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Locked down but not out in Italy

Singing from the balconies! One nice thing about this crisis ... solidarity! “Guess you’re not living like a tourist anymore,” was the funny, truthful and somewhat gut-wrenching message of a friend the day the lockdown in Italy began. Today is day 6. My beloved Italia has been hit hard with the COVID19 epidemic. With the second largest elderly population in the world, the epidemic has meant a disproportionate amount of deaths in the country. So though I haven’t been worried about contracting it myself, this isn’t about me or someone like me who, if contracted it would probably have a sucky couple of weeks and then recover. It is about if someone like me contracted it and then spread it to a person with a complicated health history or an elderly person with a weakened immune system. Eerily orderly: Lines for the grocery store, each person one meter apart In a country with no concept (and no physical room really) for personal space, and in a city with reproachable hygie
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Postcard from Sudan!




About Sudan
If you have read about Sudan in the news in recent times, it has not likely been in the tourism section of the newspaper. However, this country, the largest in Africa, is home to 41.1 million people and thousands of aid workers. Sudan is situated just south of Egypt and along the banks of Red Sea and the Nile.

The picture above is of the Blue Nile just outside of Sudan's capital city, Khartoum. Khartoum is the meeting point for the Blue Nile and the White Nile, two tributaries to the River Nile. The Blue Nile originates in Ethiopia and flows 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) to Khartoum, where it joins with the White Nile to form the River Nile, a north flowing river and Egypt's lifeline since ancient times.

The White Nile is called as such from the whitish clay suspended in its waters making it have a greenish color. Whereas the Blue Nile is so-called because the water is indeed bluer or blacker than the White Nile. There are various explanations for the cause for this blue-black color: owing either to high currents or to the blackish sediment that the water carries. This picture from BBC says more than words can.

At the moment, it is not really the right time to visit Sudan as a tourist, but like any place, you can find immense beauty when you open your eyes to it.

Where are you?
Send me a postcard! Just take a digital photo, write a 2-3 line message and send it to touristliving(at)gmail(dot)com! I'll turn your photo into a postcard and post it on my blog to share your experience of living like a tourist in your own city. (Remember: whether you are living in Duluth or Dubai- I want to hear about the interesting or unique aspects of your city!)
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  1. UnknownDecember 28, 2015 at 9:56 AM

    Hey, I appreciate your writing. Sudan has a rich past. Its old kingdoms equaled Egypt's. To be sure, now and again Sudanese lords ruled over Pharaonic Egypt. The country was additionally the one and only in nineteenth century Africa to remove a pioneer power by power: British-Egyptian General Gordon's powers were vanquished in 1882 by a Sudanese defiance that set up a briefly autonomous country. Thanks all. Best of luck.
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