We were shown around Khartoum by a wonderful group of couchsurfers who showed us incredible hospitality and amazing friendship.  On Friday evening we went to the Sufi Dance (whirling dervishes) in nearby Omdurman.  It was an incredibly intense experience, not only for the believers themselves, but also for us from a cultural point of view. 
As the chanting grew louder and louder believers began to move almost as though they were possessed.  Completely withdrawn in deep meditation and prayer from the continuous chanting and drumming, a few took to spinning in circles while others began to repeat physical motions, like bobbing their head or throwing up their hands.  The man in the picture whirled around the inner circle for several minutes …

Africa was shockingly expensive. We expected that the touristy activities would be expensive but we underestimated the degree to this expense. True, eating in Africa can be cheap, lodging too, but that’s about where the cheapness ends.  We definitely could have spent less here, but we wanted to do the “big” Africa things: safari, Kilimanjaro, mountain gorillas.
A reminder of how all this works. Every dollar amount represents how much the two of us, combined, spent on the average day in a given country. Airfare to and from the continent (very expensive to get to Africa) is included in transportation in the totals line and aren’t applied to any specific country. As always, visa fees are …

Keeping this blog alive through Latin America took minimal effort beyond just writing up the posts. We might pay a few extra pesos for a hotel with wifi where we could upload photos overnight or need to spend a few hours here or there sitting in an internet cafe to make sure things were running smoothly, but all and all it was easy to find decent internet connections and the electricity was pretty regular. Africa however was a whole new ballgame.
Starting in South Africa we were shocked to find some of the worst connection speeds we’d experienced on this trip. Ecuador, Bolivia, and even Guatemala, all had better connections than what we generally found in South Africa. …

Sold as a street side snack falafel is as common as coca cola in the middle east.  Deep fried balls usually made from chickpeas, falafel can be served alone, with fuul or stuffed into a pita with fresh vegetables and salads.  In Sudan the falafel or t’amiyya was made of fava beans and was served alone or as an addition to fuul.  It was mostly plain in flavor and texture.  In Egypt we started to see falafel in pita with some salad and sometimes a tahini based sauce.  In Jordan we started seeing falafel topping bars, but it wasn’t until Israel that we had the full on falafel sandwich with chips, sauces, pickles and salads.  So its deep friend, but …