it is time...

...to finally finish my post about our travels! this will probably be a bit shorter and less detailed, because i am lazy and also i have probably lost 70% of my memory of that trip already. so after we swam at the lovely cove beach on kamaran, we returned to the hotel to hang out for a bit while awaiting our motorcycle taxi. we ended up meeting some crazy old russian dudes who had just arrived at the hotel and were going to be in yemen for a couple weeks spearfishing and drinking...and they of course began with the drinking. when we met the first russian, we weren't sure whether he just spoke horrible english and was kind of a weird guy, or was just ridiculously sloshed already...we were kind of learning towards the latter. his friends appeared one by one over the next half-hour or so, and they were very friendly and of course soon insisted that we start drinking with them. each had brought 6 liters of alcohol to yemen...yes EACH. the limit is 2 liters/person, but apparently it was acceptable because they were russian. so we proceeded to take way too many shots (i kept telling them that a) i am not russian and b) i am very small, but they just kept pouring us shots). i made the unfortunate decision to eat some fresh sushi with them, which would backfire on me in manakha. eventually our motorcycle taxi showed up (it was during ramadan, and so we of course had to wait until after iftar), and we sadly said goodbye to our new/soon to be wasted friends. we made the somewhat uncomfortable trip back to the dock cramped on one motorcycle taxi, and took the next boat back to salif. when we arrived in salif, it was quite late and there were no taxis or minibuses around, so we hopped into the back of some guy's pick-up truck along with a random assortment of yemenis, and made our way back to hodeidah. along this trip i had my first and hopefully ONLY experience in a yemeni public bathroom...i really really had to pee and absolutely could not wait, but (luckily i think) it was so dark that i couldn't see anything, and so it wasn't as unpleasant as it could've been.

the next morning, jared went out to find us a shared taxi while i waited in the hotel with our things (which wasn't really necessary at all, but very kind of him...especially cuz i was still being so cranky). he came to get me once he found one, and we eventually got going after the guy filled up his taxi. i became gradually happier and happier as the temperature cooled with the rise in altitude, and we soon arrived in the beautiful mountain town of manakha. we checked into the hajjarah tourist hotel, which was an extremely refreshing change from our hotel in hodeidah. it was a bit expensive, $15 each/night, but well worth it as they are very used to having foreigners and really make your stay very pleasant. our room was beautiful and clean, with a western toilet and windows on 2 sides overlooking the town and the mountains...since we were the only ones staying there, i think it was their nicest room. our delicious and sizable meals were also included in the price, along with a very fun night of yemeni jambiyya dancing, shisha, and tea. dad and micah, i will definitely take you guys here when you come!!!

the day that we arrived, we basically spent our time in the hotel relaxing and recovering from our somewhat exhausting trip to kamaran. we ate a huge meal, participated in the yemeni jambiyya dancing, and generally had a very nice time. the next morning, we were supposed to go on a baby hike to a nearby town called hajjarah, but unfortunately i got really really sick shortly after we set out (from the sushi, of course), and had to spend the remaining time in manakha back in the hotel recovering to the point where i could made it back to sanaa. but at least we got to stay in manakha, take beautiful pictures of the mountains (i especially liked the views at dusk/dawn), and recover from our "vacation" of the previous few days. :)