Mauritania - Bar & Car Trouble

Hello all,

Thirsty for a drink and after much driving around lost, we pulled up at the mine to much perplexation of the the guards in hard hats as the bar is in a compound in town. So back we went, this time with a miner guide to find a trio of drunk happy people and some relatively sober peace corps and a handful of miners in various states of inebriation. Some people were very welcoming whilst others gave us agro, this is supposed to be a miners only bar. In fact I am not even supposed to be telling you about it except that latter events make this descrepancy no longer relevant. Beer was only 25 cents a bottle so even I forced one down (with coke as a mixer). Played some games of pool and table tennis.

Approaching midnight, the miners had gone to bed and only a couple of peace corps remained. This turned into an almighty arguement as some of us wanted to stay and some of us thought it inappropriate (apparently the locals need little excuse to want to close the place down and if you are caught drunk in the street, you go to jail) and we still had to find a place to kip. The peace corps were sticking their nose in cause they didnt want to be barred from the pub consequently causing more trouble because they come across as so superior. Tempers flared but were eventually calmed and peace returned, we found a patch of flatish wastleand away from town and cracked open a bottle of champagne to celebrate Brians birthday with many taking of photos. A few days later Brian got a text from a friend to say that the peace corps had been barred from the pub apparently due to the trouble we had caused. Oops! We think that the miners were skittish about non-miners going, the peace corps were not supposed to tell others about it and but it was through peace corps we found out. Except brian is ex peace corps so its not like they were telling everyone. In the end, who knows??! If you happen to be in Akjoujit, Mauritania, check it out ; )

Nouakchott is the capital in Mauritania and we stayed there for a couple of days trying to fix both our cars and the tent and the tyre air compressor. Hot and dusty and like capitals everywhere, at least some colour from Senegal was seeping through. With few chores of my own to do (bar washing, buying flip flops - lost my second pair) and no wish to shop, I tried to sleep late as possible, felt extremely uncomforatable in the afternoons and played sand volleyball in the evenings. Even watched a film on Rolfs laptop. Played cards, talked, sat in the one airconditioned restaurant until the power went off; lost a massive email because the power went off.... It was a time of endurance and I was thrilled when late on Monday afternoon Marc said we could go. R&J were to catch us up as their car was still in pieces. Camped by a sand dune on the way to the border with a cool sea breeze and an invasion of bugs whose sole purpose in life was to cook themsleves in the tuna bolognaise.

The border crossing to Sengal is renowned as one of the worst in AFRICA and the touts started on us at the garage in Rosso. We quickly ascertained that another crossing was open, impassable in the wet, and this turned out to be a very pleasant drive along a river and wetlands with various birds flying around. Marc is a keen bird watcher and I now know far more about birds than I would have ever wished. Mauritanian immigration, true to Lonely Planet posts, took our documents, stamped them and then locked them in a drawer until we paid a bribe. The Senegal side also demanded payment for various things but they had gone to the extra effort of typing the "fees" onto tatty pieces of paper. Got through at 75euro for the 3 of us and car which wasnt bad. At the other crossing we would have had to pay at least a third more.

The hassle was not yet over as the first police checkpoint (constant sources of scams) wanted a "fine" as I was not wearing my seat belt. Marc insisted on going to the policestation so he caved with Marc promising to speak to his "wife". I hate weaing seatbelts! Sadly the police only seem to care if whites are safe in accidents as we failed to see anyone else wearing a seatbelt in all of Senegal.

Hope all is well in your lives,

Am currently in Southern Senegal in Casamance area after spending the last week in Gambia.

Lots of love,
Kathryn