Asmara Eritrea - October 11th 2003

 

There is some work left regarding my business in Eritrea and I will visit the Ministry of Tourism. In their information office in Harnet Avenue I buy the last printed materials. I drink tea at the Minister herself en bring my greetings to the staff of the Ministry. They are itching to help me, but I am so familiar with Asmara and Eritrea that I will find my way without any help.

At the Africa Garage, I spend some time with one of the guys in charge. Would like to make new pictures, but I need memories of Eritrea, and he wants me to picture his new Toyota Land cruiser. I took a digital camera this time, so I can picture whatever I like and as much as I want and retry if necessary. But although the camera makes perfect pictures, I prefer the old one I took years ago when I first visited the garage.

In the afternoon I follow the suggestion of the Ministry of Tourism to visit the Sembel on-site Museum. Since I will pass the house of Mebrats mother on my way to the museum, I will visit them as well. Again we drink Eritrean coffee. Yordanos wants to cook me a lunch, but although I appreciate the hospitality, I try to avoid home made food.

Everywhere you go and visit people you must eat, but the risk of contamination is substantial for a foreigner, so I feed myself with vitamin boosters and white bread in the morning, coca cola and fruit juice from the supermarket in the daytime, and a good meal in a restaurant at the end of the day.

Every time I visit Eritrea it is like a switch is set from hunger to thirst. Must be the climate and the altitude. When I return to Holland I always experience some weight loss, but it is just loss of water, sneaking dehydration. I drink liters of fluid a day but there is no impulse to urinate all day. A good reason to visit a bar every hour of the day, or take a bottle of water or fruit juice when traveling.

From the house of Feshaye and his mother I walk to the museum. When I ask the local people for the museum, no one seems to be aware of its existence. But the instructions in the leaflet I received from the Ministry are clear. The site is guarded by two girls. For the explanation of what there is to see, you need the leaflet of the museum, because usually there is no guide available.

After the thorough look at the site and the descriptions of it presented by the museum itself, I ask the girl how much she will charge me. There is no charge, but I give her some Nakfa's. Think she deserves it, waiting all day for so little tourists finding their way to this museum.

In the late afternoon I take the bus to Pizzeria Eritrea to have diner. Terhas is from Holland. She will understand my "diet" and make my favorite meal. Mebrat is still using the pizzeria as her office to get rid of all the mail and packages from Holland.

 

Yordanos and the mother of Mebrat and Feshaye - Sembel Asmara.

Mother of Mebrat and Feshaye - Old Sembel Asmara.

Yordanos, my sister in law - Old Sembel Eritrea.

Neighbors of Feshaye and Yordanos - Old Sembel Asmara.

Sembel museum Asmara Eritrea.

Platform providing a bird's eye view into the past - Sembel museum.

Kitchen 800 B.C. - Sembel museum Asmara Eritrea.

The "last" houses of Sembel village - Asmara Eritrea.

Kidane Mirhret Orthodox Church - Sembel village - Asmara.

Terhas and Mebrat - Pizzeria Eritrea - Asmara.