Old Suakin in dispair
Every time we passed the gate to old suakin, a man has been waving and approached us with a smile. Every time we have been putting him off - later! In the afternoon we were passing through the gate and entered the small island of old Suakin. Nothing but debris is left from the old coral buildings. Strangely enough, Turkey now is starting to rebuild some of the houses. There must been a great collaboration between Turkey and Sudan. Between the coral debris big stone blocks are lying, material for construction and indeed at the coast construction is ongoing. It’s a huge project to work through the ruins of the last century, tidy up, like no one does, and start something new. After strolling through the miserable streets, Mr. Mohamed took us for a ride in his historic Mercedes and drove us to new Suakin, which lies a couple of kilometres away. There are real streets, shops and normal buildings. Not all of Sudan is rubble. I’m glad I have been there seeing the new light shed on this country. The best part however was that we have been taken to a real restaurant. There was only one menu, grilled chicken with bread and dips of lentils and beans. Served with no silverware, as everywhere. It has been our first meal with meat since weeks and it was not just because of it, wonderful. We left the place gaining at least two pounds. Today we spent the day maintaining and socialising. The winches started moving difficultly over time, desperately waiting for maintenance. It has been a day filling task. We gladly accepted the invitation and visited Windchase. A little side track was more than welcomed. In any case, the kids were totally excited to be on another boat. The boat dog was just a plus.
