From Bruce Richard's trip to Asmara

Hello!

We are back and had a blast! Bill could not make it. We will be putting pictures on our pages soon. I was given a tour of Kagnew and Tract A, but no pictures in side. They are both used by the Eritrean Army. Due the Eritrea being so poor, and fighting for there survival, both areas look very run down. They are putting every available man hour and all money into defense. It really looked like the last coat of paint on the buildings was done under the US administration in the early 70's. All the buildings in Tract A did have new tin roofs. The old shingles were still laying on the ground in front of the buildings. The Nyala is now owned by the government, and it is showing signs of lack of repair also. We used the top floor for our radio equipment, and had the roof full of antennas.

The Eritrean people are some of the nicest people I have ever meet, surely the most honest. I say a guy come out of the main bank with a large plastic bag. As he walked up to the curb the bag brushed against one of the many palm trees. Well money went all over the street and side walk. Everyone raised up there shirts and gathered the money and walked over to the front of the bank. The guy went inside and got another bag, and the people helped him to put the money back into the new bag then everyone went back to what they were doing. I was impressed!

Overall, Asmara looked better than I had expected with the long battle they have gone through. There is no crime at all. I only saw one policeman in the 2 1/2 weeks we were in Eritrea. We went to Massawa also, and it was nearly totally destroyed during the last part of the war. It is being rebuilt, or repaired as needed.

The trip from Asmara to Massawa and back was uneventful except for stopping for 2 camel caravans, and slowing down for the many baboons crossing the road and knocking rocks in front of us as they climbed the hill beside the road. Oh, Millotie beer is now called Asmara beer and the bar at the corner near the Nyala, Bar Lilly, is still there and doing a great business
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Well that all I have time for now.... Bruce/WD4NGB