DAY 15: Dust in the Wind

Sat, 10 September 2005

From morning until night, the winds pick up and we’re engulfed in a dust storm. Visibilities are limited to 1 mile the entire day. It’s a gray pitch that even distorts the sun when it is low in the horizon. Unfortunately, this dust is as fine as talcum powder and permeates everything: car vents, inside of your goggles, even your sinuses. My sinuses react to this by bleeding, so I get some saline sinus medication to help things out. I don’t know how the local Afghans breathe this air – it must do some terrible damage to their lungs over a lifetime. If there’s one thing I absolutely hate about this place – it’s the dust.