If you're looking for tales of swashbuckling adventure and/or piracy, go somewhere else for you won't find it here. It wasn't supposed to be this way – after our disappointment in Berbera we decided to head out of Somaliland and back to Ethiopia to continue our charge southwards, stopping in Hargeisa only to get our Ethiopian visas and munch on one or two of the Oriental Hotel's unbeatable steak sandwiches. This plan turned sour after about 12 hours when we woke up early to head to the Ethiopian embassy. Instead of heading out towards Hargeisa's eastern suburbs, I headed towards the bathroom and threw up all over the place before going back to bed. This was followed by repeated violent ejections from many sources and it became clear that I wasn't going to be ready to leave any time soon.
A succinct and discreet summary of T's week in Hargeisa
M, always the willing soldier, ran around getting me water, food and toilet paper while I slowly decomposed in bed, spouting nonsensical rubbish as I hit a 40C fever on the first day. Thankfully that and the throwing up was a thing of the past by my second day in bed and I was left to deal with the fallout – digestive malfunction and a lethargy which was abnormal even by my own high standards. M graciously took my headache for a day before she too got rid of it, and we spent the next few days lying around,recuperating and generally racking up the energy levels again. Our money levels rapidly running out and Somaliland not being host to any sort of ATM, we managed to get some money wired over through Qaran Express (as Western Union isn't in Somaliland either – thanks Mommy and Daddy!).
Our money transfer was slightly more official than this. But not much...
With me out of action,M took up the reins of paperwork monkey heading the task of getting us out of Somaliland. Her first attempt on the Ethiopian mission failed because she didn't get up on time. Reminiscent of our Djiboutian embassy escapade in Addis, her second attempt failed due to the mission being closed for Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas. Her third attempt nearly failed because of my non-presence although she managed to persuade the officials that it would be OK to put a visa in my passport despite the fact that I was in bed a few kilometres down the road. How many decibels this required is a matter I can't confirm but the visa is firmly in place and ready for use anyway.
Energy levels are still not very high, but we think they're high enough for us to get going early to Ethiopia tomorrow.
To get my laundry sparkling, I use "Top"! T poses in front of laundry he had very little to do with
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