Farewell to our Eritrean Family

July 24, 207.

Our last day in Eritrea and Matt and i woke up with sore throats.

Still, there was no time to sleep it off. We had people to see, places to go, souvenirs to buy.

We wrapped up in many layers, swallowed a bunch of pills and headed out the door.

See pic of the main street of Asmara. Across the road is the imposing, but gorgeous Catholic Cathedral.

Our first stop was trying to track down the latest LOST series, season 3.

Being addicts to the tv series, we saw it once on the first day, but in Tigrinya.

We were now on the hunt to find it in English.

After a few desperate attempts in various stores and shops in the most random of streets, we were just about to declare defeat when it started to hail!

We couldn't believe it, chunks of ICE were beating down and it hurt!

See Matt throwing an ice-ball at me, a first in Africa!

We then went back to Saba and Haileb's house where we showed a slideshow of the week's pictures.

Everyone loved seeing themselves on screen.

While our last injera dinner was being prepared in the kitchen (this is the meal where we ate the delicious Adi Gulti chicken), with last minute family pictures being taken and with Al-Jazeera blasting from the television, I taught the kids how to fold a paper ball, one of my babysitting tricks.

See pic of Selina and Ruta blowing up their ball.

I've also posted some pics of the other family members here.

Basically it has been a completely enriching week, and despite the obvious culture and language barriers, we were taken in like family and made to feel at home.

What better way, then to share a last communal meal with them.

These are the people who have made our trip so special, so memorable and whose generosity and kindness is a true treasure in this world.