More money lessons

Everything financial had been working so smoothly for us all through Malawi (despite its' scarcity of ATMs), Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, that we forgot that replenishing our funds was not always straightforward. Rumour had it that there were only two ATM locations in Ethiopia (in Addis and Gonder) and none in the whole of Sudan, which has had sanctions imposed so that VISA and Mastercard didn't work anywhere. We neglected to get more US dollars in Nairobi (which are always useful for changing money in the unofficial market), and when we got to the Ethiopian border we somehow managed to change too much of our US dollars into Ethiopian Birr. It was only when we reached Addis, hoping to draw more money from the ATM and change it to US dollars in preparation for Sudan that we found out how scarce the greenback is in these parts. I had a kafkaesque encounter at the bank and forex where I was told that there was only US$150 available per person, but only when showing and airline ticket leaving the country. When I told them that I had arrived and intended to leave by car I was firmly assured that this was not possible, no-one arrives by car into Ethiopia. Luckily the very pragmatic sales manager of our hotel used his contacts to procure us US$1000 for a fair rate and even got the guy to come to the hotel so that we could safely make the transaction.

Stuart changing money at the bag shop

Rumours were correct and the only other ATM was in Gonder. Having stocked up with US dollars in Addis, we were more concerned with acquiring Sudanese Pounds at this point as we were on our way to the border. When Stuart visited the bank on the Ethiopian side of the border (money changers were strangely missing from this otherwise busy border crossing) he was referred to the bag shop across the road where a guy changed our excess Birr into a few Sudanese Pounds. This was enough to get us through our custom expenses and to pay for the toll on the Khartoum road, but not enough to pay for the Nile hotel in Wad Madani, even after we had bargained them down from 90 to 60 SP. We had read that it was possible to change money in the souq at the goldsmith shops, so we took a walk in the mild evening air. It was easy to find the souq, although at 6pm not much was happening yet. Some non-verbal communication with a Quran-reading goldsmith later and we were sent to see Ahmed round the corner. Ahmed had a future as an extra in a Harrison ford adventure movie, sitting fat as Jabba the Hutt in front of his safe, counting thick wedges of various currencies. In front of him a desk laden with ledgers and receipts, flanked by hangers-on, he shook our hand and was happy to do business. In between handing out rubber-banded chunks of cash he offered us a reasonable rate, but before we could complete our transaction with this unofficial banker the communal dinner arrived and we were urged to take part. A huge metal bowl of foul (a mix of pita bread, tomatoes, cucumber and cooked beans with lots of spice) was placed on a table and everyone tucked in - right hand only. We were then served cool clear water in bashed metal mugs and, finally, our very own chunk of cash.

Now, in Khartoum, we realised what a good idea it was to equip ourselves with plenty of cold hard cash, as we have met two groups of overlanders going south that have to hurry to Ethiopia because they are running low on money. I hope the cyclists make it to Gonder before they are broke.