It has been some time since I posted. Not for lack of interesting things to say, but rather a lack of decent Internet connections, and time to upload photos and such.
Evan and I had a great time traveling in Mauritania and Senegal, doing anything from a 6 day camel trek to visiting another college friend at her Peace Corps village in Senegal. After some time in Dakar getting our visas we flew to Douala and meet Bragg, spent the night on a black sand beach, and have now moved into his house in a village about 10km outside Bamenda. As soon as I find the time, I will post much more about our travels up to now, but for now am going to enjoy the Christmas and New years festivities here in the village, and with other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV's).
If anyone would like to call, we do have a cell phone that can accept international calls, but making international calls here is prohibitively expensive (upwards of $3 per min). So if anyone gets a hold of an international calling card and would like to contact Evan or I, our number is 011 237 7655 7905. We are about 8 hours ahead of the west coast, just FYI.
Have a great holiday season, I miss you all.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Camel Trekking and Mauritania
Now that I have some time here in Cameroon, I will catch y'all up with what we did on the way down here, pardon the flashback in time.
Ahh, camel treks, so beautiful yet so painful. The highlight of out time in Mauritania was hands down the 6 day camel trek that we did over the dunes of the Sahara. To get to the village where we got on the camels was a journey by itself. From the mountain in southern Morocco we took a 4 hour bush taxi to a town where we caught a 17 hour bus through Western Sahara (essentially Morocco) to Dakhla. We we stayed 2 nights there to try to exchange our money into Mauritanian ouguiya as there are only 2 ATMs in Mauritania, and we were not going to get to them until after the camel trek, after about 2 weeks. Since both the Moroccan and Mauritanian currencies are not allowed outside their borders we got a little taste of the black market (on thanksgiving no less). This involved asking around in the market to find a guy who took us to his tailor shop where each of the 4 of us exchanged $300 worth. So while huddled at a counter in the market we counted out about $1200 of Moroccan, and then $1200 of Mauritanian. Needless to say it felt a bit sketchy to have over $2400 of currency on a table where the local folks are lucky if they make $10 in a day.
After getting our money sorted out we hitched a ride in the back of a truck, and then in a bush taxi to the border. At the Moroccan side of the border while waiting to hitch a ride across the no-mans-land we saw a truck smuggling cigarettes get riped apart by the border patrol and the driver get arrested. The 2km or so between the borders consisted of an unmaintained dirt road through a mine field, with plenty of reminders of land mines can do to a car if it strayed too far from the road. Once across the border we spent the night in Nouadhibou.
The following day we caught the night train towards the Adrar region where we rode the camels. This was no ordinary train. It was a 2.3km long coal train with 3 decrepit passenger cars at the back (though most folks ride in the coal cars). The passenger car did not have cushions on the seats, and the windows did not fully close, leaving us cold and covered with dust. We hoped off the train in Choum just before dawn and got a 4 hour truck ride to Atar, where we ate and took another 2 hours to Chinguetti. This small Oasis town at the end of the road is where we organized and started our camel trek towards the town of Ouadane.
Each day of journey was roughly the same, lots of beautiful desert broken up with breaks for tea and food (the tea is brewed for a half hour on the fire making it black as coffee, and then is sugared to excess and served in a pair of shot glasses). The day would start by waking up with the sun and staying under the 2 blankets until convinced to brave the cold by the tea the guides prepared. After a quick breakfast of bread that was made under the fire the night prior we helped pack the camels and set off. For the first half of the day we walked alongside the camels as it was still cool, and we didn't want to tire the camels too much. Lunch would be the same pasta with sardines that we would have for dinner, followed by a 2-3 hour nap/ reading session through the hottest part of the day. Once it strayed to cool a bit we would load the camels with us on top, and continue moving for the remainder of the day. When we found a good camping site we would set up our bed which consisted of a large woven mat and 2 blankets. After a dinner of fishy pasta we would have 3 rounds of tea, and watch them cook the morning's bread in the earth under the coals of the fire. And now for the pictorial tour:
Evan and I rockin our desert head gear. 
Walking like an Egyptian with a sore butt.
Me and my camel, Gurggles McGee... he made awesome noises when i got on, maybe I'm fat.
My defence from the killer sun and dust stroms.
Ahh, camel treks, so beautiful yet so painful. The highlight of out time in Mauritania was hands down the 6 day camel trek that we did over the dunes of the Sahara. To get to the village where we got on the camels was a journey by itself. From the mountain in southern Morocco we took a 4 hour bush taxi to a town where we caught a 17 hour bus through Western Sahara (essentially Morocco) to Dakhla. We we stayed 2 nights there to try to exchange our money into Mauritanian ouguiya as there are only 2 ATMs in Mauritania, and we were not going to get to them until after the camel trek, after about 2 weeks. Since both the Moroccan and Mauritanian currencies are not allowed outside their borders we got a little taste of the black market (on thanksgiving no less). This involved asking around in the market to find a guy who took us to his tailor shop where each of the 4 of us exchanged $300 worth. So while huddled at a counter in the market we counted out about $1200 of Moroccan, and then $1200 of Mauritanian. Needless to say it felt a bit sketchy to have over $2400 of currency on a table where the local folks are lucky if they make $10 in a day.
After getting our money sorted out we hitched a ride in the back of a truck, and then in a bush taxi to the border. At the Moroccan side of the border while waiting to hitch a ride across the no-mans-land we saw a truck smuggling cigarettes get riped apart by the border patrol and the driver get arrested. The 2km or so between the borders consisted of an unmaintained dirt road through a mine field, with plenty of reminders of land mines can do to a car if it strayed too far from the road. Once across the border we spent the night in Nouadhibou.
The following day we caught the night train towards the Adrar region where we rode the camels. This was no ordinary train. It was a 2.3km long coal train with 3 decrepit passenger cars at the back (though most folks ride in the coal cars). The passenger car did not have cushions on the seats, and the windows did not fully close, leaving us cold and covered with dust. We hoped off the train in Choum just before dawn and got a 4 hour truck ride to Atar, where we ate and took another 2 hours to Chinguetti. This small Oasis town at the end of the road is where we organized and started our camel trek towards the town of Ouadane.
Each day of journey was roughly the same, lots of beautiful desert broken up with breaks for tea and food (the tea is brewed for a half hour on the fire making it black as coffee, and then is sugared to excess and served in a pair of shot glasses). The day would start by waking up with the sun and staying under the 2 blankets until convinced to brave the cold by the tea the guides prepared. After a quick breakfast of bread that was made under the fire the night prior we helped pack the camels and set off. For the first half of the day we walked alongside the camels as it was still cool, and we didn't want to tire the camels too much. Lunch would be the same pasta with sardines that we would have for dinner, followed by a 2-3 hour nap/ reading session through the hottest part of the day. Once it strayed to cool a bit we would load the camels with us on top, and continue moving for the remainder of the day. When we found a good camping site we would set up our bed which consisted of a large woven mat and 2 blankets. After a dinner of fishy pasta we would have 3 rounds of tea, and watch them cook the morning's bread in the earth under the coals of the fire. And now for the pictorial tour:
The typical view from atop the camal, note Adam's guitar and the large rolled mat.
Evan and I rockin our desert head gear.Walking like an Egyptian with a sore butt.(Dont let the blanket fool you its actually quite painful after a while)
Me and my camel, Gurggles McGee... he made awesome noises when i got on, maybe I'm fat.
My defence from the killer sun and dust stroms.
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