Blogs from Nouakchott, Trarza, Mauritania, Africa - page 2

While the cities in Mauritania are anything but special, the drive from Nouadhibou to Nouakchott was far and away the highlight of the trip on the Dover to Dakar section. There is a brand new tarmac'd highway linking the two cities, but if we took that it would entirely defeat the purpose of travelling overland. A little sandmatting was certainly worth the effort in order to experience the real Sahara. Part 2 of this drive took us along the beach through a bird sanctuary and national park. When we arrived at the beach we had to wait around for several hours to allow the tide to go out so that there would be a large enough strip of firm sand to drive on. Once the tide was out far enough we were only about 10 to ... read more

Die Sekretaerin als Repraesentant des Spiessbuergertums. Beim Anblick der heissen Blondine sprach sie: "Na Betti, was geht!?"... read more

There are numerous terms, of varying political correctness, to describe the stage of development of African countries. To give you an idea of where Mauritania is at, the election campaign pledge of the recently appointed president was “to stamp out slavery for good!” The slave trade was only outlawed here in 1980 but apparently it continues. Mauritania is a fascinating country to travel through, the population being some of the hardiest people on earth. After driving for hours through empty and unbroken sand seas you often come across small villages, desperately trying to stay afloat above the shifting sands. The villages consist of tents made from many individual patches of cloth looking like overgrown tortoises. It is amazing that the rag tag structures survive the unremitting sand-laden fiercely hot wind. And what these people find ... read more

Whoa it’s been a little while since we’ve written. We’ve been here a week, it seems like so much longer. Here’s a run-down of the past week: SATURDAY: We slept from 5pm Friday until 9am on Saturday. We got up, cooked breakfast with Rafo, and headed off to see the Plaza De Armas. We visited the Cathedral, and we saw the painting of the “Last Supper” with the Guinea Pigs. We then saw the Plaza San Blas (very beautiful, you can see our pictures), the district where artists show their work. We then went and sat in the middle of the local market, Wanchaq. After lunch we went to the Museo Inka, which contains relics from pre-Inca, Inca, and colonial times. It also contained the largest collection of queros, Inca drinking vessels, 450! SUNDAY: On Sunday ... read more

I made the same trip I had intended before but without any catastrophic car accidents, happily. So I am seeing a lot of familiar faces and back in Nouakchott spending some quality time. But I am starting to become very sick of French. It makes two months now that I've been speaking very little english and while I am getting quite good at French I want to study a different language now. Ahh the ride through the desert was long but pleasant, lots of good conversation. It's a bit hot but not too. On the bus in Morocco I sat next to a girl on the route to Agadir. I had made a lot of copies of CDs in France and I was listening to them, and she noticed that I didn't have a CD ... read more