From Me To You

12 hours riding to get to NDB totally worth it. First off the ride was cake because we hitched along with Mariam and Pedro. Really kind people that have let us be a part of this experience with them.

We come to the city and hooked up with some PCV's here. The life in the big city must be hard. There are nice amenities that would remind me too much of home, and the anonymity that comes along with living in an expat city would feel very lonely, I think. I feel very brussy here, looking around with wide eyes and exclaming that everyday life here is wonderous. It has to be what the acutal brusse PCV's feel when they come to Kaedi. We were welcomed to sleep at the home of another married couple and have had a great time. Their home is beautiful and the hospitality more than we hoped for.

We visited the port, it was a sight to see. There is a very large international fishing industry here. Lately they have been suffering due to economic sanctions based on the junta government. The sheer number of fish that were pulled from the ocean only to dry on the sand was staggering. We seen manta rays, sharks, and hammer heads. Neat and sad at the same time. It rained that day and for this I was thankful. A hot day with rotting fish innards not so pleasant I imagine. The day was capped with a couples dinner. Our hosts prepared a feast and we enjoyed good company.

The next day, this was inspiring. We visied Cap Blanche (The White Cape) and there is a Monk Seal reserve. There are 200 left alive and we were able to see one. Very cool, very very cool. The reserve was the cleanest place we have seen in Mauritania and the beasuty of it was awe inspiring. Later after we realized we have horrible sunburns we went and goofed off at a old French WWII military compound exploring bunkers and sitting on old cannons. I saw a camel pee for an eternity, they can retain a lot of water. We finished the night and our weekend with dinner at a Spanish restaurant fresh ocean fish, great. Oh I did some work in the morning too ;) connected with a PCV who has the same job as me up here.

Kristy will have her meeting in a few min and then we are off for the long ride home.