Mauritania..

Nouadhibou..was called Port Etienne before..
it borders Western Sahara..not much of an interesting town..
mostly harbour and fishing port..as said before..don't recall.
the name of the hotel where I stayed..I went to the bank..
to change peseta's and FF=French Francs into local currency..
funny name=ouguiya..dived into khoums...the rate they gave me..
towards the peseta's was awful..anyhow..local currency..is needed..
i got into a restaurant where I recall the excellent couscous meal..
for the rest..well..Nouadhibou..nothing special..I went to the train
station to catch that longest train in the world..some passengers
coaches are attached..but what a hassle..people fighting for a seat??
I got myself into one of these huge container like wagons..it's a free
ride..I was in there with the U.K dude...and some turban clad local Mauretanians..
it's a horrible ride really..starts in the evening..
it got really cold at night..lots of noise..dust..lucky I could tie some
towel before my mouth..and even then..I swallowed desert sand..
train goes to Zou?rate..iron ore mine..the containers return empty..
after being loaded for transport at Nouadhibou harbour..
the trip to Choum..where I got down..took half a day..
I was happy to get out of these wagons..quite an experience..
in Choum..pick up trucks(Toyota)take you to Atar and Akjoujt..
funny people these Mauritanians..they only know Arabic...
it was a windy ride towards Atar..so I reached Akjoujt...
I got lucky there..very lucky...met some French dudes from Nice..
they told me..they knew some friends in Akjoujt..French..
who were working for some organisation..I could stay over..
for the night there..and continue with them..all the way..
to Dakar(Senegal)woohah...we even had a party with French wine,
cheese etc..these dudes knew the chick who was working in Akjoujt
for some project..don't ask me which??nice French chick she was..
the 2 French dudes..were very funny..they told me..
they won a car in a poker game..a Peugeot car..
they drove it all the way from Nice to Dakar..to sell it with profit..
these days..French cars in West Africa were highly valued..
I did not believe much what these French dudes told me..
funny people..but..I got my free ride to Dakar..
I guess they were just adventurers..that's all..
we left Akjoujt next day..bit of a hangover from that wine??
we reached Nouakchott..capital of Mauritania...
I did not like it at all..it looked like a refugee camp to me..
I heard it was not a safe place..lots of theft etc...
we did not stay there..but went on to Rosso..
Rosso..is the border into Senegal..quite a hassle..
lots of corruption,smuggling,bribery..
we had to take a ferry to cross the Senegal river..
but on the other side...Saint Louis..and finally black Africa..
aww..I did like Senegal very much..will tell you all later on..
a link for Mauritania.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritania
Tiger