http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Mauritania en-us Mon, 09 Nov 09 18:36:47 +0000 Mon, 09 Nov 09 18:36:47 +0000 Arrived in Nouakchott after a 6 hour ride in a small car with a soldier and some older funny men.Learned more about the history of Mauritania by reading my history section in the Lonely Planet I have been carrying around.This country is Desert almost completely so far.I hear it gets a bit more interesting on the border with Senegal.I have been thinking more about my last two major kind of adventur http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-417447.html So I have finished up my time in the desert with a camel ride in the Sahara around Chingetti.Left at 5 am and arrived in the nice quite town for about 7am. Was waived through all the checkpoints because our guide is a popular man as he told us when he first met us.Spent most of the day relaxing and getting to know our roomates Olie from England and Corey from Calgary.They were there to checkout http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Adrar/Chinguetti/blog-417282.html Well quite the experience.First I had to wait 6 hours at the train station because the shipment was behind schedule and it was more important than the passengers makes sensen.Then when I finally got on the train I began to experience the dust...My god.Lots of it.In my eyes hair ears mouth.In all of my luggage.12 hours.BUT it was a lot of fun.The train was an amazin experience.Now I am in At http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Adrar/Atar/blog-416171.html Escape from Nouakchott a poemI just realized itrsquos April Foolrsquos Day.I have no one to tell.I rode back to Nouakchott on the back of a truck. I introduced Malcom the Canadian to the fast talking BostonMauritanian millionaire Sidi Boya. Hersquos been hired on to work on the presidential elections.Irsquove taken to wearing gris gris.The Auberge erupted in madness.Frusturated marriag http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/blog-416093.html WowSo I thought I was going to go into some kind of internetless void for a week or so because I was going to be too busy traveling and being tired. But then luck fell on meSo last night it looked like I was going to end up paying 350 Dirham to get to Nouadhibou which takes 7 hours of driving plus border time. Martin and I were debating whether or not to try and hitchhike or take the offer fr http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Dakhlet-Nouadhibou/Nouadhibou/blog-415196.html So thatrsquos it for Mauritania. I'm off to Senegal tomorrow. So the desert ended well. Evoku took me to his parents place in Atar the last night and got me in a cab to Choum the following day to catch a train to Nouadibou. Evokursquos family is very cute his wife it turns out is only 16 and theyrsquove been married for six years Anyway I find myself having strange paternal instincts http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-405085.html So the trip in the desert has been going reasonably well. Not exactly what I wanted but at least I am seeing beautiful dunes and oasis. Tonight my third night outside on the dunes and it seems like the best place yet. Last night was shitty as I was next to the town and in the open. My God is it hot during the day. I spend 12 and 5 pm at the Oasis reading I just finished Margret Atwoodrsquos l http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Adrar/Chinguetti/blog-404112.html First some reflections on the pickup ride yesterday. A once in a lifetime experience. I stress ONCE. However it was very cool despite being somewhat hellish. So yesterday I decided to take a six day camel excursion with a young guy Evoku from Chingetti. Once we finally got to Chingetti blown tire on the truck a French woman gave me some good info on Senegal. Later her Burkinabe friend gave m http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Adrar/Chinguetti/blog-403153.html Wow Irsquom exhausted Yesterday did little Mathias and I tried to get some beer at the end of the night but the only place Novotel seemed far too pricey. Today after trying to exchange my pounds sterling I said good bye to Mathias and grabbed a ride to Atar. 1500 UM seemed to be a good price except for the fact that there were seven of us including two paratroopers in the bed of a t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Adrar/Atar/blog-402676.html Still in Nouachott I was thinking about leaving today but decided to wait until tomorrow to exchange money. Plus I donrsquot feel like traveling yet. Itrsquos nice here although not too much to do. Went to the portaupeche with Kiryomi and Eri yesterday. This idiot asshole richboy Mauritanian drove us. He drove like an idiot with stty music blaring and almost hit a kid. He showed no incl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-402142.html Well it wasnrsquot EuropeansNorth Americans I met but it was Westerners sort of Japan. Two girls Kiryomi and Eri whom I met them at 4 am in Dakhla. We then took a truck to Nouadibou Mauritania. The Moroccan Mauritanian borderhellipWOW Itrsquos mined and for three KMs of nomans land therersquos really no road at all just a path sort of. Anyway finally we got to the Mauri http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-401973.html Finally our Visa came through and we were off towards the desert. We entered southern Morocco and to Marakesch where we saw the most amazing spectacle of the night market. Thousands of people gathered to eat at stalls selling goats brainssnails and almost every part of camels etc etc. Juice stalls magiciansstreet performers snake charmers and any other street activities were present. Many othe http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/blog-391379.html Nouakchott Mauritania The southern edge of the Sahara. The sands and the scrubs the chaos and nonsensical logic the diaspora of hungry souls coming to a hopeless place looking for opportunity. The slums of sand and fermenting piles of garbage and animals that looks like Bombay to the cultureless nouvelle riche mansions of cheap fabrication reminescent of a suburb of San Diego. Either way th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/blog-382193.html desert kingdom orientation Mauritania for those who donrsquot know and I know many outside do not is a large mostly unpopulated country on the West Coast of Africa. It hovers like a pause a broken sentence in between Arab Morocco and Black Senegal. It is here that the unrelenting Sahara gives way into the scrubby Sahel where Orthodox Islam confronts mystic Marabout brotherhoods where the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/blog-363432.html We were told that this route wasnrsquot passable in the rainy season but there was a track going up on the escarpment that was being used by 4X4s at the time. We left Nema around midday and drove straight up a track going up the escarpment which led us to scrubby pastures populated by many goats and camels. The tracks were quite waterlogged and we got stuck quite often we pushed of mud hole http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Hodh-Ech-Chargui/N-ma/blog-360858.html We took a mercedes grandtaxi from Nouakchott to Nema 1000km away near the Malian border. The trip took 25 hours through rain storms lightning storms sunshine and darkness. At one stage we were crawling through a flood in the very middle of a thunder and lightning storm with water around our feet from the flood around us and coming through the roof from the rain. For a while we lost the road b http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Hodh-Ech-Chargui/N-ma/blog-360855.html This was one of the best stretches of the journey taking the empty iron ore train from the coast at Nouadhibou to the desert outpost at Choum and then travelling by pickup over the escarpment into Atar.We waited all day for the train to pass by the station outside Nouadhibou and then it was all rush to pile foodstuffs oil barrels furniture animals etc into the open wagons. We ended up in a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Dakhlet-Nouadhibou/Nouadhibou/blog-360853.html Copied from email to familyHey Guys Managed to find the dodgyest sp internet cafe in Mauritania. I actually have a bit of time to tell you about the stuff ive been up to. Trouble is I cant really remember it now. Only when I walk away from the computer will it flood back. I can tell you about recent events but it may sound a bit dodgy. Awesome times though. Sorry my email on Morocco was a b http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-351499.html Yep I made it thought hours of waiting at the border no I mean HOURS really in hte very baking sun thankyou very much a stint in no mans land with with the three good friends I've made on hte way and am still travelling with we claim sovereignty over call it Dayvque in hnour of Quebeqois friend David and roll out a surprisingly american sounding constitutuion for a great laugh and w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-325263.html so today Im in nouackchott theres not much here and Im just resting before I head for saint louis senegal through rosso. thus Ive decided to talk about lariam.honestly I was quite curious about the effects this antipaludic might have on me or on anybody else for that matter as I manifested by asking about it to any single person that had taken it. these effects besides prevcenting mmalari http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritania/Trarza/Nouakchott/blog-300482.html