A Little Tired of/from Ramadan

This Ramadan fasting thing is starting to wear me out—and I’m not even fasting.

These guys are getting up at 3 am to pray and eat, so that they beat the first light of day. And that’s it until 6 pm, when they get to break the fast with a meal referred to as Iftar. And this is not just a little fast with no food, but it includes no liquid as well, which is inconceivable in a country this hot and dry. I don’t know how they do it.

We stayed in a hotel the other night that offered free breakfast, which is always good news. The bad news was that you had to be up at 3 am to get it. I decided to pass.

Of course, when we are traveling around to places like Kandahar and Mazar e Sharif, we aren’t stopping for lunch. So I have started to sneak granola bars when no one is looking, ducking into a corner the other day at the airport, sneaking in small morsels in the back seat of the SUV, and sneaking off to the bathroom on the airplane the other day. I feel like a junky all of a sudden.

To compensate, government workers start heading home around 1 pm, and I understand everyone just goes home and naps. For those folks who have to do manual labor, life can be pretty tiring, and the pace really slows down.

As for me, I am thinking about having my next trip sponsored by Nature Valley Granola Bars, the official food of me and other heathens and travelers.