April 7, 2018 – e-letter sent from Port Suakin, Sudan
Hello Dear Family and Friends – Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!
Praise God that we made it safely through the Gulf of Aden w/o incident. Our engine worked perfectly and we are extremely pleased to report that the coalition war force (31 countries providing naval support in the High Risk Area) was monitoring the shipping lanes in full force to great effect. Many of our friends and family have been praying for us and we are grateful. We did indeed feel protected even when, on two separate occasions, what were later deemed fishing boats got a bit too close for comfort. When we became concerned, we hailed the war force coalition on VHF Channel 16 and the coalition sent over a naval aircraft to survey our surroundings. In both cases, the fishing boats moved on. It’s entirely possible they were simply curious fishermen. We’ll never know.
From Cochin, India, after 20 days at sea crossing the Indian Ocean, Arabian Ocean, through the Gulf of Aden and into the Red Sea, we landed at Port Massawa, Eritrea, a predominately Christian country with many active Orthodox Christian and Lutheran Congregations. We stood outside an Orthodox Christian church during service one Sunday morning near Port Massawa and the mass, with its cantering, sounded very similar to the Muslim cantering that we’ve been hearing everyday over loudspeakers since arriving in Indonesia. The women arrived completely covered from head to toe in mostly white linens…a few had colorful long dresses under the long white head/body coverings. Before entering the church grounds everyone stopped to kiss the wall or the gate several times and concluded the ritual with crossing themselves. No chairs or benches, there was a lot of kneeling (touching forehead to ground) then standing and then more kneeling during the service. The men stood on the inside perimeter wall of the church property instead of approaching or entering the church. Of course, the service was conducted in the local tongue.
We couldn’t understand any of it, so after 45 minutes, we wandered away to visit a nearby war memorial featuring 3 steel war tanks aggressively posed. The war-hammered tanks were impressive; the surrounding memorial looked similar not having had maintenance performed on it since erected. However, we particularly noticed there was no extraneous trash lying around. It seems the Eritrean government is keeping up with the monumental task of treating the ever-increasing problem of refuse.
The locals are friendly and Port Massawa, being an international port, albeit sleepy, some speak English along with Italian and Arabic – their official languages. During our stay, several locals spoke Italian to us hoping we would understand. With my meager 1 year of Italian study, I was at least able to respond back with “Buon giorno” and a few simple sentences. We toured the nearby village close to the port of Massawa (the once thriving city of Massawa is now a ghost town because Ethiopia shifted its international shipping industry south to Djibouti after Eritrea gained independence from them) where we anchored (several bombed out “memorials” are still standing).
Rental cars are non-existent in Eritrea. Hiring by telephone a local 5-seater taxi was the easiest way for the four of us to get to the local village from Port Massawa. It was also possible to take the local bus, but since we didn’t know where we were going and the local stores are not marked and there were no local maps to be had, it wasn’t practical.
The government limits Internet. We found that the country is pretty much managed by a one-man show. Very impoverished circumstances across the board as modern private industry is discouraged and distrusted. Just about everyone there is thin. We four were a major curiosity as everyone there is dark skinned with African/Egyptian features. They see few tourists coming up the Red Sea. We learned after talking with a handful of Italian tourists that obtaining permits to fly into the country is very difficult, but arriving by boat was similar to most clearance procedures we have encountered. As a cruiser, obtaining a visitor’s permit was not difficult and handled right near the port on the same day we arrived. Money talks, of course.
To get to Asmara, the capital city, was quite the challenge. We had to obtain visitor travel permits. We would never have been able to do this without our taxi driver/guide extraordinaire, Solomon. Once permits were acquired, traveling from one unmarked building to another located far from each other, we then headed to the bus station to stand in line with the locals to catch the next bus to the capital city…traveling by private taxi to Asmara was prohibitively expensive, not to mention the fact – not a particularly local experience…which tends to be our preference. Once again our taxi driver/guide Solomon saved the day and finagled four tickets for us and helped us get aboard, otherwise we would never have boarded the bus.
Finally the bus arrived, however, it sat ½ hour before allowing passengers to board. Once boarded, it remained another hour before leaving. The bus ride itself was 4 hours, switch-backing up the mountains with one stop off in a town where children heckled the passengers to buy food and sticks for brushing our teeth (a little girl kept holding up a group of sticks to me smiling and repeating “Brush?” “Brush?” until passengers re-boarded. No obvious toilets were to be found. Trent and I stayed on the bus the entire break hiding away from the onslaught of eyes, vendors, and the curious. Bryce, the adventurer, is always a hit because he plays with the children. There was one small little boy that giggled the entire ½ hour hovering around Bryce for fun and games: arm shaking when a hand is proffered and throwing him in the air. I forgot to mention that there are sometimes available privately owned vans that transport people, commodities, and goats on the rooftop between cities, but these independent entrepreneurs are discouraged by the government and tend not to be any faster. They are quadruple the price but are able to sustain since there are not enough government buses to serve the traveling population’s needs.
At the Asmara bus station area we were met by a most wonderful, pre-arranged host, Abel, the nephew of Eritrean friends of ours who years ago emigrated to Los Angeles. Bryce and Trent had swam on the Westchester YMCA swim team with their daughters. Without Abel’s help and guidance, we would have been completely lost….no Internet = no Google = no written travel guidance…you get the idea. Being the only white people at the bus stop, Abel had no trouble locating us in the otherwise hectic bus area. When he pulled up next to us in his white, beat up Toyota sedan, Eric asked, “How did you know it was us?” Abel laughed showing off a beautiful white grin. We discovered that speaking French together was the easiest as he had grown up in France and he felt uncomfortable speaking English. It was great to make use of our French again!
In his car, he toured us around the city showing us the sites and the lay of the land. Then he brought us to our hotel. We hadn’t realized that even the hotel didn’t accept credit cards. The country no longer supports credit cards or ATMs. So we couldn’t stay in the “expensive” international tourist friendly (i.e., running water) hotel because we hadn’t brought enough US cash to turn into Nafka, nor did we want to stay in that hotel because it was too expensive for us mostly because we would have had to book two rooms. The hotel manager suggested we try the next door sister hotel frequented mostly by locals. To our surprise, the Hamassien Hotel is an Eritrean historical site, featured on post cards and Asawa tourist brochures, built by the Italian colonists 100 years ago. It was a bit musty for sure and the furniture somewhat threadbare, yet clean with charming tall, narrow wooden shuttered windows which opened up widely so we could see a bit of the city.
Since we stayed in the cheaper ‘Hamassien Hotel,’ rather than the Intercontinental Hotel next door, we experienced the city’s normal and constant water shortages.
Our hotel staff regularly fills up the bathtub with water to use with buckets to flush the toilet and to wash with when the running water is diverted to another part of town. No water heaters, the water in the tub was frigid. Needless to say, we didn’t take showers, just spot cleaned! Water in Eritrea is expensive. Drinking water even more so.
Later that evening, Abel joined us to catch some dinner at a nearby western-style café. From our centrally located hotel, we could pretty much walk everywhere that was of interest, so we headed down to the main street “Liberation Avenue,” their “Champs Elysee” or “Rodeo Drive,” and just off the avenue found a burger place to satisfy our hunger. The ‘meat’ hamburgers were actually filled with vegetarian patties…tasted good though. Eric dove into a local dish of pit bread pieces in a tomato sauce with cheese and tiny bits of meat, a version of lasagna is how Eric described it.
Liberation Avenue was bustling with pedestrians out to enjoy the nightlife – not out because of the ‘cooler’ weather. In fact, it was cold. Normally in the hot tropical/desert areas where we’ve been traveling the past three years, people venture out at dusk when the sun sets. As the air cools down, businesses in Polynesia, Vanuatu, Indonesia, Malaysia and India to name a few, tended to reopen from 3 or 4 pm to 9 pm. The typical nightlife type businesses were open in Asawa (restaurants, cafes, bars), but banks, government and most stores closed on the “Western” clock at 17h00. Eritrea is not very humid or tropical. It is either flat and desert or mountainous and dry – hot or cold – very little in between. Fortunately well warned by our taxi driver/guide Solomon in Massawa, we brought warmer clothes than shorts and T-shirts, yet we were still not quite prepared for the onslaught of the night’s cool breezes.
Having arrived in a faraway port town without internet access, we thought the country’s capital might offer some options. The hotels proudly advertised free Internet access, which proved nearly useless. But even in downtown Asmara there was no serviceable Internet cafes. You could pay for an hour and not be able to connect at all. The Internet café’s were useless. Bryce would stand outside their glass windows to measure signal strength, to be disappointed every time. Also credit cards are not accepted anywhere—cash only. They accept US$ but we exchanged our US$ into Nafka, Eritrea’s currency, because it’s easier; 15 Nafka to 1 USD. A “hamburger” and fries went for 45 Nafka. Our bus ride was 30 Nafka or US$2.
Aside from the official buildings and the churches, the capital city looked worn, with many closed businesses, no active cinemas (previously functioning ones were all closed) nor malls. In fact, the capital city shows very little benefit of international trade and industry – with the exception of small clothing stores, some liquor stores, small limited grocery type stores and a central market where they sell staple items like flour (they are very proud of their delicious Italian type bread called “pan”), rice, coffee, fruits and vegetables (mostly onions, tomatoes, chili peppers, watermelons and bananas) and goats.
Coffee shops on the main street are popular serving Italian coffees and tea, but few can afford to eat out at restaurants. We understand with unemployment so high, most men get together to discuss non-existent income opportunities and the much-anticipated passing of the president. Some bars exist, serving inexpensive Eritrean alcohol, but still too expensive for locals. Unlike Muslim countries, clothing for women is not heavily restrictive. Women in the capital wear tight leggings/jeans and close fitting tops. However, you rarely see a woman wearing shorts or skirts/dresses cut higher than the ankle. Although not required, 75% of the women wear head and sarong type coverings perhaps to keep off the dust. I didn’t wear tank tops off the boat, but I did wear knee-length shorts covered by knee-length Indian tops. Men wear pants, few shorts, and button-down shirts, T-shirts, and polos. All wore sweaters at night in Asmara against the cold. Clothes are well worn. There are many beggars.
People squat on their feet when they get tired of standing…they rarely sit down as there are no benches and the ground is dirty with feces and spit. Very little rain – the streets and walkways are rarely cleaned…maybe swept. Paved roads and tiled sidewalks (remnants of the Italian colonization up until 1941) are found in the capital and on main roads…the rest is hard packed dirt. Dust pervades everything, covering your clothing and sweaty skin. The very poor people near Port Massawa live in small communities of tin shacks with dirt floors – no running water.
The second day in Asmara, the four of us set off to find breakfast and the National Museum of Eritrea. Asking many people along the way where to find it, we got closer and closer, yet couldn’t seem to locate it. We asked some students who shrugged their shoulders. Turns out, I saw the sign directly across the street from where we were just inquiring. Eritrea has many archeological sites and some of the findings were displayed at their three-room museum. A replica of the rare, very early human skull of a woman found in Eritrea was centrally displayed.
We then walked around back to the town’s main street to visit the impressive Ave Maria Cathedral, which unfortunately didn’t open to visitors until 3:00 pm. (We did return later and found it absolutely beautiful and impressive on the inside.) So we headed off to find a special area called Medeber, where used metals and items are recycled, turned into new things for sale. After much walking, getting a little lost, and asking people along the way, we found it and the effort was worth it. Men and women were industriously working on many projects, the women working on sorting dried chilis and the men creating new metal items for sale…donkey carts were available to rent for transporting goods. We stuck out like a sore thumb.
While friendly, most people didn’t want to talk to us long fearing that we were spies and that they would later be questioned. On the bus home, a nice looking, well dressed gentleman sat down with us. (BTW – we would never have been able to catch a bus back to Massawa without the help of our friend Abel. No one spoke English and the locals were so caught up in their own business, that they didn’t look out to help us…yet the beggars were all over us like flies.) The lightly bearded gentleman started up a conversation asking what were we doing in Eritrea. I responded, “We’re here as tourists, sailing around the world on our sailboat.” He spoke English well and wanted to see pictures. I pulled out my phone and filed through our years aboard. He then asked, “Where did you stay while in Asawa?” “At the Hamassien Hotel.” I replied. “Why did you stay there?” he asked. In all honesty I countered, “The biggest reason was the price and the fact that we didn’t bring enough cash because we thought we could pay with credit card. Also, we prefer to stay in the same room as our sons who are young to be alone in a foreign country.” “I see…” he concluded the conversation, “You’re sailing around the world and need to save money.” These questions and his response seemed a little too curious to me along with the fact that he looked rather ‘well-manicured’ and very well educated to be riding the cheap bus. Eric thinks I’m silly to have such thoughts. Perhaps. But they really didn’t like Bryce and Eric droning their Massawa memorials before traveling inland thinking we were reporters or something. After an altercation, one of the 5 men convinced the others that we are just tourists. Who knows? After that – authorities could have been more keen to watch us.
I’ll have to provision in Sudan as anything we could buy in Eritrea was extremely expensive and slim pickings, so I didn’t buy much. I bought just enough fresh provisions to get us by: a large cabbage, tomatoes, okra, dozen eggs, potatoes, onions, oranges and a large watermelon. We’ve been eating through our dried and canned provisions in a big way since leaving Malaysia in February where I had stocked up. India didn’t have much in canned foods although we did find boxed liquid milk – the boys are drinking a lot of milk these days. That’s long gone…powdered milk is it!
All in all, Eritrea felt restricted because Eritreans have become increasingly oppressed by their own government since their liberation from Ethiopia in 1991 after a 30-year war. Today, Eritreans are not allowed to leave the country between the ages of 5 and 65, nor are they allowed to engage in much self-industry. Private enterprise is discouraged….wouldn’t want anyone to earn more than another….so everyone remains poor…no incentive, no hope. It was a sobering experience to visit such a depressed and altogether dry and dusty country with little active industry even though the country itself has excellent natural resources and is located on the Red Sea. We did our best to wash the 6 days of dust off our boat before picking up anchor and were ready to move on. Before we lifted anchor, Immigration came aboard to check if we had any stowaways!
Our total stay in Eritrea was 6 days. I wrote this account while sailing from Eritrea to Suakin, North Sudan, where Eric’s brother Nick had already arrived to meet up with us. Our trip up the Red Sea from Massawa to Suakin took longer than expected. It was supposed to be 2.25 days and turned out to be 3 full days. The Red Sea’s seasonal wind was already coming from the north (we’re running late in the weather window) – thankfully it was a light counter wind. But with a 1.5 knot counter-current, we weren’t progressing by motor quickly. Kandu is a slower moving boat anyway.
May 16th, 2018 – I planned to post this letter to our website while in Suakin, Sudan, but our time there was too condensed and brief before I could sit down to do so. Much has happened since our days in Sudan, like Egypt, where we had an equally interesting time. We are now in Cyprus enjoying our last days hanging with Nick.
We have been learning so much about this part of the world and are grateful for the freedoms we enjoy in the US and as US citizens.
Our Very Best Wishes to you,
Leslie, Eric, Bryce and Trent
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