Nouakachott, Mauritania.

So, here we are in very hot and sunny Nouakachott, the capital city of Mauritania. After 3 days travelling through the Western Sahara from Morocco. It took 3 hours for them to let us cross out of Morocco. We crossed no mans land which is basically a very rough path across the sand, very bouncy in the truck. It was almost dark when we got to the Mauritania side so they let us set up camp next to the passport control building, which was fine. They let us through straight away in the morning. They gave us an armed escort (5 guys with big guns in a pickup truck) for the 500kms to here, probably because some spanish NGO workers got kidnapped by Al Qaeda recently.

The bush camping sites again were great, the middle of nowhere, nice scenery and sunsets. One night we found a small area on top of a hill and camped on the red sand among the cacti. Another night we camped at the beach. The hostel here is great, clean facilites, friendly staff and we are sleeping on the roof again, under mozzie nets.

We bought 3kgs of goat from some remote outpost in the desert, i think the goat had probably been walking around outside a few hours earlier. We watched the guy chop it up a bit for us. I kind of offered to cut it up for the pot but it smelt a bit funny after it had been on the truck for 36 hours. I am not squeamish but the smell and the texture grossed me out. Anyway we cooked it and it was ok, nobody got sick. It did taste ok but i was over it by then.

There have been one or two arguments among the team although not involving me or the cool kids who sit at the front of the truck. Whats the point in having a huge row when we are supposed to be on having fun. But i guess we will all have our moments. I have a good view from the front of the truck, can see out the front back and sides.....talking of which, many of us have shaved our heads, grade 0, partly for fun and because sometimes we dont shower for 4 days!

Found out the world cup draw. Looks like England have a favourable draw. Good to have some different teams to play from normal. Seems we might get Australia in the next round?

There are no taboos now regarding toilet habits and experiences. So far has not been so bad, maybe worse for the girls. There are mostly squat toilets but sometimes too smelly, blocked or broken for human use. But we all share our experiences and bodily functions, burping and farting is pretty well accepted and ignored.

At night there are dogs barking in the distance but very loudly, and every morning there is the 'call to prayer'
from the mosques, at 430am and even with ear plugs in it wakes us up, and goes until about 5am, kind of funny but annoying.

We leave here tomorrow and take a few days to get to the Mali border. Our visas dont start until 23rd december but the Mali embassy here assured us we can cross earlier....wheel C.