![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-5855.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO")
<\/p>\nGood morning from Djibouti, (I'm sure some of you will have to look on wikipedia where this is), another destination to which I have temporarily moved in the crusade against the forces of evil.<\/p>\n
This time, someone, at last, has identified my vital needs and installed me in a commanding position in line with them.
\nSo I am writing to you from the terrace of my infinity pool, mistaken for the Indian Ocean, in the middle of the Bab el Mandeb strait.<\/p>\n
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The city, a former French colony, is not the prettiest of the African capitals I have been to, but it has its charm. The foreign legion recently left with their shorts, high socks and white kepi, giving it a more colonial feel. Lately the city has become famous for the nearby Somali pirate attacks.<\/p>\n
Pirates hijacking ships like these jelbut in the picture,<\/p>\n
![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-5801.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO\\"")
\nto launch attacks on ships as big as this one, with a couple of...<\/p>\n
![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-5800.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO")
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Just like in Yemen or Somalia, at midday everything comes to a standstill, because it is the time for khat, a plant that, with effects similar to coca, but milder, makes them forget all their sorrows, even hunger. And I too get rid of my hunger when I see them with their mouths swollen, green and salivating.<\/p>\n
I took this photo in Yemen, I put it here so you can see how their mouths look when they are with the Khat.<\/p>\n
![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-0531.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO")
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Another curious thing about the city is the decoration of its dalla dalla, matatu, marsrutka or whatever they call their public transport. They put flower-like covers on the rear-view mirrors, and it looks as if Agatha Ruiz de la Prada had passed by, and had gone mad and decorated these cars like a madwoman.<\/p>\n
![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-0348.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO\\"")
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Of the rest of the city, in case anyone is thinking of coming here on holiday, which I highly recommend, it is worth visiting the central market and having dinner and drinks in Menelik Square.
\nYesterday was a very intense day. We travelled almost to the Ethiopian border to see Lake Assal. We went in a local taxi, in which I was more scared than when I was jumping out of planes because of the taxi driver's habit of driving with one foot out of the window, while texting non-stop. A little later we were taken to the police for a little trouble, and finally we promoted a local disorder in the market... I think they are still looking for us. We ended up exhausted, but we still had the strength to have a last drink in Menelik square.
\nRegarding Lake Assal, it is impressive. It is the area of water with the highest concentration of salt in the world, a 40%, it is also the lowest point in Africa and also the hottest.<\/p>\n
![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-5836.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO")
\nbelow the surface, there is a layer of salt up to eighty metres deep.<\/p>\n
![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-5844.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO\\"")
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![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-5827.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO")
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![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-5823.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO\\"")
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The lake is located in the region of the Afar people, who for centuries have traded in salt, which they transport to Ethiopia in large camel caravans.<\/p>\n
![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO\\"")
Water problems in Djibouti<\/p><\/div>\n
In this area there are a lot of volcanoes, a lot of volcanic rock and, thank God, acacias, a lot of acacias. I was also able to find this marvellous Dracanea Draco, although the locals call it, in a waste of imagination, a tree.<\/p>\n
![\"Yibuti\"](\"http:\/\/desertando.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/desertando-yibuti-5841.jpg\" "\\"\u00a9DESERTANDO\\"")
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The bad part of the day is that once again I have lost my iphone, I have already lost four, one in Chad, one in Tanzania, one in Florida and the last one in Djibouti, if I get another iphone, which I doubt, I will take a shoe phone with me on my next trip and leave the iphone at home.
\nAs I was writing this I was told that yes, I have to go home, it's not fair, I was adjusting very well to this new command post. I'm going out tonight to Menelik Square to drown my sorrows in a gin and tonic.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow I'll be back in the cold, with nine hours of flying ahead of me, which will fly by in no time at all.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Good morning from Djibouti, (I'm sure some of you will have to...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n