Week 3, West Sahara and Mauritania

 November, 8th:

Rose at 6.15, took down my tent (not "broke down" as i learned from Rajshree), breakfasted, and on the road again.

Tried to take some pictures of an arch-shaped rock, but it was covered in fog ...

Rajshree , trying to peek through the fog

And he had no clue ...

... and further it went. I am finally sitting next to Ben, a great fellow traveler from Gottingen, Germany. You may see him in Meppel, somewhere in the future ....

Lunch (and a clean toilet!!) in the small village TanTan. And on it went. Not s very spectacular scenery, so we played cards and had a beer.

Found a very rocky camp ground on the coast. It was not possible to use the pegs for your tent, so just put some heavy rocks inside the tent, to prevent it from blowing away. Some of us just slept outside (which i find a pretty good idea actually). 

We had a quiz and my team came in 2nd. Good fun though. I even became a bit fanatic! ;-)

Emptied the bottle rose of with Rashree and Ben and slept like a log again.

November, 9th:

Rose at 6.15, packed and breakfasted. Morning sky in Western Sahara is very beautiful:

The moon and Venus

Some pictures of the night sky as well. It's an amazing view:

Photo's by Pinky

In the truck now, along the Atlantic coast on our way to Mauritania, updating blogtext.

Morocco's share for clean energy

We had lunch in Laayoune, a pretty modern and livable city, with nice parks and fountains...

Most of the group went for McDonald's, but Ben and I just went for tea, since we both had food on the truck...

On it went again. Many times "sculptures" of big animals along the road and at check points:

We were checked by the police twice, which caused quite a delay, so we didn't make the mileage we had planned.

Another bush camp at the Atlantic coast. Putting up your tent on rock bottom, with very strong winds, is such a hassle. You need to tie your tent to some heavy stones to prevent it form blowing away and it is so hard to get a peg into the ground. We all are a bit fed up we that i think. 

I finally managed to get my tent stable and solidly attached. Ben and I went to take a look at a nearby shipwreck (and made some silly pictures) ...

Idiot!

Cook group did a great job, tried to get rid of all the alcohol we still had on board (in Mauritania alcohol is not allowed), and went to bed at 9.30 or so.

Despite the heavy winds i slept like a log.

November, 10th:

Rose at 5.20, did toilet "au naturel" (if you catch my drift), took down my tent and sleeping gear, breakfasted, and early on the road again, in an attempt to catch up some lost km's of the previous days.

The first 2 hours everybody fell asleep again on the truck, but now, 10 am, we're all in the chat-mode again.

I sooo need a hot shower.

For the rest, everything is fine! 

Happy that my back is (as good as) painless.

We crossed the Tropic of Cancer line, so we are officially in the tropics now ...

The scenery is a bit boring: sand and rocks, so more pictures wouldn't be of any interest would it? 
OK, one for the road then ...

We had some extra time, so we spent an hour on the beach ... no swimming, because of the sharp pointy rocks when entering the sea. Forgot to make pictures sorry ...

Round 17.30 we found a bush camp ground, so... put up our tents (ground was a little less rocky) and setup kitchen and cooked.

We had to finish all the alcohol, since we would enter Mauritania the next day. Alcohol is forbidden there ... so .. well, see pictures ... it's not that bad ...

Slept good again... (d'uh!)

November, 11th:

Rose at 6.00, breakfasted at 7 and on the road at 8, towards the Mauritanian border.

Short coffee stop at a gas station, where Pinky (fellow traveler from HK) made new friends:

Reached the border around 11.00 and then the waiting began ... took us about 4 hrs to leave Morocco, then a 1 km drive through no mans land and then another 2 hours to get into Mauritania, which cost 55,- to be paid in Euro's (which i had to borrow from Tom and Lynn since i only had dollars on me... even local currency was not accepted). Here's the waiting area:

But ok, we got there... on our way to a city called Nouadhibou where we finally would be at a camp site.

Mauritania is poor. Very poor. But if you love old Mercedes's, this is the place to be. Very old Mercedes's... everywhere ...

Round 17.00 h we reached the campsite ... not entirely up to western standards, but ok...

Setup our gear, had diner, and spent the night chatting and playing guitar.

Went to bed at 11, and slept good.

November 12th:

Slept in! Breakfast at 8. The majority went for a trip to the beach, by truck, but a few (me incl.) stayed to do laundry and so...

I am updating the blog now, sitting in the shade hoping for a bit of wifi!!

Laterz...

So... spent the rest morning updating and washing clothes, then went to a nice restaurant for some lunch with Rob (and Gretchen (couple from the US)), where we had to wait for like ever to get some food. Nice views from the 5th floor though...

Came back, just in time to do the shopping for tomorrows cook group. And so we did. Had to do some tough negotiating to get a reasonable price, but we got everything in the end.

Unpacked at the campground and went out for money exchange and ice cream.

Back and now updating blogtext in the kitchen of the camp site.

Went to bed early and slept like as usual (i.e. like a log).

November 13th:

Rose at 7-ish, breakfasted, took down tents, and started the trip to a campsite along the coast near Nouakchott.

Needed some fresh water and used a local eh .... well, i guess "well". 

Some seized the opportunity to have some fun at/on the railway nearby.

Ok, on we went ... sand, rocks, poor houses and wild camels ...

Round 5 pm we reached the campground at the beach. Lovely place.

Lynn and Becky, back in their childhood days ...

Unfortunately no dip in the sea for me because Rasjree, Stephan (G) in I had cookgroup, so.... mashed potatoes it was ... it was appreciated (but i still should have taken a dip in the sea)... oh, well, there will be more opportunities i guess.

A cold, expensive coke after diner and an early sleep on the beach ... like a log of course...

November, 14th:

The 13th is supposed to be "bad luck" day, but now it turned out to be the 14th ... let's go:

Rose about 5.30, made breakfast, took tents down and on the road again.

Big Cockroaches here ...

There was some road construction, so we had to do a detour through the outskirts of town. The poverty is beyond sad. I understand why people want to live in the wealthy western world, even as a refugee. It does make you realize how extremely rich we are.

<one or two pictures of Becky here>

Lost half an hour, but the main road was reasonable ... 

Did some big shopping for four days ahead. Prices are high here. More expensive than the Netherlands.

By 10.30 we were on the road again.

Pictures by Ben

Round 13.00 we did a short lunch break and it turned out that our water tank was leaking, so.... we took every possible water containing object (empty water bottles, eski's, buckets) to take the remains with us.

We decided not to bushcamp, but to go the the campsite we booked for the day after.

So, it became a very long drive and we arrived at Atar at 8.15 pm or so. It wasn't that easy to get the truck on the desired location, but Jordan is a great driver:

Front tires prints ...

Set up our stuff ...

I drank like 4 big cups of tea (felt dehydrated), and despite the circumstances, cookgroup managed to make a fantastic meal (with peanut sauce!!)

Round 10.30 i fell asleep. Could not keep my eyes open.

Like a log...

See you next week...