In Khartoum

I made it.

half way there

Well, it took a minor miracle, but I made it out of Beirut. Now I'm in Abu Dhabi and hope to fly to Khartoum at 1am Sunday morning.

Going to Sudan!!!

Finally, the long awaited visa has arrived and I will be on my way to Sudan soon. Actually, the visa came in the day after I left for Syria, but there was no internet access where I was visiting in rural Syria, so I didn't find out until I returned to Damascus on Sunday.
I'm back in Lebanon now and plan on heading to leaving for Sudan on early Friday morning. Unfortunately for me, Friday also marks the start of Ramadan, a heavy travel period in this part of the world, and definitely not the best time to be flying standby. All of the flights for the next week and a half are overbooked, so I'll just show up at the airport and hope that some folks cancel at the last minute.

I'll post some reflections on my trip to Syria soon.

...

Well, I'm still in Lebanon, awaiting that elusive piece of paper that allows me to enter Sudan. There is no current news on if the visa will come soon or not...could be tomorrow, next month, or next year. In the meantime, I'm going to spend a week in Syria with my friend, Brent. We'll have a night or 2 in Damascus, then go on the home of his extended family for the remainder of the trip. This will be a good chance to learn more about the Arab/Syrian culture, as well as practice my Arabic, as English speakers will be few and far between.

I'll post pictures and recount any stories I deem worthy of your time upon my return to Lebanon.