10/6/05 - 10/8/05
These couple days were very uneventful so I will combine them.
We left Essouria and made our way through the bottom of Morocco and Western Sahara. Morocco claims Western Sahara as part of Morocco but officially it is still disputed territory (still a heavy UN presence, just go to the nicest hotel in any town and you will find a whole contingent of UN people drinking coffee). Why anyone would war over this piece of sand and rock is beyond me. This section of drive is more of a transit to get to Mauritania so we averaged about 300 miles a day. The first night we stopped in a small town at a cheap hotel for 8 euros a night. We managed to find the worst meal I have had a long time, it was a tangene (Moroccan stew) that was absolutely horrible. I would like to mention how friendly the people are here, we were looking for a restaurant and couldnt find anything so we stopped in a store and asked the owner if he could point us in the direction of some food, he actually gave his 10 year old son directions and his son went with us to make sure we found it allright. The people are amazingly friendly, even the police are friendly always waving and very polite when we stop.
Since the area is still a disputed territory we passed through 10 - 15 police checkpoints, each taking about 15 minutes of passport review. At one checkpoint we got a good laugh when we noticed the policeman wrote all our info down in a Pokemon notebook.
I saw one of the most gruesome sights I have ever seen, we saw a wild mongrel dog get ran over which is always sad but what made it so gruesome is the dog wasnt dead yet but as he was laying there he had to defend himself from his pack as they were trying to eat him before he was dead. The were literally gathered around trying to eat him, new meaning to "Dog eat Dog".
Ramadan started, the muslims definately get cranky during the day but are so happy at night. At one lunch stop we saw a guy chase another guy around a car trying to beat him up, the guy in the car left so the guy picked up a huge rock and throw it at the guy. We quickly left this town.
I started leaking oil out the fill cap on the boxer engine, so my right pant leg has a nice covering of SAE 20W-50 on it. Turns out the o-ring is near the end of its life so after a couple different attempts to fix we found the solution. Thomas was actually quite excited to use a roll of teflon tape he had brought, so after surgically wrapping the out o-ring sleeve my leak was solved. But I was still low on oil and the bike was actually was due for an oil change so we found a Goodyear service garage and bought some oil, borrowed a drain pan and changed the oil. They were quite amused, before I could the new oil in the bike I had several people with camera phones taking pictures.
Other than that Western Sahara is the equivalent of South Dakota, a fly over state.
Todays Specs
Weather: 85F Sunny/Cloudy
Distance: 900miles Essouira to Dahkla
10/9/05
Well today was the push for the border and it was one of the supposedly longest stretches without gas. After paying the 8 euro bill at campground/hotel we got on the road. As we pulled into a gas station of riding 75 miles of desert to find it closed we quickly looked at the map to see the next town was further than the remaining gas in my tank would get me, I quickly kicked myself for not getting a jerry can at the last stop. So we decided to push on and worst case Thomas would have to double back if I ran out of gas. We decided to slow our speed down to save on gas. Well as luck would have we found another gas station about 40 miles before the Mauritania border. So the gas dilema was solved without problem.
As we pulled up to the Moroccan exit border it was the same ol border crossing, 15 minutes of paper work and we had our passports stamped and we proceeded on to the Mauritanian border.
There is about a one mile no mans land between the border stations and it is some really bad sand covered rocky road. I only fell off once so felt quite good about that, Anna is completely amazed at my offroad skills, well not really.
At the border crossings I quickly realized that I was truly in the third world. I actually had a nervous feeling in my stomach that I was no longer in the safety zone.
The border crossing stations were literally shacks where the guards lived for probably weeks at a time. We were through the 3 stations in about an hour and 50 euros lighter, not to bad really. I am sure only about half of that amount ever sees the Mauritanian Treasury. One thing that was quite interesting is that Thomas and I had to show our passports at all 3 stops but Anna only had to show hers at one. The gourds would look at her and almost consider her like a goat or piece of property, welcome to the Muslim countries. She didn't seem to mind too much because she could sit by the bike and make us do all the paperwork and deal with the border guards, I guess being a goat has its advantages.
After clearing customs we hopped on the road and headed to Naobijou for a campground/compound that a guy told us about at the border crossing.
Driving through Naoubijou was definitely different than Morocco, welcome to black Africa. I am definitely feeling out of my element and even a little nervous. But I am sure after a few days I will start feeling more comfortable and at ease.
After checking into our compound and paying an extra 3 euros we all got a room to share and after exchanging our money at the local bank, a lady who came to our room and exchanged our money. I walked around and spoke to some of the other travelers and met an older german couple who gave me a beer, a rarity in Muslim Mauritania and even saw a Spanish guy take two hookers to his room, not a good idea in a such a high aids rate country. Well after a long day I was glad to finally call it a night.
Todays Specs
Weather: 85F Sunny/Cloudy
Distance: 300miles Dahkla Western Sahara to Naubijou Mauritania
10/10/2005
Well sharing a room with Thomas turned out to be a bad idea as he snores very loud. So after a restless nights sleep first priority was to get the rear tire changed. This is quite an exciting event because it is one less thing I am carrying around. While Thomas and Anna went to the internet cafe to send some emails I found a tire station. I was not prepared for the most amazing tire changing I have ever seen. This guy is use to changing car tires by bare hands so my tubeless moto tire was a walk in the park. Those who have been following my journal know that it usually takes me an hour on a good day to change this tire. Well this guy took the tire then removed his shoes and began using both his feet and hands and within 3 minutes he had the new tire on and ready to be mounted back on the bike. I almost wanted to pay him to do it again so I could figure out how he did it.
So after I left the tire place I met up with Anna and Thomas and we decided we had seen enough Naubijou and time to make our way to Nouakchott. The drive to Nouakchott is over 300 miles with no gas stations which means I will have to carry about 10 liters of fuel with me. So after finding some old plastic oil containers we loaded up with extra fuel and set off.
Now I really cant wait to get home and listen to people complain on hot days, because now I can say "Oh you think this is hot, let me tell you about when I was in the Sahara, now that was hot, lets call it Africa hot" So today was fucking hot, I mean boil an egg on the sidewalk hot. I also think I may be having an allergic reaction to the Malarone (we started taking the Malaria medicine two days ago) for some reason my back has a heat rash on it. It only breaks out when I start sweating, not sure if it is the malarone or my back protector, any ways it sucks and it isnt fun.
We about 5:00 we were still two hours away from Nouakchott so we decided to call it a day and find a place to bush camp.
We found a nice little spot behind a sand dune and set up camp.
While we ate an excellent dinner (guess who cooked) dinner of tomato pasta with an onion we also looked over the route. We are trying to decide if we are going directly to Mali or via Senagal. We also discussed how much less friendly the people here versus Morocco. We came to the conclusion that there isnt too much to be excited about the combination of very poor very hot and allot of sand doesnt make for such a happy existence. We didnt reach any conclusion on the route before we retired to our tents at a 8:00.
Todays Specs
Weather: 105+F Sunny/Cloudy
Distance: 200miles Naubijou to bush camping halfway to Nouakchott
10/11/2005
Who ever said that it gets really cold at night in the desert hasnt been to this desert. I was considering calling Bibler and asking them if they have an air-conditioning option for the I-tent. After a quick pack-up and dumping the last of the gas cans in Rosie, the new official name of the bike, we were on the road.
This morning was looking like it was going to be hotter than yesterday so we were quite glad we got an early start and made it to Nouakchott and found a hotel by 11:00 am. Along the way I saw the most scene, I wish I could have stopped and got a picture. Not far from the road was a beautiful shapely lady dressed in head to toe with only her eyes showing, there was a strong breeze so the robes were blowing in the wind, she stood there watching over a herd of camels. I stopped the bike and asked Anna if she had seen it or had I imagined the woman but she had also, see it is good to have an imaginary friend to confirm my mirages. It was truly amazing.
Other than that I came to the conclusion that I am a definately a water person. The desert is beautiful and amazing but I think it almost sucks the happiness out of me. I think how happy I was in Ireland with the green country side and beautiful sea and I have a different feeling here. Dont get me wrong I wouldnt trade anything for this experience but I will definately appreciate the ocean and a green country side even more when I get home.
So after some serious negotiations at the hotel I got the price down to $30 from $50 with parking for the bike in the lobby. After a couple hot days I was out of clothes and in need of spoiling myself a little so we stayed in a decent hotel.
So after a shower and relaxing for a while we headed out to find the Mali embassy.
Luckily the embassy was only 2 kilometers away and for $10 and 30 minutes of waiting we walked out with visas in hand.
I took a walk by myself through the market, it was extremely dirty and unimpressive. As I walked down the dirt packed street with people all driving old Mercedes or new SUV's(all of Europes stolen cars end up here) the first thing that came to mind were scenes from the Mogodishu market in the movie Black Hawk Down. They say this isnt black africa yet since it is still predominately muslim but to me it looks pretty black.
The rest of the day and evening were spent lounging around in the air conditioning preparing for the road ahead. We did manage to have a great steak dinner and a beer for dinner; Thomas s hotel had a decent restaurant so we risked eating beef here. It was well worth the 30 euros for dinner, you have to splurge every now and again especially in this heat.
Todays Specs
Weather: 105+F Sunny/Cloudy
Distance: 200miles bush camping halfway to Nouakchott to Nouakchott
