salem egypt

we went fishing today. it was almost as successful as the rest of the tour. we caught nothing. not even a bite. five hours man. thank god we had the beer to keep us company. booze has been hard to come by lately. what with ramadam going on. we chose the worst time in the whole world ever to visit an islamic country. nobody sells beer. and black-market prices have gone through the roof. but we were desperate. there's only so much shithead and backgammon a man with a tach and a cowboy hat can play in his hotel room without getting restless.

and restless we got. it sure was nasty. using binocs to spy on the old flabby mommies with peach coloured bikinis suning themselves on the cruise boat outside our hotel window. we were desperate man. playing hotel volleyball with an inflatable earth. wrestling in the roof-top puddle. reading the bible. it was horrible. state of emergency. code red.

sudan tomo promises to be just as challenging. 40 lashes for anyone caught with booze. and that is in times outside of ramadam. goddamn fanatics. these people are nuts. i now feel like christ must have felt walking through the world: a psychiatrist in a ward full of insane freaks. how can you give up alcohol for a month. it's just not normal. not natural. and it's miguel's bday on the 26th. a bday without booze. it's just not on.

so as you can imagine. moral has been low. not rock-bottom. but low. it's hard to keep team morale up without booze. there's nothing to laugh and snigger about. thankfully we have the tach's to hold on to during these tough times. something to remind us that god does indeed work in mysterious ways. and that somewhow, anyhow, things will turn out okay.