weekend on the beach

After a week of hard work and considering the general hard ship of life in Somaliland, we came to the conclusion that we defenitely deserve some hours of sweet lazinesson the beach. Though I wouldnt call Somalia a dream destination for holidays in the sun, there are some acceptable spots along the coast. Having seen them only on pictures up to now, i was more than keen to visit them on my own. A short glimpse at the map helped agreeing on a destination: Berbera, a coastal town, connected to Hargeisa by a direct road, appreciated by Ethiopia for its port, and known by the Americans for its strategic location at the gulf of Aden, was our first and only choice. Gwen picked me up with the ambulance car of his organisation caled HAlo trust www.halotrust.org Friday eight o clock in the morning. Together we went to pick up Leo, working for AfricaSettanta, Miguel, working for UNDP and Salja, working for NRC (www.nrc.no/engindex.htm). Besides this crowd two guardians joined the trip to the beach as it is the rule. No expat is allowed to leave Hargeisa without two guardians and two Kalaschnikows. Everybody was in a good mood, and so we started our trip in the weekend. The first hour of drive was dedicated by some of us to some more sleep (or meditation?) I myself cant hardly understand how Miguel managed to sleep on the uncosy backbench of the ambulance car (or rather a old landrover defender rearranged as an ambulance car). I didnt manage to catch some sleep - despite being thrown from one side to the other, I was first of all not sleepy and seconly too much interested in the landscape. Some camels here, some goats there - rocky hills and empty rivers - and every now and then a tiny village with a road block. Since people know each other in this small and less populated country, a quick wave by one of our guardians is normally sufficient to have the rope (thats acutally the regular appearance of the roadblocks) removed for us to be able to pass by. Driving over the rope with normal speed would have the same effect, but since they dont ask for bribes we usually stop.
During the drive I came to know that Hargeisa is located at 1500 metres above the sea level - and that the real heat is not there, but along the coast. With every kilometer we drove, the air became hotter and heavier. Stepping out of the car in Berbera felt like diving into a bowle full of jelly. There was some kind of wind, but calling it a breeze would be a mere exaggeration. Besides the hot wind i noticed soon that there were no trees along the beach. Jumping into the water seemed to be the only way to cool down! But the water, too, was hot and little refreshing.
The fact that me and Salja had to wear some trousers and skirts above the Bikini didnt do any improvement to the situation.
However, one hour in the water cooled us at least down to some extent, and created some hunger feelings. Lunch we had in a "seafood restaurant" next to the harbour. Skinny cats and birds were observing our eating progress with open eyes - ready to catch every singly piece of fish or pastas which (unintended) touched the ground.

The drive to the restaurant gave me the opportunity to have a closer look at this town called Berbera. All together i would call it a mixture of a town in the old wild west and a arabic coastal village. Many of the houses are still destroyed from the war. Few people are in the streets during the day - the heat is making most of the population hiding behind thick wooden doors. Only homeless dogs are crossing the streets in small groups. Many of the vessels seem to have been in the harbour for too many years, in the meantime rosted and broken, unable to leave the harbour and too big to be removed. On the way to our hotel we saw a Horpital, located in the middle of an empty field. It looked new, but Salja told us that it is abandoned - no money for staff and equippment.
Has Berbera once been an important coastal town, an important harbour for the entire region? It is still a harbour of a certain importance, but realizing its importance during the daytime (and on a fridays) is quite difficult.

The day on the beach ended with an extended swim session during the night. The stars on the sky were reflected by millions of little phosphorizing sparkles in the water. Every move i did in the water created another thousends of small sparkles. I must confess that I have never ever experienced such magic moments in the water.

Today I tried to find out why and when water is actually phosphorizing. Does anybody know? I hope it is not due to the nuclear rubbish and other kind of rubbish which has been dumped in the sea around Somalia for some many years, in order to fill the pocket of Siad Barre with some additional income :-/