I don't know why I'm continually surprised to find an abundance of mosquitoes in these desert environs. Quite whether they are the death-dealing kind, I don't know, but either way I don't like them. The buzz of a single mosquito around my ears sends me into a panicked frenzy and I know I will not be able to sleep until one of us is dead. Consequently, I dueled with the insect world for most of … [Read more...]
Ahmed the Finger, Nouakchott, Day 231
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We've had occasional e-mail contact with Sheldon Cooper since we went our separate ways in Dakar, so hopefully he and Ahmed the Finger will find their way to our hotel at some point today. Other than another visit to the cheap and cheerful schwarma restaurant across the road we don't stray too far from our hotel, preferring to sit in the shady garden and read and get the diaries up to date. Having … [Read more...]
Terjit oasis, Mauritania, Day 232
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Undoubtedly the worst travel day of my entire life. Read on to learn the gory details. The rooms and the gardens at the Auberge de Caravans are actually quite pleasant, but I had a miserable night there. I'm either being bitten by mosquitoes (because the net which is draped from a hook in the ceiling does not completely encircle my mattress, thus making me a tasty target for the damned bugs) or I … [Read more...]
Old Town Chinguetti, Mauritania, Day 233
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One thing you can be sure about when you travel, and especially if like Christi and I you go for long vacations, you always meet someone who is doing a longer or more spectacular trip. It's not that I'm jealous so much as envious. Are these people even less career-driven than me or do they have unlimited wealth or can they survive on a tin of beans and a stick of celery each day while finding the … [Read more...]
The Friday mosque of Chinguetti, Day 234
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Christi and I are left to our own devices today - no Sheldon or Ahmed telling us what to do. Our plan is three-fold. Move to better accommodation; explore more of the Old Town, including the Friday mosque of Chinguetti; and take a peek at the Sahara Desert, which is, well, everywhere. But all that is for later. Sheldon leant us his mosquito net last night, which at least kept the mosquitoes from … [Read more...]
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