And then the sun came out...

I seem to be missing a lot of stuff out, about the camping, the trucks, our new friends...

We have camped on rocky football pitches, sandy hollows, in wind, rain and beautiful starlight, on a range of 'proper' campgrounds, and have slept in the truck (cook group privilege). We are part of a cook group of three - teamed up with a neat girl from Holland called Lous. When our turn comes round, we have to shop for and prepare lunch, dinner and breakfast. We have had to dig the truck out a couple of times already, once from mud and once from sand. Its hard work, but fun so far. I'm sure after a while it wont be so fun! No one on our truck has gotten sick yet, on the other truck - there are two from the same company travelling down more or less together - all except three got the runs last week. It is easy travelling this way, no decisions to make about where or when to go, however, its frustrating not being able to decide where or when to go. We've got two crew/drivers, Steve who runs the company, and Alan who is still learning the ropes so to speak.

Essaouira: (Still Morocco not Western Sahara yet, but...!) As we left Marrakesh for the coast the sun came out. We camped in a proper campsite in a lovely town called Essaouria. Generally we prefer the bushcamps, they are cleaner, more attractive surroundings, quieter. But now and then you need to shower and wash clothes. And thats what we did, all of us, as soon as we got to the camp ground. Now that the weather is hot and sunny with a slight breeze. Other than that, we just chilled out on the beach and then back at the truck. We had a great dinner too that night, some vege chilli type meal with guacomole and wraps (well done Matt, Hanna and Kirsten!), so us girls made a half hearted attempt at dressing up for a girlie night in! In Essaouira town, we wandered the streets (makes us sound a bit suspect!), looking round the medina and the old narrow streets full of whitewashed buildings. It is a very touristy town and there are a lot of shops selling artisan type things - woodwork being one speciality, along with fish! I also got a henna tattoo on one ankle.

Driving south to Mauritania wasnt the most exciting thing we've done so far. We had a blow out and had to change a tyre on the roadside, stopped briefly in Agadir, camped on another really stony site, drove through Tan Tan where there are two large concrete camels acting as a gateway into the town, followed the coast further and further south, camped in an awesome spot on the beach...windy, and we needed to use the sand mats to get there, but we were about 100m from the sea, lovely sand, a shipwreck, a great view, skeletons of birds, penguins, a large turtle. Dinner started good with a potato and chick pea curry, then went downhill with custard minus sugar! We spinkled some on top and added some banana, so in the end it was perfectly edible if a bit crunchy. You soon learn to eat whats offered or go hungry! It took another couple of days driving to cross Western Sahara into Mauritania. We stopped in Dakhla, camped at a good spot and a lousy spot, got sand and smoke blown in our faces by the wind...

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