Cooling Heels in a Hot City

Good news is that  Janet will be going to Paris on Monday!

Here's the new flight info for her Monday flights:

Flight TK0687 departs DJI at 12:30, arrives 6:55

Flight TK1829 departs  IST 7:20 PM, arrives CDG 10:55 PM

She's staying at the Acacia Hotel - pretty nice, has a pool. Turkish Air is picking up the hotel cost due to the cancelled flight. We're messaging back and forth right now, she's roughing it at the pool.

This is the hotel - one of the best in Djibouti - note that there is a gate, barricades, and guardhouse with armed guards. Way better than Motel 6!

Maybe the Last Night in Djibouti

Looks like Janet's flight out of Djibouti to Istanbul has been cancelled.  Will update once we get more info.

Last Night in Djibouti

Janet's back at the hotel. All good, she's downloaded footage from cameras, and is happy with the shots. And most importantly, she went to the market today and got me Ethiopian spices! Berbere, Mitmita, Mekelesha - all good stuff!!!

This is from Janet:

My first impression of Djibouti City was so wrong. It seemed like nothing was happening. After a couple days here it feels like Casablanca. Everyone (Djiboutian, French, Chinese, Yemeni, Saudi, and US) are wheeling and dealing. We are now seeing a bunch of French military guys out of uniform in the restaurants and cafes. We just passed armed, full uniform French police. What the hell are they doing here? Tables of guys from everywhere, drinking beers, and making deals. Super interesting. All with a total undercurrent of violence.

Interestingly, we haven't seen much USmilitary presence (actually only once sneaking into a club ... totally suspect guys). Since the bombing in the square near the hotel in 2014, the US military stay on base. The Muslim population hate infidel influence and there are a bunch of bars here on the square. The US wants to keep its strategic base so they restrict soldiers from leaving. French military too. We have to go through a metal detector and pat down every time we come back into the hotel.


Janet mentioned seeing an actual drone flyover. Same day as the pentagon put out a press release about a US drone strike on Yemen that killed 20-30.

She also talked a bit about the guide issues - but I'll let her tell her own story once she's online. But she did mention "I have a better feel for what it feels like to be a hostage ... we stayed calm and eventually got back here to the hotel."

She flies to Paris tomorrow, lucky Janet!

Djibouti City

Janet has made it to Djibouti Citi. She's staying for a couple days at the glamorous Menelik Hotel.

There's (spotty) wifi at the hotel. Here's an update from Janet:

It was a long flight here (i've got the swollen ankles to prove it) but here I am. Djibouti City is not as developed as Macale in Ethiopia, but this hotel is nicer. We walked the city, around the mosque, changed money with a woman with a huge bag of cash just out on the street, went through a chaotic market, a crazier place where local buses pick up and drop passengers, had lunch in the restaurant that was bombed in 2014 and am now back at the hotel, showered and ready for a nap. I met our Afar guide. He seems like he really wants to please us so hopefully it will be a good trip. 

Tons of cats here, mostly hanging around the goat and fish stands ... way more flies than cats though. It's hot as hell and everybody is saying how cool it is ).

After a long shower and a nap, Luke and I struck out for the port. We got a bit lost, but was fun. 

We wandered through the center and then to a fancy high end neighborhood close to the Presidential Palace. We finally got to the port which was interesting. Tons of Ethiopian trucks loading, unloading, and crowding the roads. Old abandoned wooden fishing boats, next to one or two fancy yachts/sailboats and then a ton of tankers. We walked towards the Southern Somalia boarder (which is really close) and past the presidential palace. It's huge with a garden area that looks like a F1 track with tents here and there. Major armed guards everywhere. We heard that every once in a while he will open the garden to the locals for a concert or party. 

 

We found a really nice restaurant on the water that Ken had recommended. We had a big lunch so just had drinks sitting outside on the water. Made Djibouti look really pretty. Almost forgot all the raw sewage we walked by to get there. Sat for a long time watching the sun set then strolled back to the hotel (occasionally followed by some small child saying momma, momma begging for money. We walked past more places on the water, pizza shop, hookah bar, whore house/dance club,