Guest Free

Well after 24 days, our house is guest free! Sergio has made his way south to Karachi, with the help of our landlord's son, to put his van on a boat and send it back to Italy. With the worsening security situation in Balochistan and the fact that the visa for Iran may or may not ever be granted, he realized the best thing was to get back to Italy as soon as possible and give up on his crazy solo overland journey. His van was loaded on a Bedford truck (an all night affair just to get it loaded) and shipped down to Karachi from Lahore. To ship the van, it costa bout 46,000 rupees ($581). Now, we are praying that Sergio's van gets through the port and clears customs. Not until that van is somewhere in the open sea and Sergio is on a plane to Italy will be really be able to relax! Anything could happen dealing with the bureaucracy at the port.

After three weeks of not sleeping properly due to this drama, we're ready for a break. It seems we've been running on empty since before I went to Bangkok. May there be a miracle at the port so that van can get sea borne, Sergio can get air borne, and we can all rest in peace!