27 Oct Djibouti

Good 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.

This time, someone, at last, has identified my vital needs and installed me in a commanding position in line with them.
So 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.

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.

Pirates hijacking ships like these jelbut in the picture,

to launch attacks on ships as big as this one, with a couple of...

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.

I took this photo in Yemen, I put it here so you can see how their mouths look when they are with the Khat.

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.

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.
Yesterday 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.
Regarding 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.

below the surface, there is a layer of salt up to eighty metres deep.

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.

Water problems in Djibouti

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.

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.
As 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.

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.