Calendar   Home
Previous Day

April 22, 2002

Next Day
Eritrea proves to be a great place for tourists: temperate weather, affordable prices, friendly people, safe and hassle-free streets that feel untouched by tourism. We pretend we're 'discovering' this country, especially since we've never thought of it before. Its history combines a mix of Ethiopian, Arabian, Sudanese, Turkish, and Italian influence. Sometime during the ages of passing conquerers, Eritrea gained a national conscious and fought for its independence. Nine years ago it won freedom from the last occupier, Ethiopia, after waging the longest war in African history, over 30 years. Burned wrecks cover the countryside. Eritrea derives its name from the Greek word, erythrea, meaning Red, coined by the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean sea, a trade manual written about seafaring on the Red Sea in the 1st century AD. Many ethnic groups comprise this region, referred to as a 'museum of people.' The largest groups are Tigrinya (50%) and Tigre (30%). These groups have their own language and script. Luckily, many people speak English and most signs have an English translation - the Tigrinya script looks like a cross between Amharic and Latin and it's incomprehensible to our eyes.
Jill bowls a strike on her birthday.
Retro bowling alley uses kids to set up pins and return bowling balls. We like this system better than machines; machines don't cheer when you bowl a strike.