modern. Happy to be
desolate and harsh...Van Gogh once claimed that the ugly can be beautiful, the
pretty never will be. Wadi Hafla is beautiful in its ugliness...it is a vast
graveyard of dehydration. One of the riders liked it to "walking on the moon."
The sun would play off of the black mountain tops creating shadows of dark
beside the blinding bright of the desert. It was a beautiful contrast. At camp
tonight there were tons of curious children who we delighted to play frisbee
with Alan. The kids here are unassuming and rather shy and curious, which is
somewhat of a refreshing change after Egypt. They were asking thereafter for
pencils, instead of the usual refrain of money...again it was very refreshing to
hear that they valued school supplies. We all had a lot of time for these kids.
The women here seem a lot more confident and happy. They walk with ease and
engage foreigners without reservation. This is also quite a shift from Egypt. I
realized today one gift that Cairo had bestowed upon me, heat tolerance. It is
getting very hot and I am thankful not to be coming from a cool climate, it is
one more thing stressing some riders. I feel brilliant at the moment.
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