The day the music died (Day 15)
By admin. Filed in Sudan |
This is our rest day in Dongola. First, a little more about the zoo we are staying in: It’s called the zoo, but really it’s more of a park. The only animals (aside from us) are concrete decorations on the benches. The lawn is well-manicured, and an excellent foundation for our tents. In the back, another gated-off area houses an amusement park with small but colorful carnival rides. There’s a hose that’s the perfect temperature for a shower after a hot day. It’s also good for washing clothes, which many of the riders chose to do. The place still has a zoo-like feel to it though, if we look at the bars to the outside and see all the eyes peering curiously in at us.
On one side there is a refreshment area where we can buy sodas and recharge our electronics in the shade. Opposite is a row of squat toilets that can be flushed by filling buckets with the aforementioned hoses.
I did the typical rest day stuff today: cleaned my bike, got my laundry back, stocked up on snacks, and tried to get caught up on Internet stuff. I managed to get a 2GB SIM to tether my iPhone to my computer and have Internet access between rest days. I was excited to get back to camp to try it, but my battery was low. Each time I plugged it in, however, caused the battery to drain faster. The charging symbol would be displayed, but the battery status indicator would drop. I wasted a large percentage of the day trying to get it working, to no avail. Cleaning the contacts didn’t help. Different chargers didn’t help. Nothing. If I can’t get it working again, that means that I won’t have a telephone, music player, currency converter, calculator, translator, GPS, or remote Internet access for the rest of the trip.
A little more about Dongola: It’s a smallish town with just a couple of main roads and one small market. We’ve found our favorite food court, next to a mosque. They have large chickens that most of the riders feast on. I stick to the fuul and falafel. The pita bread is better in Sudan than in Egypt, but the falafel is a bit plain. It doesn’t come with any other vegetables, just nuggets in a pita. When the call to prayers happen, all the men dressed in robes close their food stalls while they cross the parking lot to pray. Food service resumes 10-15 minutes later.
We have another surprise at camp: our trip to Khartoum will now take 4 days instead of 5. Sounds like we have a few hard days ahead of us.