Driving in Peru is relatively easy. Though there were few surprises for me. First is that I've underestimated the scale of the country . My God, it is big!
Lima is maybe the most controversial city of Peru. On the one hand, it's the capital of the country with lots of possibilities, nightlife, Peruvian flute bands constantly playing lambada , and a number of other things you might want to try (surfing, paragliding). And on the other hand, it has a way too much attributes of big city (dirt, slums, guys with guns, hookers and drug dealers offering their service every 100 meters in the center of the city ).
There are many things about USA that might seem new and weird for the first comer. But even though I've been there 2 times now, I didn't found ones mind-blowing enough to write a comprehensive story. Nevertheless I can't say that there was nothing that surprised me . So still I would like to finally make it just as a list, based mainly on my stays at Seattle and San Francisco.
I bet 99% of Socotra visitor's stories starts with something like “Only a month ago I didn't even knew that word, not to tell were in the world this place might be. But now I surely know that there exists a paradise on Earth, and I know its name”. Of course, one might name straight away tens of places, which can be referenced as 'paradise', but still there is something that makes Socotra special.
The next day we were leaving to Al-Mukalla through the Wadi Dow'an valley (see the picture below), which is renowned for it's palm forests and rivers. Unfortunately, rivers were dry, so we had nothing left to do but practice our kalashnikov shooting skills.
By the evening we arrived to Mukalla, the first westernized Yemeni city we've encountered (though the most famous is surely Aden).
As we had an early flight to Arriving to Hadramout (former province of Southern Yemen) we were to wake up really early. Something like 3 AM. Damn... I hate waking up early! Evening before I called Mohamed, the taxi driver I've met the other day, and asked if he will be able to pick us at that time. Fortunately, by that time I was fully accustomed into that “inshallah” (if the the God will) life attitude. The trick about Arab people is that they don't say “no”. So when Mohammed's phone appeared to be unavailable, that was not a surprise nor a problem.
The next night my friend arrived (again at 3 am) and we were to leave for a tour to Shibam / Kawkaban and Thula (and Manakha + Al Hajarrah next day) - the famous villages around Sana. In Shibam, a group of locals asked us to make a photo to send them later. I don’t know how Yemeni postal system works, but I hope they’ll be able to deliver a message knowing only a name of a man and a city %)
It was late night when I arrived to Sana. Not having any luggage (except carry on) is a sweet habit I try to follow, which among other benefits includes smiles of a great relief at the airport check-in counters and an extra fast “check-out” after landing. Usually this means that you would have a good chance of not being noticed by police, since they normally watch for the most of the people (which wait for their luggage). That was not the case this time: even though I was fast, I was approached by somebody, who with no apparent reason made me proceed to the tourist office where I was presented some free (but pretty useless) brochures. That was unusual. And that is when I realized that finally I was in another world. The world that I missed since I left Morocco last year.
. My God, it is big!
January 2012March 2012
My Opera
