| Without any natural resources except a port, Djibouti imports
all products. Therefore every item has been marked up and it's all expensive.
Djibouti has no traditional economy. Ethiopia provides the major income
by exporting goods out of Djibouti's port. The world navies - Germany,
France, and USA - pay to use Djibouti's port because of its strategic
location at the entrance to the Red Sea. Most of the people, many of them
refugees from Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia (from recent wars), seem
to be looking for the next departing boat. Foreigners here are either
soldiers, divers, or geologists. Since we don't fit in these categories,
we feel it's time to leave. Riding a small boat across the Red Sea to
Yemen seemed aggressive since our embassy warned us about Yemen's tourist
kidnappers and terrorist radicals. It's easier and safer to fly. The authorities
at the airport detain us - they're surprised we managed to obtain a visa
(from Yemen's embassy in Ethiopia) and they don't know what to do with
American tourists. The tour guides we contracted via email had to bring
several documents taking full responsibility for our safety. Eventually
the authorities released us and we made it to our hotel after midnight.
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