We finally made it to Aden, and man was it worth it. We immediately dropped our belongings at the hotel, changed into our "swimming clothes" and left for the ocean. By swimming clothes, I literally mean clothes. Bathing suits are pretty much prohibited and I swam in pants and a long shirt--honestly, it makes it kind of difficult to enjoy the ocean when in so many clothes because the tide would catch your clothes and drag you or you would catch a small jellyfish in your pocket (yes, that happened to me). But, we took a little speedboat over to a small island right off the coast where we waded into the ocean with the rocky bottom and small, kind of cute, jellyfish. I really just enjoyed laying in the sand where the tide would come up just every now and again to wash over you and cover you with a new layer of sand and at the same time push you deeper into the coast until you couldn't see your body anymore-- and then climbing out! As you can see in the picture taken by someone on the boat, I really enjoyed the ride, as did Maxim! It was also nice to feel that hijab was not necessary when at the beach!
Then we went back to the hotel, washed up, grabbed some lunch and headed back out to see the city. We stopped at the cisterns, described in the picture below. They were awesomely large, but depressingly empty. It was also a bit touristy, but even lots of families from Aden were there walking around. A couple of women told me that came very often because, "why not?"
After this we commuted to the coast, near the fish market where half of us sat on this wall near the ocean and the other half walked to the top to see the view. Very unlike myself, I decided to stay at the bottom to watch the sunset. I was honestly just too exhausted to convince myself the view from above would be any better than the one sitting on the wall being sprayed by the ocean.
Then we went back to the hotel, washed up, grabbed some lunch and headed back out to see the city. We stopped at the cisterns, described in the picture below. They were awesomely large, but depressingly empty. It was also a bit touristy, but even lots of families from Aden were there walking around. A couple of women told me that came very often because, "why not?"
After this we commuted to the coast, near the fish market where half of us sat on this wall near the ocean and the other half walked to the top to see the view. Very unlike myself, I decided to stay at the bottom to watch the sunset. I was honestly just too exhausted to convince myself the view from above would be any better than the one sitting on the wall being sprayed by the ocean.
If I would not have stayed I would not have had the pleasure of meeting Rahmeh Abdul-Saleh, the adorably frail man pictured below who kindly answered some of my questions about the city and told me a very exciting story about once almost being washed into the ocean sitting on that very wall.
That evening we had dinner at a restaurant by the ocean and Asil and I had tea on the wall overlooking the sea with our feet dangling. I though, "what an absolutely perfect moment," but little did I know it would only get better. That evening we went down to the beach to have sheesha by the ocean. The tide was out and the beach was so wide and dark and we all sat crowded around a table and I dug my feet into the sand as I tried to teach myself to blow smoke-rings (failed). BUT, then we payed these Yemeni boys to let us ride their four-wheelers up and down the beach for a while; I felt fifteen again and it was fantastic! The wether was perfectly mild with a salty ocean wind and even though I was tired and ready to sleep, I really did not want to leave the beach, or Aden. But, alas, we left the next morning and spent ten hours in the "bus" getting back to Sana'a. Can you say stir-crazy?
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