Sunday 23 March (day 23)

Sunday is the start of the workweek and immigration is open today.  Our first stop is to Midhat, mashansharti@gmail.com; Tel +249(0)912253484; GPS  N 15˚35.943' E 032˚31.555', who has been highly recommended by other travelers and the Dutch motorcycle riders met earlier in the week.  Midhat was very helpful and friendly and fell instantly in love with Eowyn. Usually she gets one or two presents, but after a small Santa Claus, a bunny and a pack of Hibiscus tea he asked if she likes cheese…… Saliva started to run and we were all hoping she would say yes. Loaded with some cheese it still wasn't enough and a roll of Kleenex toilet paper came out. Again a very useful gift; Thanks Midhat. On to immigration where we submit for extensions (which is another $200!) But with the help of an assistant (and another $50) we can leave our forms and documents with him and go off for lunch and some errands in town.  We spend a lot of time in the car today and the Khartoum traffic and it is hot, hot, hot.  At one point we drive past a billboard which tells us it is 44 Celsius.  Somehow there are people walking about, smiling, laughing, going about their business while we are turning to liquid.  The traffic moves in Khartoum but not enough to get a decent breeze in the car and it just seems to get hotter and hotter. We try the airco but with no shade on the car and the starting temps it doesn't seem to do much and we go back to the open windows.  At some point the focus of our driving around seems to become more on finding cold drinks than anything on the list. It feels like we get a cold drink and then start driving looking for more cold drinks. We did manage to get something accomplished so we are able to leave town tomorrow but the highlights of the day all seem to have to do with cold drinks.