Rest Day in Dongola

Sudan

I'm getting there.

This is my day off and I have come closer to a new perpective of things. It is a damn race, fine, but I did not sell my soul yet to the devil.
I am going to make the best out of my days off and evenings. Wander, explore, take pictures, talk to or simply watch the locals.

Dongola is a town on the Nile, the 2 banks connected via a ferry. We have reached our campsite after crossing the Nile on the ferry. It is a small ferry more like the local shuttle. Nevertheless it takes buses, trucks, cars, goats, donkey-carts, camels and people.

Naturally, there was not enough time to stop at the ferry on our arrival. But I had decided to return and watch the activity for a while.

I leave camp before sunrise and walk for a bit until I take a tuk-tuk to the end of the paved road. The last stretch to the ferry I want to walk since there were fields on both sides.
I am witnessing the sunrise from behind some palm trees and explore the field, harrass some donkeys and end up in someone's courtyard. As I'm busy taking pictures the man approaches me. I have learned so far that for me there is a very short set of words that helps me in all the situations: beside "thank you" and "hello" the word "beautiful" is on my list. And so I have a short exchange of impressions with the man and eventually I take a picture of him before saying good-bye.
There are only a few hundred meters from the end of the paved road to the ferry but I need lots of time for that and over 100 pictures. I feel free and happy. The air is still chilly, but the sun is out and bathing everything in a beautiful light. People have started to work their fields.

At the ferry there's lots of activity. The 2 ferries come and go extremely loaded. At first the men get off all dressed in their white gowns and wearing turbans. Like a white wave that desintegrates fast into many thin white particles. The women come after. It's a smaller but so much more powerful wave in its colour statement and contrast. And beautiful, so beautiful.

Boxes get loaded onto and unloaded from little donkey drawn carts. A few young boys are working hard doing this work. As soon as the ferry is empty people and cars load onto it to get to the other side.

The donkey carts that arrive by ferry are loaded with onions, watermelons and vegetables.
A big wooden boat near the shore has huge firewood heaps on its deck. A couple of men and 2 boys are unloading it onto a small donkey cart.

I sit there for almost 3 hours watching the people come and go, the loading and unloading, the colors. There's shouting, sweating, pushing and pulling around every single cart. The donkeys are patient and the men express their frustrations by hitting them. Noone's life is easy, whether man or animal.
During this time I drink 2 coffees with the locals and they get used to my presence and even ask me to take pictures of them.

It is about 11am when I decide to return to camp. The light is much harsher now and the ferries aren't that busy anymore.

Back at camp I do the bike maintenance tasks before going out with Maria and Spiros for some delicious and cheap falafel.
Before I know it it's past 3pm and the light is warming up. Time to go back to my spot.

I basically repeat the same experience from this morning and spend another few hours at the ferry. The light comes from a different angle.
A man comes with heavily loaded camels, another takes his goats across the Nile.
A slim dark man arrives holding his little daughter in his arms very tightly and tenderly. The two of them radiate warmth and love. It's beautiful just to watch them.
The little donkey cart laden with firewood has flipped sideways into the water and now the donkey stands there patiently whereas the men load another cart. Nobody came to help turn and pull the fallen cart out of the water. The second donkey got a serious beating from the angry and frustrated men.

I say good-bye to the ferry terminal and Dongola tonight here at sunset and get a few more nice shots on the way back. A very young man is following me and makes me an indecent proposal. My God, should I feel flattered? He's so young I could be his mother. So I laugh and take pictures of him and leave him behind.

I reach camp in the dark after walking the 3km or so back and shaking dozens of hands. People are just so nice and friendly.

The day has been marvellous and I feel so happy. I didn't do much, really, but I enjoyed those peaceful hours of watching and studying the people.
This is the way to go, I know now. I'll have to skip the experience during the cycling and focus more on the time off. It's just another job in the end :-)