April 18th, 2021 Djibouti

4:40AM We arrived at Djibouti. While the flight is continuing to Somalia, which is what I will taking tomorrow, I got off with half of the passengers. It is hot in Africa. We got into this room with a voodoo negative pressure tent and passed through to get a mandatory 30 USD COVID test. They make you spit in a 50 mL Falcon tube and we waited until everyone was finished. A couple of Americans claimed that it was just for extra income for the customs. One French doctor working for Doctors without Borders corrected that when we were waiting in line and said I could get the results in the afternoon for future use.

6AM I tried to walk toward downtown which was only a couple of miles away. The taxi was going to be around 15 to 20 USD. I got a driver outside the airport to agree to 5 USD to the China Restaurant. When we got there though, he wanted more. I eventually gave him 10 USD after the police in the station started pressuring me.

11AM I walked to downtown which was about a mile away. The Mosquee Al-Hamoudi was closed until 1AM. I got some money through Visa exchange. I was dehydrated with this heat. I then walked toward Hopital Bouffard.

Downtown Djibouti

1PM I got there and after going back and forth with people there, I finally got them to print me a negative result sheet dated 4/18/2021. I tried to get lunch at Saba Restaurant for seafood. It was closed for Ramadan. That didn’t stop me from trying again later in the evening.  I took a bus back to the Heron area. Hotel Kempinski was the best resort in town and the bar did not open until 3:30PM. I was to return later.

2:30PM I got back and took a shower before taking a nap until 6PM.

Prayer during Ramadan

6:30PM I walked back toward the bar nearby Hotel Kempinski. It was fair and I got into the hotel from the back entrance. This is a large complex and is probably the best in the region. I took a look at their international buffet and then walked toward Saba Restaurant. I walked about 1.5 miles and it was really closed like they had told me earlier. Some people on the street told me to go to Hamdani Restaurant. I walked to it as well and it was closed as well because of Ramadan.

Hotel Kempinski

Outdoor bar at Hotel Kempinski

8:45PM I finally got to the town center area with all the buses and took one back to Heron area. I got back around 9:15PM. I went to bed and woke at 4AM for the conference call.