Garowe Diaries: A Photographer's Unexpected Detour
so i ended up in garowe kinda by accident. was supposed to be in mogadishu but the bus broke down somewhere in mudug. the driver just shrugged and said "welcome to garowe" like it was a punchline. and honestly? it kinda was.
i checked the weather on my cracked phone screen and it's 30Ā°c right now. feels like my brain is melting into my camera lens. but you know what? the light here is insane. golden hour lasts forever, like the sun's just hanging out, taking its sweet time before bed.
first thing i noticed? nobody stares at you like you're a walking dollar sign. people just... exist. kids playing football in the dust, women carrying impossible amounts of stuff on their heads, and this old dude selling qat who kept offering me some even after i said no three times. respect.
i heard from some guy at a tea stall that the best photos are at the livestock market at dawn. said something about "the dust makes everything look like a 70s film." sounded like drunk advice but i went anyway. he was right. the dust does magical things to light.
stayed at this place called **** hotel (no joke, five stars in name only). it's not on tripadvisor but the guy at the front desk had a smile that could sell ice to eskimos. room smelled like incense and old dreams but the bed was clean and the water was hot sometimes.
if you get bored, bosaso and galkayo are just a short drive away. though "short drive" here might mean "bring snacks and hope for the best."
overheard some travelers at a restaurant talking about this place called xawaash that supposedly has the best camel meat in town. someone else said it was overrated and you should just eat the fish instead. classic travel gossip - half truth, half legend.
i've been here three days and i'm already thinking about coming back. not because it's perfect - it's dusty and chaotic and sometimes the power cuts out mid-sentence. but that's the thing about garowe. it doesn't try to be anything other than itself. and right now, that's exactly what i needed.
check out wikivoyage* for basic info if you're planning a trip. just don't expect things to go according to plan. they won't. and that's probably for the best.
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