Traveler Postcard from Sudan
Hi, Everyone,
We are in Suakin, Sudan at 19 06.5 N, 037 20.2 E anchored off the Old Suakin ruins. We have a local cell phone, so those of you with Skype can call us and it is a free call for both of us. The time change is 11 hours earlier here than Pacific Coast Time (maybe 12 with Daylight Savings Time?) Our number is 00249-908064445. We’d love to here from you.
Suakin was one of the busiest ports on the Red Sea for hundreds of years, and was still used in the slave trade up until the end of World War II. But all the commercial shipping moved north 35 miles to Port Sudan about a hundred years ago and this once vibrant port became a ghost town and is now in ruins.
Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Their president has a warrant out for his arrest issued by the International Court for war crimes, and there is a trade embargo with the US and many other nations for the genocide in Darfur in the western side of Sudan, Africa’s largest country in size.
More on our passage, with photos, soon.
Cheers,
Michael and Barbara