Islamic Republic of Mauritania… Well, out of all the
countries I researched about this trip, Mauritania was one of the countries I
looked forward to the least. I really had no desire whatsoever to see this
country. All I knew was it was 100% Muslim and they still followed Sharia law.
I can tell now tell you that I am sad to leave this country. I have been very
impressed with everyone. Everyone has gone above and beyond to be friendly. So
far no one has ripped us off or felt like they were.
It took four hours to get through the border and was
relatively painless. We had got through the border around 2 and had to drive
hard from the border to Nouakchott. We were told at the military police checkpoints
that we had to make it there before sun down. Once the sun goes down, Al Qaeda
will kidnap and kill us… They told us that we couldn’t stay at the checkpoints
because Al Qaeda will just kill them and kidnap us because we would make good
television. Hmm.. I say drive Suse drive!!!!
We ended up reaching Nouakchott right at dark, and stayed at
this very nice Auberge. The people who ran the place were so nice. It took Suse
a good 15min trying to get Rosie into the compound, literally a 15 point turn
just to get into the compound. Once inside the compound we got the option to
camp or stay in the dorm (which held 15 people). I chose the dorm room. The
thought of a real bed overwhelmed me. So it was a mad dash into the room that
held 15 beds, all laid out on the ground. I ran to the farthest bed in the front
right section of the room. I had a wall to my right and no one to my left. I
plugged in all my electronics to charge, took a hot shower, checked my emails
and passed out. I had the best sleep yet on the trip.
Woke up the next morning, drank some coffee and completely
relaxed. Suse went to the Senegal embassy to try to get visas for the
Australians. She came back later saying the only way to get them is in
Australia. She did say that the guy running the embassy is going to try to call
his boss and try to get emergency visas because of the situation we are in. The
only down side is we had to wait until the following day.
Myself, Ben, Steph, Rhys, Toby, Brittany, and Tony had the
one of the guys who runs the Auberge take us to the fish market. We arrived in
the early evening and watched all the painted boats come to shore offload their
cargo of fish. It’s a great system they have. There are fishermen who catch the
fish, the guys and girls who haul the fish on their heads to a location where
there are people to descale the fish, then there are the women who sell the
fish. Watching the system was very fascinating to me. We also got to experience
the first time since the trip started people wanting their photos taken. We had
kids posing, and young women smiling pretending not to want to get their
pictures taken. The only people who didn’t want their pictures taken were the
older men and women. We all had a really great time and it’s the first time on
this trip we all felt like we finally made it to Africa. Morocco was great, but
definitely not what I expected Africa to be like. Mauritania on the other hand
was exactly what I expected.
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| All the boats waiting to go out in the morning |
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| Fish being bartered, and sold |
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| Part of the process |
The next day we (myself, Tony, Talbout, Maria, and Brian) all
went to the center of town market. The market was completely different from any
market we experienced yet. It was entirely made for the locals only. Everything
from muumuus to used shoes and clothes. I went there to look for a postcard and stamps for my mother, but was only able to find one place that sold
stamps. I bought the stamps and will send it to them on a later date. When we
got back it was our cook group's time to cook. Ben, Steph and I headed to the
fish market and bought 5 snappers, a couple kilos of potatoes and veggies. That
night we made a great meal. Ben BBQ'ed the fish with lemon, garlic and butter.
Steph made her secret potato salad (the secret is after boiling the potatoes,
you lightly fry them) and I made a tomato, onion and garlic bruschetta. We have
a very great cook group, we never argue and always work great together.
The next day we headed to the Senegal border. There are two
crossings, one that you need to take a ferry and the other one you cross a
bridge. We heard rumors that the ferry crossing was a nightmare so we decided
to go the other route. On route we stopped at a military checkpoint who
informed us that the bridge had just collapse and a Moroccan truck fell in the
river. So we went to the alternative route. Once at the ferry border crossing
we were told the ferries are not running and will only start running at 3:00 PM
it was 1 PM... Two hours later no ferries running… 1 more hour, still nothing… finally at 5 PM
the ferries started running. We caught the second ferry, and after another
45minutes of waiting we finally crossed the border into Senegal! West Africa
here we come!
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| Market... No tourists other than us |
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| My new look |
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| Cutest baby ever |
