Brief update before I lose internet for a week

I've been a bad, bad blogger. Horrible internet in Ethiopia sapped me from blogging. And basically in the 3 days I've been in Sudan, I've just laid around and done nothing. Problem is. . . tomorrow morning our overland truck leaves Khartoum to head to Wadi Halfa on the Sudan/Egypt border. We will be on the road for 4 or so days, camping in the desert. Then two days in Wadi Halfa and then one day on the ferry to Egypt. Pretty sure there isn't going to be internet at all for that week.

So my laziness the last couple days is likely to mean no blogs for a while, which is the best way to lose readers. Damn it. Will try to write a bunch while traveling, but likely to have a similar problem -- no way to recharge the computer. I've heard about this pen and paper thing, but it seems way too new-fangled for me to deal with.

Sudan has been quite nice, at least in comparison to Ethiopia. For the most part, no beggers, especially no children begging. That was one the many things that really got me down on Ethiopia: constant begging by kids for money. The power works here. The internet has been quite good. Normal bartering and such with taxi drivers, but not too bad. The food has been pretty good and it is a completely safe city -- something to do with it being a totalitarian, Islamic, police state.

But damn, it is hot. Africa hot. 43 celcius a few days ago (that's 109 to us back in the States). Only 35 or so yesterday. I'm assuming it will be 40+ every day in the desert coming up. I probably should go get another buzz haircut this afternoon. I won't be taking a shower most likely for a week and its much easier to deal with little hair in that situation.

I am hoping to just sleep beneath the stars. I don't think mosquitoes are going to be a problem out there and I'd rather not sleep in a stuffy tent, if I can avoid it. I'm hoping for some amazing star-filled nights in the middle of nowhere-land. And some small pyramids and ruins that few others visit.

We'll see in a week or so. Then it will be Egypt, where I assume I can much more easily upload pictures and such. My friend, Dave Roberts, is flying down from Germany to meet me in Luxor on the 31st for a whirlwind tour of Egypt -- he's flying out of Cairo on the 5th.

O yea -- I should add this. The route we are taking goes pretty much right up the Nile. Totally and completely safe. The unsafe region is Darfur to the far west (you might have heard of it in the news. . .). I will be far from there. In fact, you can't even get government permission to travel anywhere near it -- not shocking, considering what this government is doing over there.