https://padlet.com/06kni/myn694x5nedy8w6d Travel Blog en-us 2021-03-09 14:18:30 UTC 2021-03-10 02:21:21 UTC hello@padlet.com 06kni https://padlet.com/06kni/myn694x5nedy8w6d/wish/1287744253 I first departed from Cairo at the break of dawn. The weather these days is very mild compared to the hot summers. It's about 85 degrees Celsius.

With a couple of other merchants, twelve camels in a caravan, and full waterskins, we started off for Ghat. Within the party, I was only really close to Mosegi, one of my teachers in the art of trade. At Ghat, we would pick up salt to trade at Timbuktu for gold.

This trip would be about 1500 miles. Calculations say that it would be about a one or two-month trip, with stops at oases in the middle of the desert. We are lucky because of the weather.

Image: One of our camels looks just like this one.]]> 2021-03-09 14:32:22 UTC https://padlet.com/06kni/myn694x5nedy8w6d/wish/1287744253 06kni https://padlet.com/06kni/myn694x5nedy8w6d/wish/1287862584 I really didn't expect that we would run into a sandstorm about halfway into the trip.

We had just stopped by an oasis to feed the camels food and water. I really needed that rest too. Three hours or so after leaving that oasis, we were maybe 5 miles away when the sand started to pick up.

A huge column of sand started to whirl around. I was near Mosegi, but we lost the other group member's locations. Mosegi told me to get low and cover my head with my clothing. We managed to wait it out and reunite with the rest of the caravan.

I can still feel sand in my eyes and throat. Not a pleasant experience at all. Perhaps the gods were looking upon unkindly at that moment.

Image: We waited out the sandstorm before reuniting with the caravan.]]> 2021-03-09 14:51:06 UTC https://padlet.com/06kni/myn694x5nedy8w6d/wish/1287862584 06kni https://padlet.com/06kni/myn694x5nedy8w6d/wish/1287864015 At last, my merchant friends and I arrived in Timbuktu. I was glad to get rid of all this salt weighing us down here.

Unfortunately, I encountered this extremely cheap fellow at the market. Half of our salt for only a couple of grams of gold? What business is this guy running and how has he not gone out? It would've been a shame if I had struck a deal with him. Our money would be gone, like that!

His tongue almost managed to convince me that it was a fair trade. My friend, who is a more experienced trader than I, told me that the trader often tried scamming inexperienced merchants. He then led me to one of our partners in Timbuktu, who gave much fairer prices. We exchanged our salt for much more gold than the scammer offered.

I actually became well acquainted with that partner. His name was Ahmed, and we were able to use his connections to drink at a nearby hotel and to camp in for the night. We would set out again tomorrow back to Cairo.

Image: We made a much fairer trade with Ahmed. He gave us as much gold as in the picture, but we gave a little more salt, considering how rare gold is.]]> 2021-03-09 14:51:20 UTC https://padlet.com/06kni/myn694x5nedy8w6d/wish/1287864015