You got a fast car, I got a plan to get us out of here…
-Tracy Chapman
Angesom and I were in a jeep we’d borrowed in Asmara that morning in 1995, inching down the Filfil’s muddy switchbacks, some hairpins so tight, with so much play in the steering we made three point turns to get around the corners. A screwdriver jammed in the ignition, plastic jugs with extra fuel, a bald spare tire, and a crescent for a lug wrench. But Tracy Chapman played all day, all the way down to the Red Sea 8,000 feet below, and she got us to Massawa before the cassette gave out. I hear the Filfil road has since been paved.