Finally....the write up has been posted!!
It is a bit confusing because it is posted in 3 parts. So to read in chronological order read the one title Part 1 - Morocco first...then Part 2 - Mauritania and then Travel Morals!!
Very complicated...I know! Sorry for the length (eeek)
One of the most important lessons of this trip...I can already predict...will be patience! Today marks out one week anniversary in Senegal and as of yet we have not started classes, we do not have residence and we are not even registered!
The residence issue will hopefully sort itself out tomorrow (inshallah) but I am not holding my breath! We are actually having a bit of a party tonight in our villa to celebrate our last night so we may end up looking a little silly when we stay another week :(
The most frustrating part of this whole thing is not the waiting or the university here, it is the University of Ottawa. We found out today that we are expected to pay a tuition fee here in order to register for the program. The fee is very very little (university in Senegal is highly subsidized) but given that we have already paid our 5,000 plus CAD for our tuition back home it seems a little ludicrous to also pay tuition here!!!!
Essentially what it boils down to is that the University of Ottawa is making an almost 25,000 profit of us 5 students while not paying a single cent to UGB to compensate for our tuition here!! We are really hoping this is all a misunderstanding because this program is fairly new and all the little details have not yet been worked out! Until we figure that out though we are not going to be able to register here...
The good thing is we can still attend classes and those should all have gotten underway today! As of yet I don't know which courses I will take but by next week I will have tried out all the ones that look interesting in Sociology and Economics and then all that is left are the Political Science courses which begin on Nov.6!
I am really looking forward to being back in class and to be learning. We have now had our fun travels...had our relaxing settling in period...now the work needs to begin!!!
Ligeey Ligeey!!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Travel Morals (as we like to call them)
*Always carry multiple copies of your passport – for all of Morocco and Mauritania you need a good 10,15…maybe 20 copies! It will make gendarmerie and police checks (which there are a lot of) much faster as it means all they have to do is verify who you are and they can copy down your information later! Bus drivers and drivers will love you!!
*Carry a good supply of Euros on you as it is the best currency going and often the only thing you can change on the street
*Bring cash into Mauritania!! Lots of it…banks close at 1:00 and only one ATM accepts foreign bank cards – The Société Général de Mauritanie (check with your bank before travelling - BMO isn’t accepted in many banks)
*Arrange exact prices including bags, extra people prices….or at least expect that the day of traveling the prices might jump for all kinds of reasons! Be prepared to argue…
*Expect trips to take much longer than anticipated (and suggested by the locals) because of delays at police checks and delays to help other drivers’ broken down cars (we stopped 3 times to help other cars out)
*6 people travel in cabs in Mauritania! Two up front 4 in the back…
*Always carry toilet paper, soap, and water and small change for men or women who sit outside the bathroom and clean it, sometimes provide soap and TP
*If you have time to wait for rides, a free one might just crop up. Quite a few people travel down through Mauritania to Senegal…the fewer people you travel with the easier it will be to hitch a ride for free or for very little!
*You cannot change Moroccan dirhams in Senegal
*The Rosso border closes at 1 and opens again from 3 to 6:30
*If you squat low, pee facing the back wall, if you squat high pee facing the door – those of you who have seen the toilets will understand, those of you who haven’t will understand if you ever do see the toilets.
I am sorry that this retelling of the adventure ended up being so long! Turns out that a lot more happened than I realized and by writing it all down I opened the flood gates.
Thanks for those of you who sifted through this huge write up and I hope it was interesting to read. From now on my updates will be a little shorter…I promise!!
Ligeey Ligeey! A bientot!
*Carry a good supply of Euros on you as it is the best currency going and often the only thing you can change on the street
*Bring cash into Mauritania!! Lots of it…banks close at 1:00 and only one ATM accepts foreign bank cards – The Société Général de Mauritanie (check with your bank before travelling - BMO isn’t accepted in many banks)
*Arrange exact prices including bags, extra people prices….or at least expect that the day of traveling the prices might jump for all kinds of reasons! Be prepared to argue…
*Expect trips to take much longer than anticipated (and suggested by the locals) because of delays at police checks and delays to help other drivers’ broken down cars (we stopped 3 times to help other cars out)
*6 people travel in cabs in Mauritania! Two up front 4 in the back…
*Always carry toilet paper, soap, and water and small change for men or women who sit outside the bathroom and clean it, sometimes provide soap and TP
*If you have time to wait for rides, a free one might just crop up. Quite a few people travel down through Mauritania to Senegal…the fewer people you travel with the easier it will be to hitch a ride for free or for very little!
*You cannot change Moroccan dirhams in Senegal
*The Rosso border closes at 1 and opens again from 3 to 6:30
*If you squat low, pee facing the back wall, if you squat high pee facing the door – those of you who have seen the toilets will understand, those of you who haven’t will understand if you ever do see the toilets.
I am sorry that this retelling of the adventure ended up being so long! Turns out that a lot more happened than I realized and by writing it all down I opened the flood gates.
Thanks for those of you who sifted through this huge write up and I hope it was interesting to read. From now on my updates will be a little shorter…I promise!!
Ligeey Ligeey! A bientot!
Part 2 - Mauritania
Our drive down to Nouahdibou was what you could call cramped. We were all five piled into a little Mercedes car with one person up front and 4 in the back! All of our stuff piled in the car and the trunk tied down!!
The border was interesting. It took us 4 hours to get across! Lots of waiting but luckily we didn't have to pay any bribes. We did have one gendarmerie power tripping and make us take out all of our bags and open them...even after the border police told us and the gendarmerie that they did not want to search our bags!!! It took so long mostly because the border officials move really slowly and have a lot to process....so that day was spent mostly standing around. Oh and driving through no mans land....hard core off roading in a Mercedes :) Does it get any better?
It was a little scary because our driver, upon entering no man's land, told us how dangerous it was because neither Morocco nor Mauritania has jurisdiction, so we had to keep our eye out for people on the road and drive fast!! That was not reassuring!!
We made it across though and on to Nouhadibou...
It was really cool driving in to Nouahdibou because there was a really clear sense of being in a totally different country. The architecture was different with smaller more makeshift houses, the people looked different – more African less Arab, the streets were dustier and smaller! It was neat seeing the change.
The hostel was called Chez Abba and one of four ‘campings’ in Nouahdibou. That just means you can camp there or you can have a room. We went there because we met a guy at the border who worked there. It was quite nice and secluded…which after a long drawn out border process was really nice to have some peace.
We met some great people there. Unfortunately, we met one guy who tried to be really nice but ended up causing us a lot of confusion.
He was the guy who ended up organizing our transport to Nouakchott since we couldn’t really find it on our own because we arrived late and couldn’t walk around and look for transport on our own .
Transport in Mauritania is super regulated. All the taxis that leave have to get papers before they go and they all leave from a central garage. This means that they all chill at the garage and have their name on a list and you take the next one on the list. The taxis also carry 6 people…so if you are 5 people you can either pay for the 6th spot or you can wait at the garage for a 6th person. Yes, this means that a car normally designed for 5 people actually carries 7 (including the driver). Two people sit all cozy like up front and four people in the back.
We were hoping to leave early in the morning and make it all the way to Rosso at the border in the same day. Unfortunately our plan to leave at 7 am was pushed to 9 am (because the guy at the hostel organizing our ride thought 7 was to early)….and then it was pushed to 9:20 by the time the car showed up and then it was pushed to 11:00 by the time we were done at the garage getting our papers done.
Given that it takes 5 hours from Nouahdibou to Nouakchott and 2 to Rosso from there were certainly were not going to make it to the border and across before it closed! That was okay though…the original plan was to stay in Nouakchott one night anyway.
Our only problem was that upon entering Mauritania we discovered that the banks close at 1:00 and the ATMs don’t work unless you have a Mauritanian bank card. So all we had in terms of money was whatever dirhams we brought across the border. Luckily a really nice guy we met at the hostel took our money and got it changed for us out on the street. Which is really the only way to change money in Mauritania.
We spent the evening at the hostel drinking tea with a guy named Moussa Raphael and Dahid. Dahid is a guide who takes people desert camping so hopefully at some point we can make a weekend trip in to Mauritania and he will take us desert camping on camels! He was really nice and really funny! So many people along our travels have been so open and friendly. It has been so refreshing! Everyone always wants to invite you to tea!
Moussa even took us out to eat dinner in a little restaurant. Some of the girls had camel meat but I stuck to chicken. I did taste the camel and it was quite delicious and chewy!
So – in the morning our driver came to pick us up and we realized that our organizer had some communication problems between us and the driver. The driver didn’t realize we had so much luggage and we didn’t realize that when Sidi Muhammed quoted us a price the night before he didn’t include the baggage price or the price for the 6th person. He told us the night before that we would pay 4,500 ougiyas each. Then in the morning we had to add on another 500 ougiyas each for baggage. Plus 4,500 for the 6th seat.
It was mostly just really frustrating because up until that point we had only had good experiences with paying for things and transport and now in one go the driver showed up late and unexpected costs were thrown at us!!
The driver also didn’t realize that we didn’t have money to pay him on us. After changing our Dirhams we paid for the hostel for night and were about 10,000 short for the trip down. That was okay though because the original plan was to stop in Noukachott at noon and take out money either from the one ATM in all of Mauritania that accepts foreign bank cards or go into a bank and have them do it.
But given our delays we ended up not being in Noukachott until 5:30 – well after closing time for banks.
(Moussa explained to us that the reason ATMs in Mauritania don’t accept foreign cards is that it forces tourists to go into the bank to take out money and then the bank can charge a fee. Given that not many tourists go to Mauritania, as we distinctly could feel, this is an easy way to force tho ones that do come to contribute to the economy…that was his explanation!)
Along the way on our drive we stopped for lunch in the desert. We hadn’t really had time to plan out a lunch because we thought we would be in Noukachott for lunch but when we got out of the car the driver asked us if we want to have some tea. So we said yes and walked over to these open sided tents were some men were sitting and preparing tea and drinking something from a big bowl. We sat on the mat under the tent and one of the older men offered Raff the bowl with a white milky fluid. It was a little suspicious because we didn’t know what it was or how it was prepared (and we all had Lenny’s night of running to the washroom fresh in our minds) but it was an older man offering it and we really did not want to be rude, so Raff took a tiny sip and passed it on. It was actually quite tasty. It was made with goats’ milk and was very very sweet. There were little chunks floating in it that were a bit sketchy but otherwise it was not bad! Shortly after a big plate of rice with a big side of meat sitting on it was brought out and we were told very forcefully that were were to eat! It was really a cool experience sitting under this tent in the desert eating mouton (sheep) and rice with our right hands with these guys. Every time we stopped eating the guys would yell “MANGEZ MANGEZ” (eat eat)! After lunch we had some tea and then headed on our way again. We weren’t asked to pay anything or give anything….you just don’t eat in Mauritania without offering to those around you!!
When we got to Noukachott (finally) For some reason (maybe we were tired) we forgot about the ATM issue and thought we could use any ATM so we tried to at a bank and were told that there was no money until 6:30 and at that point we could use it again. So in the mean time we had our driver drive us to the hostel so we could snag a room and then go out and try the banks again. At this point the driver tried to insist on an additional cost for driving us to the hostel but our little Raff with her big voice firmly told him that no way would we pay for that because in our original deal he was supposed to drive us to the garage after the bank and going to the hostel was simply replacing that part of the journey! I think the driver may actually have been scared that such a little person could have such a big voice! We were all so impressed at the way she stood up to him!!
Oh, while we were trying the first ATM our driver took a prayer break just beside the car. While he was praying another car hit ours (not too badly but there was definitely a crunch sound) and it was so interesting because our driver (who clearly had seen the hit) calmly just kept going with his prayers while the men in the other car waited patiently for him to be done! It was a really a neat little moment to witness..
So – the money saga continued after we went to the hostel. We tried another ATM at 6:30 and it didn’t work so we went back to the first one which obviously still didn’t work. Lenny had some US dollars on her that we could try to change on the market but the exchange rate the men on the street were giving was terrible! Then we remember that there was one French bank that took international cards. We were told it was near the french embassy on the same street. So we drove there and asked a guard where it was. He gave us directions saying it was just up the street. Turns out it was definitely not near the french embassy and I think it was even a stretch to call it the same street!!
Regardless, we found the ATM and although Raff’s and Lenny’s BMO cards didn’t work (BMO cards barely work anywhere!!!) my RBC card did. We were able to get money to pay the driver and he was nice enough to drive us back to the hostel….although he was still quite unimpressed with us.
We ended up paying him 30,000 ougiya in total which was a bit more than we should but we figured we owed him for the hassle.
At this point Lenny, Raff and I who had been doing the running around searching for the bank were totally exhausted and hungry.
So that evening we had a relaxed night…went out to dinner with a french guy we met at the hostel who was biking down to Dakar and another guy who worked at the hostel. And then we called it an early night.
Noukachott seemed like an interesting city if only because it seemed totally void of tourists. There was no focus (like there is in many cities) of making things easier for visitors simply because there are not many visitors. I would love to go back and spend some time and get a better sense of what it is like. Mauritania is one of those places that no one seems to know much about. Even the political situation…we never once were told that things were unsafe or we should be careful while we were in the country but if you were to look in our media at home you would think that the streets were crawling with armed men!!
At the hostel we met a woman named Zahra who was also traveling to Saint Louis the next day. As we needed a 6th person for our cab we asked if she wanted to travel with us. She was a bit of a mystery. She was very direct and forceful but she wore these beautiful wraps and seemed quite a devout Muslim. I suppose those things don’t have to be contradictions but it certainly seemed a little odd on her!
It was fantastic that we were with her because she was able to bargain cheaper prices than we could. We payed 500 ougiyas each from the hostel to the garage (about 10 km outside the city) and then we payed 1000 ougiya from the garage to Rosso-Mauritania. We were told by everyone that the price was 2000 ougiya so that discount was a pretty good deal! We were even more crammed then before though. There was the driver and two women up front, four people in the middle, and three at the back – for a grand total of 10 people in a little station wagon car. The back was crammed with bags and a couple were tied on the roof….
We arrived in Rosso at about 1:30. We were delayed leaving in the morning because Zahra forgot to wake up early! We had wanted to leave at 7 am and we actually left around 9:30. Unfortunately the border closes from 1 to 3 and no one was allowed through to catch the ferry across the Senegal River.
It was blazing hot in the sun! And there was no shade in sight. Luckily Zahra knew a place were we could go so we spent the few hours in the back room of a restaurant in what I assume was the owners house. We siesta’d and ate CheubUJeun…which is Wolof for fish and rice (the Senegalese national dish). It was ridiculously hot even in the little room in the shade with a fan!
Finally it was time to cross the border and just before walking through the gate we had a gendarmerie guy approach us and ask us for our passports. We had been told to be very careful at Rosso because lots of people would offer to take us through the border and deal with all the formalities for us and so we were prepared to be a little tough! When the gendarmerie guy handed back our passports he asked really nicely what we were prepared to pay for his services of taking us across the border and organizing all the formalities for us! We said we were prepared to pay nothing and he smiled nicely, said okay, and walked away! It was so bizarre how quickly he gave up.
But at the same time, a few times in Mauritania we had been told by men that they would give us a good deal because we were women and therefore did not have very much money. So maybe the gendarmerie guy figured it wouldn’t be worth trying to get a group of women to pay because clearly we didn’t have much money! We also looked really sweaty, dirty, and unpleasant…so maybe he just didn’t want to stand to near us J
Once across the boat we paid 100 dirhams each for our bags on the Bac (the ferry to cross the river). You can also take a pirogues which would be faster because it can leave whenever but it costs a bit more (500). While we were waiting on the Bac we realized that we needed exit stamps from Mauritania so we had to quickly run up to the police booth and get our stamps! They were nice and we did not have to pay anything…
The ferry ride itself take about 4 minutes and then you are in SENEGAL!!
On the ferry with us there was a really nice 4x4 with only two guys in it. So Zahra knocked on their window and asked them if they could give us a ride! This woman was wonderful!! The two men said they could take three of us in to Saint Louis and the others would have to find alternative transport. Raff, Genet, and Annie got to go in the car and Lenny and I stayed behind with Zahra to grab a taxi.
In terms of procedures on the Rosso-Senegal side a man took our passports as we left the boat (he was also taking id cards from the Mauritanians) and then we just had to wait a few minutes for them to copy down our info. Raff, Lenny, and I had our Senegal visas in our passports (I switched from my Danish passport to my Canadian without any problems or questions about why I didn’t have entry or exit stamps for Mauritania in my Canadian passport). Annie did not have a visa because her passport was temporary and Genet has a German passport. That wasn’t a problem though…we got our entry stamps, no problem, no fee!!
Actually not once did we have to pay a bribe along the way. We paid for our visas in to Mauritania from Morocco. That cost 20 euros or 300 dirhams (which is more expensive in Dirhams) but that was all we had to pay at borders! I did get a few funny looks when the police or the gendarmerie asked for my passport and saw it was Danish or when I said I was Danish. I thought at first it was in my head (because I was worried there might be problems given Danmark's low popularity amongst Muslims) but then all the girls confirmed that the guards definitely took a second look at me or smirked at me when they found out!! But I didn’t really have any concrete problems or comments…
So – finally we had made it to Rosso-Senegal! The three girls were off in their nice fancy air conditioned car and Lenny, Zahra, another guy, and I were left behind to find transport. Zahra and I first changed some money from this guy in a little room. There were lots of people offering to change money for us. We went with one guy who seemed nice and it was fine. But I would be careful doing it on my own…I just felt comfortable because Zahra was there. The rate was also much better in Rosso-Senegal then in Saint Louis. 1000 ougiyas to 2000 CFAS in Rosso….1000 ougiyas to 1800 in Saint Louis.
We then grabbed a cab to the garage which is just outside of town were all the taxis and buses left.
The one thing about traveling around with local people is that they really seem to not grasp the concept of informing those with them about what is going on! So before we knew it we had paid for a seat in a bus and our bags were being thrown up on the roof and tied down. Which would have been fine but the bus was essentially empty and those buses don’t leave until all the seats are full! So Lenny and I sat there for probably 3 hours as the sun started to set and it got dark! We were tired, hungry, and sleepy and desperately wished we had payed the extra money to take a cab with 7 people instead of a bus with 25!!
It was cheap though. We paid 1500 CFA for the ride each. The worst part was that just before the bus pulled out it kept pulling up a little, then stopping, then pulling up a little, then stopping! It was a huge tease!!!! Finally the bus got going and we were on the last last stretch of the journey.
The one thing that made it bearable was that there was a really sweet little girl sitting across from us with her older sister. We bought some bananas and some cookies and at first the sister wouldn’t let the little girl have any when we offered but finally we persisted enough and she said yes! The little girl dug her whole fist in to our bag of cookies and then sat and munched on them for the whole ride!! We also offered the cookies to the other people in the back of the bus with us and one older guy sitting across from us was so grateful and I guess thought it was an invitation to keep eating the cookies because he also just get munching on them from our bag!! Which was totally okay…just really funny!!
About 2 hours later we arrived in Saint Louis and a friend of Zahra’s met us to take us to the youth hostel. He was a little sketchy and kept asking Zahra for money for gas but in a really sort ‘oh, I just forgot to bring my money do you think you could just lend me some’ kind of way! We even lent him some and when we got to the auberge and Zahra and Lenny went inside to find the others he asked me for more. I later got the money back because Zahra found out that he was scamming her and me and she got a police guy to get the money back!
Anyway! We MADE IT to Saint Louis! The girls had been soooo worried because we didn’t show up until 9:30-10:00 (they thought we were kidnapped by Zahra)….and although we had called the hotel we were supposed to meet at (not the auberge but a fancy hotel) they message they were given was that we were on a pirogue touring the city and that we would meet them at the hostel!! How the hell that message got passed through I have no idea!!
But we were all safe and sound. Lenny and I were just a bit hot, dusty and tired but that is all a part of the experience!!!
In the end we stayed two nights at the hostel. The guy who runs it even goes to UGB so we made a friend already!
I love the city already! It is small and bustling! I can’t wait to discover it more and really get to know every corner!
The trip was really wonderful! Although I was skeptical about traveling in to Senegal in this way because I thought it would just exhaust us and make our settling in stressful, it has been totally contrary. I am so happy to get to stay in once spot for a bit that it makes it so much more enjoyable! And we are already used to the ins and outs of living and traveling in this kind of a culture from our trek down that culture shock will at least be delayed until something more major comes up!
The border was interesting. It took us 4 hours to get across! Lots of waiting but luckily we didn't have to pay any bribes. We did have one gendarmerie power tripping and make us take out all of our bags and open them...even after the border police told us and the gendarmerie that they did not want to search our bags!!! It took so long mostly because the border officials move really slowly and have a lot to process....so that day was spent mostly standing around. Oh and driving through no mans land....hard core off roading in a Mercedes :) Does it get any better?
It was a little scary because our driver, upon entering no man's land, told us how dangerous it was because neither Morocco nor Mauritania has jurisdiction, so we had to keep our eye out for people on the road and drive fast!! That was not reassuring!!
We made it across though and on to Nouhadibou...
It was really cool driving in to Nouahdibou because there was a really clear sense of being in a totally different country. The architecture was different with smaller more makeshift houses, the people looked different – more African less Arab, the streets were dustier and smaller! It was neat seeing the change.
The hostel was called Chez Abba and one of four ‘campings’ in Nouahdibou. That just means you can camp there or you can have a room. We went there because we met a guy at the border who worked there. It was quite nice and secluded…which after a long drawn out border process was really nice to have some peace.
We met some great people there. Unfortunately, we met one guy who tried to be really nice but ended up causing us a lot of confusion.
He was the guy who ended up organizing our transport to Nouakchott since we couldn’t really find it on our own because we arrived late and couldn’t walk around and look for transport on our own .
Transport in Mauritania is super regulated. All the taxis that leave have to get papers before they go and they all leave from a central garage. This means that they all chill at the garage and have their name on a list and you take the next one on the list. The taxis also carry 6 people…so if you are 5 people you can either pay for the 6th spot or you can wait at the garage for a 6th person. Yes, this means that a car normally designed for 5 people actually carries 7 (including the driver). Two people sit all cozy like up front and four people in the back.
We were hoping to leave early in the morning and make it all the way to Rosso at the border in the same day. Unfortunately our plan to leave at 7 am was pushed to 9 am (because the guy at the hostel organizing our ride thought 7 was to early)….and then it was pushed to 9:20 by the time the car showed up and then it was pushed to 11:00 by the time we were done at the garage getting our papers done.
Given that it takes 5 hours from Nouahdibou to Nouakchott and 2 to Rosso from there were certainly were not going to make it to the border and across before it closed! That was okay though…the original plan was to stay in Nouakchott one night anyway.
Our only problem was that upon entering Mauritania we discovered that the banks close at 1:00 and the ATMs don’t work unless you have a Mauritanian bank card. So all we had in terms of money was whatever dirhams we brought across the border. Luckily a really nice guy we met at the hostel took our money and got it changed for us out on the street. Which is really the only way to change money in Mauritania.
We spent the evening at the hostel drinking tea with a guy named Moussa Raphael and Dahid. Dahid is a guide who takes people desert camping so hopefully at some point we can make a weekend trip in to Mauritania and he will take us desert camping on camels! He was really nice and really funny! So many people along our travels have been so open and friendly. It has been so refreshing! Everyone always wants to invite you to tea!
Moussa even took us out to eat dinner in a little restaurant. Some of the girls had camel meat but I stuck to chicken. I did taste the camel and it was quite delicious and chewy!
So – in the morning our driver came to pick us up and we realized that our organizer had some communication problems between us and the driver. The driver didn’t realize we had so much luggage and we didn’t realize that when Sidi Muhammed quoted us a price the night before he didn’t include the baggage price or the price for the 6th person. He told us the night before that we would pay 4,500 ougiyas each. Then in the morning we had to add on another 500 ougiyas each for baggage. Plus 4,500 for the 6th seat.
It was mostly just really frustrating because up until that point we had only had good experiences with paying for things and transport and now in one go the driver showed up late and unexpected costs were thrown at us!!
The driver also didn’t realize that we didn’t have money to pay him on us. After changing our Dirhams we paid for the hostel for night and were about 10,000 short for the trip down. That was okay though because the original plan was to stop in Noukachott at noon and take out money either from the one ATM in all of Mauritania that accepts foreign bank cards or go into a bank and have them do it.
But given our delays we ended up not being in Noukachott until 5:30 – well after closing time for banks.
(Moussa explained to us that the reason ATMs in Mauritania don’t accept foreign cards is that it forces tourists to go into the bank to take out money and then the bank can charge a fee. Given that not many tourists go to Mauritania, as we distinctly could feel, this is an easy way to force tho ones that do come to contribute to the economy…that was his explanation!)
Along the way on our drive we stopped for lunch in the desert. We hadn’t really had time to plan out a lunch because we thought we would be in Noukachott for lunch but when we got out of the car the driver asked us if we want to have some tea. So we said yes and walked over to these open sided tents were some men were sitting and preparing tea and drinking something from a big bowl. We sat on the mat under the tent and one of the older men offered Raff the bowl with a white milky fluid. It was a little suspicious because we didn’t know what it was or how it was prepared (and we all had Lenny’s night of running to the washroom fresh in our minds) but it was an older man offering it and we really did not want to be rude, so Raff took a tiny sip and passed it on. It was actually quite tasty. It was made with goats’ milk and was very very sweet. There were little chunks floating in it that were a bit sketchy but otherwise it was not bad! Shortly after a big plate of rice with a big side of meat sitting on it was brought out and we were told very forcefully that were were to eat! It was really a cool experience sitting under this tent in the desert eating mouton (sheep) and rice with our right hands with these guys. Every time we stopped eating the guys would yell “MANGEZ MANGEZ” (eat eat)! After lunch we had some tea and then headed on our way again. We weren’t asked to pay anything or give anything….you just don’t eat in Mauritania without offering to those around you!!
When we got to Noukachott (finally) For some reason (maybe we were tired) we forgot about the ATM issue and thought we could use any ATM so we tried to at a bank and were told that there was no money until 6:30 and at that point we could use it again. So in the mean time we had our driver drive us to the hostel so we could snag a room and then go out and try the banks again. At this point the driver tried to insist on an additional cost for driving us to the hostel but our little Raff with her big voice firmly told him that no way would we pay for that because in our original deal he was supposed to drive us to the garage after the bank and going to the hostel was simply replacing that part of the journey! I think the driver may actually have been scared that such a little person could have such a big voice! We were all so impressed at the way she stood up to him!!
Oh, while we were trying the first ATM our driver took a prayer break just beside the car. While he was praying another car hit ours (not too badly but there was definitely a crunch sound) and it was so interesting because our driver (who clearly had seen the hit) calmly just kept going with his prayers while the men in the other car waited patiently for him to be done! It was a really a neat little moment to witness..
So – the money saga continued after we went to the hostel. We tried another ATM at 6:30 and it didn’t work so we went back to the first one which obviously still didn’t work. Lenny had some US dollars on her that we could try to change on the market but the exchange rate the men on the street were giving was terrible! Then we remember that there was one French bank that took international cards. We were told it was near the french embassy on the same street. So we drove there and asked a guard where it was. He gave us directions saying it was just up the street. Turns out it was definitely not near the french embassy and I think it was even a stretch to call it the same street!!
Regardless, we found the ATM and although Raff’s and Lenny’s BMO cards didn’t work (BMO cards barely work anywhere!!!) my RBC card did. We were able to get money to pay the driver and he was nice enough to drive us back to the hostel….although he was still quite unimpressed with us.
We ended up paying him 30,000 ougiya in total which was a bit more than we should but we figured we owed him for the hassle.
At this point Lenny, Raff and I who had been doing the running around searching for the bank were totally exhausted and hungry.
So that evening we had a relaxed night…went out to dinner with a french guy we met at the hostel who was biking down to Dakar and another guy who worked at the hostel. And then we called it an early night.
Noukachott seemed like an interesting city if only because it seemed totally void of tourists. There was no focus (like there is in many cities) of making things easier for visitors simply because there are not many visitors. I would love to go back and spend some time and get a better sense of what it is like. Mauritania is one of those places that no one seems to know much about. Even the political situation…we never once were told that things were unsafe or we should be careful while we were in the country but if you were to look in our media at home you would think that the streets were crawling with armed men!!
At the hostel we met a woman named Zahra who was also traveling to Saint Louis the next day. As we needed a 6th person for our cab we asked if she wanted to travel with us. She was a bit of a mystery. She was very direct and forceful but she wore these beautiful wraps and seemed quite a devout Muslim. I suppose those things don’t have to be contradictions but it certainly seemed a little odd on her!
It was fantastic that we were with her because she was able to bargain cheaper prices than we could. We payed 500 ougiyas each from the hostel to the garage (about 10 km outside the city) and then we payed 1000 ougiya from the garage to Rosso-Mauritania. We were told by everyone that the price was 2000 ougiya so that discount was a pretty good deal! We were even more crammed then before though. There was the driver and two women up front, four people in the middle, and three at the back – for a grand total of 10 people in a little station wagon car. The back was crammed with bags and a couple were tied on the roof….
We arrived in Rosso at about 1:30. We were delayed leaving in the morning because Zahra forgot to wake up early! We had wanted to leave at 7 am and we actually left around 9:30. Unfortunately the border closes from 1 to 3 and no one was allowed through to catch the ferry across the Senegal River.
It was blazing hot in the sun! And there was no shade in sight. Luckily Zahra knew a place were we could go so we spent the few hours in the back room of a restaurant in what I assume was the owners house. We siesta’d and ate CheubUJeun…which is Wolof for fish and rice (the Senegalese national dish). It was ridiculously hot even in the little room in the shade with a fan!
Finally it was time to cross the border and just before walking through the gate we had a gendarmerie guy approach us and ask us for our passports. We had been told to be very careful at Rosso because lots of people would offer to take us through the border and deal with all the formalities for us and so we were prepared to be a little tough! When the gendarmerie guy handed back our passports he asked really nicely what we were prepared to pay for his services of taking us across the border and organizing all the formalities for us! We said we were prepared to pay nothing and he smiled nicely, said okay, and walked away! It was so bizarre how quickly he gave up.
But at the same time, a few times in Mauritania we had been told by men that they would give us a good deal because we were women and therefore did not have very much money. So maybe the gendarmerie guy figured it wouldn’t be worth trying to get a group of women to pay because clearly we didn’t have much money! We also looked really sweaty, dirty, and unpleasant…so maybe he just didn’t want to stand to near us J
Once across the boat we paid 100 dirhams each for our bags on the Bac (the ferry to cross the river). You can also take a pirogues which would be faster because it can leave whenever but it costs a bit more (500). While we were waiting on the Bac we realized that we needed exit stamps from Mauritania so we had to quickly run up to the police booth and get our stamps! They were nice and we did not have to pay anything…
The ferry ride itself take about 4 minutes and then you are in SENEGAL!!
On the ferry with us there was a really nice 4x4 with only two guys in it. So Zahra knocked on their window and asked them if they could give us a ride! This woman was wonderful!! The two men said they could take three of us in to Saint Louis and the others would have to find alternative transport. Raff, Genet, and Annie got to go in the car and Lenny and I stayed behind with Zahra to grab a taxi.
In terms of procedures on the Rosso-Senegal side a man took our passports as we left the boat (he was also taking id cards from the Mauritanians) and then we just had to wait a few minutes for them to copy down our info. Raff, Lenny, and I had our Senegal visas in our passports (I switched from my Danish passport to my Canadian without any problems or questions about why I didn’t have entry or exit stamps for Mauritania in my Canadian passport). Annie did not have a visa because her passport was temporary and Genet has a German passport. That wasn’t a problem though…we got our entry stamps, no problem, no fee!!
Actually not once did we have to pay a bribe along the way. We paid for our visas in to Mauritania from Morocco. That cost 20 euros or 300 dirhams (which is more expensive in Dirhams) but that was all we had to pay at borders! I did get a few funny looks when the police or the gendarmerie asked for my passport and saw it was Danish or when I said I was Danish. I thought at first it was in my head (because I was worried there might be problems given Danmark's low popularity amongst Muslims) but then all the girls confirmed that the guards definitely took a second look at me or smirked at me when they found out!! But I didn’t really have any concrete problems or comments…
So – finally we had made it to Rosso-Senegal! The three girls were off in their nice fancy air conditioned car and Lenny, Zahra, another guy, and I were left behind to find transport. Zahra and I first changed some money from this guy in a little room. There were lots of people offering to change money for us. We went with one guy who seemed nice and it was fine. But I would be careful doing it on my own…I just felt comfortable because Zahra was there. The rate was also much better in Rosso-Senegal then in Saint Louis. 1000 ougiyas to 2000 CFAS in Rosso….1000 ougiyas to 1800 in Saint Louis.
We then grabbed a cab to the garage which is just outside of town were all the taxis and buses left.
The one thing about traveling around with local people is that they really seem to not grasp the concept of informing those with them about what is going on! So before we knew it we had paid for a seat in a bus and our bags were being thrown up on the roof and tied down. Which would have been fine but the bus was essentially empty and those buses don’t leave until all the seats are full! So Lenny and I sat there for probably 3 hours as the sun started to set and it got dark! We were tired, hungry, and sleepy and desperately wished we had payed the extra money to take a cab with 7 people instead of a bus with 25!!
It was cheap though. We paid 1500 CFA for the ride each. The worst part was that just before the bus pulled out it kept pulling up a little, then stopping, then pulling up a little, then stopping! It was a huge tease!!!! Finally the bus got going and we were on the last last stretch of the journey.
The one thing that made it bearable was that there was a really sweet little girl sitting across from us with her older sister. We bought some bananas and some cookies and at first the sister wouldn’t let the little girl have any when we offered but finally we persisted enough and she said yes! The little girl dug her whole fist in to our bag of cookies and then sat and munched on them for the whole ride!! We also offered the cookies to the other people in the back of the bus with us and one older guy sitting across from us was so grateful and I guess thought it was an invitation to keep eating the cookies because he also just get munching on them from our bag!! Which was totally okay…just really funny!!
About 2 hours later we arrived in Saint Louis and a friend of Zahra’s met us to take us to the youth hostel. He was a little sketchy and kept asking Zahra for money for gas but in a really sort ‘oh, I just forgot to bring my money do you think you could just lend me some’ kind of way! We even lent him some and when we got to the auberge and Zahra and Lenny went inside to find the others he asked me for more. I later got the money back because Zahra found out that he was scamming her and me and she got a police guy to get the money back!
Anyway! We MADE IT to Saint Louis! The girls had been soooo worried because we didn’t show up until 9:30-10:00 (they thought we were kidnapped by Zahra)….and although we had called the hotel we were supposed to meet at (not the auberge but a fancy hotel) they message they were given was that we were on a pirogue touring the city and that we would meet them at the hostel!! How the hell that message got passed through I have no idea!!
But we were all safe and sound. Lenny and I were just a bit hot, dusty and tired but that is all a part of the experience!!!
In the end we stayed two nights at the hostel. The guy who runs it even goes to UGB so we made a friend already!
I love the city already! It is small and bustling! I can’t wait to discover it more and really get to know every corner!
The trip was really wonderful! Although I was skeptical about traveling in to Senegal in this way because I thought it would just exhaust us and make our settling in stressful, it has been totally contrary. I am so happy to get to stay in once spot for a bit that it makes it so much more enjoyable! And we are already used to the ins and outs of living and traveling in this kind of a culture from our trek down that culture shock will at least be delayed until something more major comes up!
Part 1 -Morocco!!
Okay…now that we are finally a little bit settled in here in Saint Louis I have finally written up a more detailed account of the whole adventure south!
This is going to be very very long so it may take some time to sift through... sorry!
I have already sort of detailed the trip through Morocco so I will just skim through that for some of the travel details for future travelers wanting to take this route and looking for info…
The ferry that we took from Tarifa to Tangiers cost us 31 euros (there was a 10% discount price that weekend. The normal price is around 37-39 euros) and took about an hour by the time the ferry took off, sailed, and docked!
It was kind of cool, along the way the captain came on the loud speaker and told us that we were passing the two sailboats that were in the lead in a Round the World Sailing Race!
Once on the boat, you have to get your passports stamped with an entry stamp that shouldn’t cost anything…you need to fill out a small white piece of paper first with your name, passport number etc. The genderamerie check your passport as you are leaving the boat to make sure it has a stamp! No visas required for us.
We couldn’t really find a youth hostel because the one we had in mind that we found in an old guide book that was listed as a Hostelling International Hostel no longer existed. So instead we ended up walking to one nearby where the old hostel was supposed to be called Hotel California. It was in a tall, narrow, dark building but the receptionist was super nice and the price was good (70 dirhams each = 7 euros).
The bus from Tangier to Casablanca cost us 80 dirhams each. 70 for the ticket and 10 for the baggage underneath. The buses seemed to leave fairly frequently and through a number of different companies. I think you can buy a ticket in advance but we just showed up and since the bus was leaving that minute we were herded on to a bus and ended up paying once we were underway.
Oh – on the way to the bus station we encountered our first lesson, or as we like to call them ‘morals of the trip’…the map, verbal directions, and the actual route are often very very different! So make sure to scope out the route before!! Or be prepared for confusion and more walking than you planned for…..
In Casa we finally met up with Lenny although we had to wait a day because she was in Rabat when we arrived and had to take a train the next day back to Casa.
While we were waiting for Lenny to come from Rabat, Raff, Genet, and I needed to do laundry and so we asked at the reception how we could go about doing that. We were given directions to a place but it turned out that it was a dry-cleaning place and they wanted to charge us 7 dirhams each piece….which, with all our underwear and such, would have been a little much! So we decided to do what many travelers before us have done and wash in the sink! Raff and I were almost done our laundry and while I was upstairs trying to rig up some string to dry the laundry, the receptionist came to the bathroom and started yelling at Raff that she couldn’t do laundry in the sink and that we had to leave because the hostel was closed from 10-12 for the cleaning ladies to clean (a detail no one had bothered to mention to us prior to this point)! So after much yelling and confusion we were banished to the roof terrace to wait out the cleaning time and to finish our laundry!!! It felt a little like we had been sent to our rooms the way they treated us!! But we can add a moral to our ever growing moral book…..never wash laundry in a hostel sink or you will be grounded!!!
In Casa we did a lot of walking around and becoming comfortable with being in Morocco. We even went to see Rick’s Café…but it was a little strange because none of the movie was actually filmed in Morocco and the real café was built after the movie was made! But still neat to see.
In the evening we went out with a friend, Hakim, that we had met the night before at the tourist information office. He had been super friendly and nice and had offered to take us out and show us around town the following evening. We ended up going out to visit his ‘second mom’. A woman originally from Zaire but spent most of her life in France and is now living out her retirement in Casa. It seemed like a fairly fun idea so we agreed to go. The trip ended up being quite an adventure because we walked for about 45 minutes to get there and he kept telling us it was close but we kept walking through all these different neighbours and getting a little suspicious! Hakim also walked ridiculous fast and would cross the road at random before we even knew where he was going! And for those of you who know, crossing the street in Morocco takes a bit of practice! You need to be bold…but not too bold because the cars will NOT stop…..you have to move! Basically the technique is walk to the middle line (dodging cars), close your eyes and push through to the other side. It is quite a skill actually and we actually got really good at it!!!
Eventually we did make it though and it was really nice. We had tea and cookies and chatted about all sorts of things! Turns out that Hakim was just overly eager and friendly and so, though it was hard to judge his intentions, he meant well in the end!
At this point Lenny was feeling really ill (she had picked up a traveler's diarrhea bug in Rabat) so we took her home and then Genet, Raff, Annie, Hakim and I went out looking for a pub/bar to have some cold beer and chat. We found two nice places (I can’t remember names). One was more pub-like (la Brasserie) and, although we clearly stood out, no one seemed to mind that we were there. The second place had music and dancing and was kind of a cross between a restaurant and a pub back home!
Given our curfew (doors lock time) was 12…we made it an early night and headed home. Lenny spent ALL night miserably running to the bathroom and by the morning seemed thoroughly exhausted but through the worst! Although, she took well over a week for her to feel totally fine again.
Casa was an okay city! It was loud, dusty and dirty but that makes sense given that it is the biggest city in Morocco! It was certainly fun to explore it and I think we all really had a sense by the end that we were comfortable where we were and handling being in a different city.
The hostel (the only youth hostel in the city) was just inside the Medina walls (old city walls) on the port side. It was a good location other than we were told repeatedly not to walk through the Medina at night after 8 pm. But walking around the walls did not take much time either. During the day the Medina was quite cool actually. Lots of street vendors, stalls selling everything from watches to veggies to beautiful traditional clothing. The hostel itself was okay. The breakfast was great…coffee, juice, baguette, two pasty thingies, and laughing cow cheese. Unfortunately the guys who ran the place were a bit odd and didn’t really seem to like telling you things. For example, that you had to be out of the place from 10 to 12, or that breakfast was from 8 to 9, or that you weren't allowed to wash clothes in the sink! Fairly basic orientation rules that most places lay out right when you get there! They also kind of treated us like silly western girls who didn’t know what we were doing…..which, although it may have been true in a few instances, seemed a little unfair! But they weren’t mean spirited or anything and the place was really clean and the rooms good sizes. We paid 60 dirhams per person….for a 4 person room and then a 5 person room. Lenny paid 135 dirhams for a private room when she first got there. The place wasn’t too busy. Not too many other travelers so it was hard to meet people.
From Casa we decided to take the train to Marrakesh. The train systems in Morocco are fantastic! In the train station or on the trains, you wouldn’t even really know you weren't in Europe somewhere. The train cost 84 dirhams from Casa to Marrakesh and we left from the Casa Voyageur station.
Lenny took a train to Rabat and that cost her 32 dirhams for one way.
The only downside to trains in Morocco is that they don’t travel past Marrakesh. If you want to go further you have to take buses! But the bus system is really good too. It is in sync with the trains so that you can transfer if you want to go south.
On the train, pulling in to Marrakesh, a women approached us and asked us where we were from. Her name was Amal and she was a Moroccan who had just finished studying at NYU and was home for some time before going back to the US. She had heard us speaking English and thought we might be American. She gave us her phone number and told us that if we called her the next day we would go for tea.
Turns out that by tea she meant go to her house and spend the day with her and her family drinking tea, eating lunch, drinking coffee, chatting!!! It was incredible. When we called her the next morning she came and picked us up with her sister and they took us to their family’s home. Her mom lives there with 3 of the children and since her mom doesn’t work outside of the home she spends her day at home cooking and caring for the family. So we had amazing home made Moroccan cookies with our tea. Then just as we were about the leave her mom told us that she had made enough lunch for everyone so we had to stay! We had a Moroccan salad (tomatoes, onions, cilantro, oil, vinegar…mmmmm), we had lentils, we had these fish balls made from sardines, and we had a whole big cooked fish! It was incredibly tasty and all freshly home made! We could not get over Amal and her family’s generosity!
She was an incredible woman. She had gone to New York to further her studies in Dentistry. After two years there she got sick and was diagnosed with brain cancer. Rather than go home and fight the sickness with the support of her family she stayed in New York for her operation and treatment and did not tell her family the whole time! Luckily she had insurance because the school had made her get it so she was able to afford the treatment but she had to extend her studies by two years so that she could stay in school and still benefit from the insurance. That meant that she was a full time student and a full time cancer patient…by herself…in New York!! Her mom to this day still does not know that she had cancer.
Anyway…we had a great day with her and felt really lucky to be invited in to her home like that! She didn’t expect anything in return because she would eventually be repayed back through the kindness of others or perhaps she already had been payed back by the kindness of her fellow students in New York through her sickness!
Marrakesh was a really nice city! Much smaller and cleaner than Casa and a little less chaotic. Although, we did go to the souk and that was certainly chaotic! Just a little side …once it gets dark a bunch of street performers come out and there are huge crowds that gather to watch. But – if you stop, and you clearly stand out like we did, the performer will likely single you out and then you cannot leave until you have given some money!!! The guy we stopped to watch was going a hilarious impression of Michael Jackson dancing!!!
During the day, in the same square as the street performers, there are just people everywhere! Women doing henna, snake charmers, people selling trinkets, people walking around in traditional dress that look like they are just hanging around but if you take a picture they will chase after you for some money! Being discrete is almost impossible as they all seem to work together and tell each other. Once you actually get in to the souk it is much like the Khan el Khalil in Egypt! Windy narrow streets, lots of people, lots different goods!! You can totally get lost in there for hours if you aren’t careful! The sounds, smells, colours are so bright and intense that it is really quite an exhausting experience.
The hostel we stayed at was really nice in terms of how it looked. Nice green space with trees where we sat to eat breakfast.
Unfortunately it had some drawbacks…..The curfew at the hostel was 11:30 for the gates and 12:00 for the common areas. This seems a little silly but there appeared to be only one guy working there so maybe it was necessary for him to get some sleep!
Oh and the women and men’s rooms were separated. It felt a little like being in a boarding school!
And we think that maybe the hostel in Casa called ahead because there was also a very clear sign in the bathroom saying that no laundry could be done in the sinks!!!!!
To leave from Marrakesh there are apparently three bus companies that go to Dakhla. We only visited two of them. Supratours is the official bus company that works with the Marrakesh train lines to provide transportation where there are no trains. CTM is the other company. We ended up going with CTM simply because it left an hour earlier (2:00 as opposed to 3:00) and cost 10 dirhams less.
The trip is done in two parts Marrakesh to Agadir – 80 dirhams and Agadir to Dakhla – 340 dirhams. Marrakesh to Agadir is only about a 4 hours drive and then we had an hour layover in Agadir before the long haul down to Dakhla. The trip should have taken 25 hours but ended up being 27. Supratours takes the same time!
In Dakhla we stayed at Hotel Sahara (there are two Hotel Sahara’s…one is called Hotel Sahara regency….that is a classier place….for budget travel stick to just Sahara)
It cost us 30 dirhams a night each and in one room we just had a mattress on the floor for the third person! The place is nice enough. The bathrooms are a little smelly and there are a LOT of men staying there and not so many women.
There is a guy who works there that can arrange rides to Mauritania. He is really pushy and kind of a bully but we discovered that his prices were not unreasonable. He was asking 300 Dirhams to cross the border to Nouahdibou and 500 Dirhams all the way to Nouakchott.
We may have been able to find cheaper prices but we didn’t look too hard and we probably only would have knocked 50 dirhams or so off the price. There was a group of french people heading down through Morocco the day after us and they said they were going to look for a cheaper price.
I guess the best thing would have been if we weren’t in a hurry to get to Saint Louis and if we weren’t 5 people. I think that if we had hung around for a couple of days eventually someone would have passed through who would offer a lift. We, for example, met 3 frenchmen who were traveling down to the Casamance in a big van and could have carried passengers but 5 was cramping it a little. We also met several big convoys at the border of French adventure tourists who definitely had some extra seats available. So there are hitch hiking options!
But we were in a hurry so we had to pay the price...
Monday, October 27, 2008
Université Gaston Berger
The full adventure blog is on its way! I just want the girls here to read it over for their additional comments...
So we are finally settled in at the campus and starting to feel a bit more oriented. The first two days or so we had a really nice guy named Joel showing us around - which was wonderful but also made it a little hard to know where things were. We are getting better!
We are currently staying in a villa on campus where the professors live or where guest professors are housed! It is pretty awesome because it means we have our own house....own shower...own kitchen BUT we have to pay for it and it is a bit far from campus and other students!
The reason we are there is that as international students there is a fee we have to pay for residence but the professor coordinating our exchange is trying to get us out of paying that fee beause it is much higher than what Senegalese students pay and technically under our university's agreement with UGB we should be treated just like Senegalese students! So...for now we are waiting it out and hoping to be moved in to res.
In the mean time we have made lots of new friends! Joel invited us to his res room our first day for tea.
Side note - in Senegal you drink tea everyday. Very strong! Very sugary tea!
So at that point we met a bunch of his friends! They are all delegates in the Social committee on campus. That is the committee that protects students interests on campus. There is a very strong active student body that will take action if they feel there needs to be changes! Better food, better transportation, better access to internet and books....
So we have definitely fallen in with the right crowd!
They have been showing us around campus and on Saturday night they took us out to Saint Louis to teach us how to dance Mbalax! A Senegalese dance requiring lots of leg muscles and really smooth dancing skills. Unfortunately I posses neither of those things!!! But we had a great time anyway. It was amazing to see that on the dance floor there were majoritarily men! That is one of the many differences between here and home!!
Here are some more:
There is no grass on campus. Lots of trees!! But the ground is all sand.
There are goats wandering around on campus EVERYWHERE
All bugs here are at least 3 times bigger than back home and like to fly at your feet when you are walking at night. I dont think I have ever seen so many praying mantises.
You always have to bring your own toilet paper to the bathroom...finding a bathroom supplied with TP can brighten your entire day!!!
Between 12 and 3 you have to try not to move around too much or you will instantly be covered in sweat and exhausted by the heat.
You have to learn the times of the day that there is water in the taps and shower then! Water is not a guarantee from one minute to the next.
Everyone says Bonjour and ça va...even strangers
The list goes on...
Oh and classes dont necessarily start when they are supposed to. Today for example is the first day of classes for sociology and economics but there is a strike so they are postponed until further notice...
The courses look like they will be fantastic though!!
For now, we are off to try to get residence!
Ligeey Ligeey
(à bientot in Wolof)
So we are finally settled in at the campus and starting to feel a bit more oriented. The first two days or so we had a really nice guy named Joel showing us around - which was wonderful but also made it a little hard to know where things were. We are getting better!
We are currently staying in a villa on campus where the professors live or where guest professors are housed! It is pretty awesome because it means we have our own house....own shower...own kitchen BUT we have to pay for it and it is a bit far from campus and other students!
The reason we are there is that as international students there is a fee we have to pay for residence but the professor coordinating our exchange is trying to get us out of paying that fee beause it is much higher than what Senegalese students pay and technically under our university's agreement with UGB we should be treated just like Senegalese students! So...for now we are waiting it out and hoping to be moved in to res.
In the mean time we have made lots of new friends! Joel invited us to his res room our first day for tea.
Side note - in Senegal you drink tea everyday. Very strong! Very sugary tea!
So at that point we met a bunch of his friends! They are all delegates in the Social committee on campus. That is the committee that protects students interests on campus. There is a very strong active student body that will take action if they feel there needs to be changes! Better food, better transportation, better access to internet and books....
So we have definitely fallen in with the right crowd!
They have been showing us around campus and on Saturday night they took us out to Saint Louis to teach us how to dance Mbalax! A Senegalese dance requiring lots of leg muscles and really smooth dancing skills. Unfortunately I posses neither of those things!!! But we had a great time anyway. It was amazing to see that on the dance floor there were majoritarily men! That is one of the many differences between here and home!!
Here are some more:
There is no grass on campus. Lots of trees!! But the ground is all sand.
There are goats wandering around on campus EVERYWHERE
All bugs here are at least 3 times bigger than back home and like to fly at your feet when you are walking at night. I dont think I have ever seen so many praying mantises.
You always have to bring your own toilet paper to the bathroom...finding a bathroom supplied with TP can brighten your entire day!!!
Between 12 and 3 you have to try not to move around too much or you will instantly be covered in sweat and exhausted by the heat.
You have to learn the times of the day that there is water in the taps and shower then! Water is not a guarantee from one minute to the next.
Everyone says Bonjour and ça va...even strangers
The list goes on...
Oh and classes dont necessarily start when they are supposed to. Today for example is the first day of classes for sociology and economics but there is a strike so they are postponed until further notice...
The courses look like they will be fantastic though!!
For now, we are off to try to get residence!
Ligeey Ligeey
(à bientot in Wolof)
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sweaty.....
Made it to Saint Louis!!
Hot, dusty, sweaty, sore and tired!!!!! What an adventure...
I am in the process of typing up a huge blog detailing the whole trip, including travel details for those random people wanting to do the same route and needing more info.
I will post it soon. Right now it is siesta time!!!
Hot, dusty, sweaty, sore and tired!!!!! What an adventure...
I am in the process of typing up a huge blog detailing the whole trip, including travel details for those random people wanting to do the same route and needing more info.
I will post it soon. Right now it is siesta time!!!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Mauritania here we come!!!
27.5 hours down...more than half way :]
We made it safe and sound to Dakhla! The ride actually passed pretty quickly and most the ride we could spread out take up two seats each! Which makes for much more comfy rides. We must have been quite a sight curled up in our sleeping bags sprawled throughout the back of the bus!!!
The bus stopped often enough for pee breaks and food breaks and we kept ourselves amused with books and food :)
We did manage to piss off the entire bus along the way! We unfortunately were not aware that we would be crossing numerous checkpoints and at each stop we would need to give our passports so they could write down our information! At the first checkpoint the police came on and took our passports...took them outside; copied all our information; came back on and asked me why I did not have an entry stamp!!! Arrghh silly me had entered the country on my Danish passport given that that is what I had used all throughout Spain. And of course my Danish passport was now sitting well buried in my big backpack underneath the bus!! So while the bus driver swore at me up and down in Arabic I had to get off the bus and dig my bag out from the piles underneath the bus...then I had to give it to the police who had to recopy all this new information!!!! The next checkpoint was a little easier but it still took a while to copy all the info. Finally in Laayoune in the morning we were able to make photocopies and all the checkpoints after that ran a little more smoothly!!
Bottom line is that we made it!! We spent the night here in Dakhla last night....and are staying here tonight.
Today we spent the day at the beach after this guy picked us up and drove us out to his resort/cafe/restaurant thing near the sea! I guess we looked like we were lost so he offered to take us out there. We were a little skeptical but decide to go along becase we were all getting good vibes...turns out it was a fantastic decision!! We had the place to ourselves...we got free pizza for lunch...and a free ride back to the hotel! I think we have all decided that after this trip we will have a little more faith in humanity! We have met so many nice people who we were all wary of at first but turned out to be super fantastic people!! It kind of throws us all off because we came here expecting to be on our guard and even though we still are on our guards at this point all of our experiences with people here have been great!!!
I guess we will see if Mauritania proves to be the same!! Tomorrow morning we are taking a car to Noudibou in Mauritania.
Then we will spend the night in Noudibou and the next day go to Noukachott. Spend a night there and finally on to Saint Louis. The goal is to be in Saint Louis on Wednesday!!
I think we are all looking forward to being stationary for a while!!
Once in Senegal I will write more details about the trip!! And post pictures...we have some fantastic ones! The desert is a beautiful place.
Oh and most importantly...after consultations with my fellow lady travellers I will include a very helpful guide with the best tips on how to pee in Morrocan toilets...without making a mess!! Stay tuned :)
We made it safe and sound to Dakhla! The ride actually passed pretty quickly and most the ride we could spread out take up two seats each! Which makes for much more comfy rides. We must have been quite a sight curled up in our sleeping bags sprawled throughout the back of the bus!!!
The bus stopped often enough for pee breaks and food breaks and we kept ourselves amused with books and food :)
We did manage to piss off the entire bus along the way! We unfortunately were not aware that we would be crossing numerous checkpoints and at each stop we would need to give our passports so they could write down our information! At the first checkpoint the police came on and took our passports...took them outside; copied all our information; came back on and asked me why I did not have an entry stamp!!! Arrghh silly me had entered the country on my Danish passport given that that is what I had used all throughout Spain. And of course my Danish passport was now sitting well buried in my big backpack underneath the bus!! So while the bus driver swore at me up and down in Arabic I had to get off the bus and dig my bag out from the piles underneath the bus...then I had to give it to the police who had to recopy all this new information!!!! The next checkpoint was a little easier but it still took a while to copy all the info. Finally in Laayoune in the morning we were able to make photocopies and all the checkpoints after that ran a little more smoothly!!
Bottom line is that we made it!! We spent the night here in Dakhla last night....and are staying here tonight.
Today we spent the day at the beach after this guy picked us up and drove us out to his resort/cafe/restaurant thing near the sea! I guess we looked like we were lost so he offered to take us out there. We were a little skeptical but decide to go along becase we were all getting good vibes...turns out it was a fantastic decision!! We had the place to ourselves...we got free pizza for lunch...and a free ride back to the hotel! I think we have all decided that after this trip we will have a little more faith in humanity! We have met so many nice people who we were all wary of at first but turned out to be super fantastic people!! It kind of throws us all off because we came here expecting to be on our guard and even though we still are on our guards at this point all of our experiences with people here have been great!!!
I guess we will see if Mauritania proves to be the same!! Tomorrow morning we are taking a car to Noudibou in Mauritania.
Then we will spend the night in Noudibou and the next day go to Noukachott. Spend a night there and finally on to Saint Louis. The goal is to be in Saint Louis on Wednesday!!
I think we are all looking forward to being stationary for a while!!
Once in Senegal I will write more details about the trip!! And post pictures...we have some fantastic ones! The desert is a beautiful place.
Oh and most importantly...after consultations with my fellow lady travellers I will include a very helpful guide with the best tips on how to pee in Morrocan toilets...without making a mess!! Stay tuned :)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Morocco!!!
Casablanca!
After a looong bus ride today we are in Casa! It was an uneventuful ride other than i sat next to a really nice young man on the way home to his town who kept talking despite me trying to convey my exhaustion :)
Actually, he was very nice and invited us all to his town to meet his mother and family and experience Morocco from a more local level. If it wasnt so far away we might have taken hi, up on his offer!
For now though we are in Casablanca! There was a bit of mix up with Lenny and she is in Rabat. But hopefully she will be here tomorrow. Tangers was a cool city with amasing ambience on the streets. We stayed in Hotel California on so,e back street. We only found it after we realised that the hostel we were looking for had closed down. The receptionist was really nice and gave us tips on places to eat. The owner of the hotel lives in Canada so there were Canadian postcards all over the place!!
Tomorrow we are going exploring in Casa and will even check out Ricks Cafe :)
In the evening will meet up with someone we met at the tourist information office for coffee and Casablanca nightlife. We have to wait for Lenny to make more complete plans so for now we are just chilling and enjoying the HUGE city of Casa!!!
The feeling of being back on the continent and in a place so similar to Egypt is wonderful!! I cant quite explain it but it feels really good and comfortable!
More to come... :)
After a looong bus ride today we are in Casa! It was an uneventuful ride other than i sat next to a really nice young man on the way home to his town who kept talking despite me trying to convey my exhaustion :)
Actually, he was very nice and invited us all to his town to meet his mother and family and experience Morocco from a more local level. If it wasnt so far away we might have taken hi, up on his offer!
For now though we are in Casablanca! There was a bit of mix up with Lenny and she is in Rabat. But hopefully she will be here tomorrow. Tangers was a cool city with amasing ambience on the streets. We stayed in Hotel California on so,e back street. We only found it after we realised that the hostel we were looking for had closed down. The receptionist was really nice and gave us tips on places to eat. The owner of the hotel lives in Canada so there were Canadian postcards all over the place!!
Tomorrow we are going exploring in Casa and will even check out Ricks Cafe :)
In the evening will meet up with someone we met at the tourist information office for coffee and Casablanca nightlife. We have to wait for Lenny to make more complete plans so for now we are just chilling and enjoying the HUGE city of Casa!!!
The feeling of being back on the continent and in a place so similar to Egypt is wonderful!! I cant quite explain it but it feels really good and comfortable!
More to come... :)
Sunday, October 12, 2008
MMM Oil!
Tarifa...still here :)
The girls were supposed to catch an early bus from Malaga to Tarifa today and at this point we should have been in Tangiers and well on our way to finding a train to Casablanca...
But surprise surprise plans have changed! They girls are on their way and we will either stay here tonight or catch a ferry across and stay in Tangiers. It depends on what time they arrive...
So - that isn´t a big deal! I figured another nice relaxing day at the beach would be nice. The sun was shining this morning so I even managed to convince Maria to not go to Sevilla today but rather stay another night and leave tomorrow. So after waking up and having some breakfast Tim, Ellen, Maria and I headed off to the beach!
(Tim and Ellen are a Danish-Norwegian couple staying here to kite surf! Super nice people! And fun that I get to speak Danish :) I also found a Danish book in the hostel that I will take with me and leave somewhere in Morocco!)
The sun had sort of been shining earlier but once we got to the beach all the clouds from yesterday returned :( We decided to swim anyway but about halfway into the water we noticed the surface was covered with a shiny substance....mmmm OIL!
Apparently, there had been a crash between two ships in Gibraltar yesterday and we think the oil is from that. It was really really gross. As it washed in you could smell it wafting over the beach. Our feet are completely black from the oil...luckily it isn´t on the rest of our bodies!!
So...no relaxing beach day today :( But relaxing at the hostel on the terrace is still nice everyone is very friendly and chill so that makes it quite cozy!
I really like Tarifa. There isn´t a whole lot to do so it forces you to just relax. I can´t feel guilty about not sight-seeing because I have already seen the sights :)
Last night was lots of fun too! The hostel common area closes down at midnight so we took our little party to the pubs! If you ever have a chance to taste a Capriniska (or something like that)..DO IT! Tarfia has quite the nightlife and enough bars to sustain hundreds of surfer people in the summer. Makes for an interesting night out!!! :)
It was an interesting little group too; Aussies, a Swiss-Kiwi, a Finn, a Belgian, a German...lots of nations represented! The Aussies especially seem to be world travellers.
More to come from Morocco...
The girls were supposed to catch an early bus from Malaga to Tarifa today and at this point we should have been in Tangiers and well on our way to finding a train to Casablanca...
But surprise surprise plans have changed! They girls are on their way and we will either stay here tonight or catch a ferry across and stay in Tangiers. It depends on what time they arrive...
So - that isn´t a big deal! I figured another nice relaxing day at the beach would be nice. The sun was shining this morning so I even managed to convince Maria to not go to Sevilla today but rather stay another night and leave tomorrow. So after waking up and having some breakfast Tim, Ellen, Maria and I headed off to the beach!
(Tim and Ellen are a Danish-Norwegian couple staying here to kite surf! Super nice people! And fun that I get to speak Danish :) I also found a Danish book in the hostel that I will take with me and leave somewhere in Morocco!)
The sun had sort of been shining earlier but once we got to the beach all the clouds from yesterday returned :( We decided to swim anyway but about halfway into the water we noticed the surface was covered with a shiny substance....mmmm OIL!
Apparently, there had been a crash between two ships in Gibraltar yesterday and we think the oil is from that. It was really really gross. As it washed in you could smell it wafting over the beach. Our feet are completely black from the oil...luckily it isn´t on the rest of our bodies!!
So...no relaxing beach day today :( But relaxing at the hostel on the terrace is still nice everyone is very friendly and chill so that makes it quite cozy!
I really like Tarifa. There isn´t a whole lot to do so it forces you to just relax. I can´t feel guilty about not sight-seeing because I have already seen the sights :)
Last night was lots of fun too! The hostel common area closes down at midnight so we took our little party to the pubs! If you ever have a chance to taste a Capriniska (or something like that)..DO IT! Tarfia has quite the nightlife and enough bars to sustain hundreds of surfer people in the summer. Makes for an interesting night out!!! :)
It was an interesting little group too; Aussies, a Swiss-Kiwi, a Finn, a Belgian, a German...lots of nations represented! The Aussies especially seem to be world travellers.
More to come from Morocco...
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Gibraltar and Tarifa...rain and wind :)
This is Satu and Maria! My travel buddies in Malaga
This is from Alcazaba Castle/fort
Malaga!
Me!
The gardens in Alcazaba...amazingly beautiful!
I might one day have to get married here...but only if my husband-to-be is a billionaire...:(
View from the pathway up to Gibrafaro Castle...(zoomed in a little)
Satu and Maria...drinking morning coffee and people watching!
Me again!
Pretty park like place in Malaga where I was pooped on by pigeons...twice
This picture is going to go with my bike picture from Amsterdam!
I don´t know...don´t ask...but behind the octopus is a Roman arena that they have just unearthed...
(These are not all my pictures but given how long it takes to upload, these are a few selected ones to share! More will eventually come.)
So - we made it to Gibraltar but very unfortunately did not get to see any monkeys :( The weather was terrible yesterday. It was gray, chilly, a bit rainy, and so windy the cable car to the top of the Rock was shut down. Given that we did not want to pay the 80 euro fee to take a taxi/tour up the rock we decided that we would admire it from below and one day return to see the monkeys, tunnels and caves that are on the Rock itself.
It was still a neat trip. It felt so bizarre to go from Spain (where people barely speak English) to...well...England, where everyone speaks English.
I was convinced that the lousy weather we had was because we were in fact in England and that once we returned to Spain it would improve. My theory is partly true because the weather is certainly improving today. The sun is out and there is at least no rain. Still quite windy though..
So what we ended up doing in Gibraltar was mostly walking around. The town itself is much like any other European town with cobblestone roads and narrow streets! We walked all the way out to the tip of Gibraltar. That was an adventure that included walking through a loooong dark tunnel that we weren´t sure ever ended :) It did though and we saw the lighthouse. Given the wind though we couldn´t walk right to the end...we would either have blown away into the sea or gotten thoroughly soaked. Both options didn´t seem so ideal...
That was Gibraltar...defintely worth a visit if just to see how bizarre it is. I know I would like to go back one day (when the sun is shining) to actually go up the Rock and see the view.
Oh - and after you walk across the border (also a fun experience) you then walk across the run way...there isnt enough space on the little stretch of land to put the runway anywhere else. We definitely took our lives into our hands crossing that open stretch with the wind so strong! I was sure we were about to take flight...
We were safe, however, and after a short bus ride made it to...Tarifa!
Tarifa is a city that claims to be the southernmost tip of Europe. I am not sure I believe it but it is certainly the southernmost tip of Spain! That means that you can walk down to a point and see both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic at the same time.
It really is a summer town and walking along the streets now they seem a little deserted. But in the summer months there would be tons of people here enjoying the beautiful weather, gorgeous beaches, and fantastic waves. People come here to wave surf, kite surf, and wind surf!
It is quite small and there isn´t a whole lot to do other than lay on the beach and walk the streets. We spent today doing just that. I even swam in the ocean :) It was COLD!
The plan now is that I am meeting Annie, Raph, and Genet tomorrow and we are grabbing the ferry to Tangiers. At that point we will somehow find the train station and take a train to Casablanca! That should get us there in the late afternoon/early evening and we will find Lenny at the hostel she is staying in. I am hoping we get to stay a day in Casblanca (mostly just for kicks) but we might move on to Marakesh fairly quickly to catch up on a bit of lost time!
That is the plan of course if the ferry is running - which is hasnt been all day today or yesterday
:( So cross your fingers for us!!
Alright - I am off to the grocery store to by some food. Maria and I cooked delicious pasta and sauce last night and now we need to pick up some food for tonight.
We also had some amazing wine from somewhere in Spain. Wine is so cheap here! I am quite impressed and appreciative :)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Malaga...still
Day...I have lost track...
I may have become permanently stuck in Malaga. Well, not really but it feels like it. This will be my 4th full day. I suppose it is okay but I feel ready to move on...
Which I will be doing...tomorrow. I had a number of options and after much deliberation (and most of you know how bad I am at that) I decided to stay here for one more night. Then tomorrow Maria (the Finnish girl) and I will travel to La Linea. From La Linea we are going to walk across the border to Gibraltar. I really wanted to see it even though I have heard it is not spectacular. It is still kind of a neat place to say I have been. I want to see the monkeys :)
On the same day we will bus to Tarifa, which is the southernmost point in Spain. Apparently the beaches are beautiful and the people super nice. We are going to stay there until Sunday and which point (hopefully) I will meet up with Genet, Annie and Raph in either Tarifa or Algeciras and we will ferry across to Tangiers...bus down to Casablanca and meet Lenny! Finally all five of us will be together and the trip south can begin...
Phew...this seemed to be the best option despite not being able to spend time in Tangiers. Although that just means I have to come back one day :) Oh darn...
Malaga is a really nice place. I think I would come back here and stay longer at some point in my life - perhaps to learn Spanish :) Which I have officially decided I have to do!
I have been spending time at the beach (I even went swimming!), the Picasso Museum (thought there would be more things), visiting the castle (my calves are uber strong now) and enjoying relaxing and sitting on the terrace with a good book! And obviously meeting cool people from all over the world. Hostels are amazing places. What better way to meet people than living with them :)
Hope everyone who reads this is well and good!
More updates and eventually pictures to come...I hope! Really...I do!!
I may have become permanently stuck in Malaga. Well, not really but it feels like it. This will be my 4th full day. I suppose it is okay but I feel ready to move on...
Which I will be doing...tomorrow. I had a number of options and after much deliberation (and most of you know how bad I am at that) I decided to stay here for one more night. Then tomorrow Maria (the Finnish girl) and I will travel to La Linea. From La Linea we are going to walk across the border to Gibraltar. I really wanted to see it even though I have heard it is not spectacular. It is still kind of a neat place to say I have been. I want to see the monkeys :)
On the same day we will bus to Tarifa, which is the southernmost point in Spain. Apparently the beaches are beautiful and the people super nice. We are going to stay there until Sunday and which point (hopefully) I will meet up with Genet, Annie and Raph in either Tarifa or Algeciras and we will ferry across to Tangiers...bus down to Casablanca and meet Lenny! Finally all five of us will be together and the trip south can begin...
Phew...this seemed to be the best option despite not being able to spend time in Tangiers. Although that just means I have to come back one day :) Oh darn...
Malaga is a really nice place. I think I would come back here and stay longer at some point in my life - perhaps to learn Spanish :) Which I have officially decided I have to do!
I have been spending time at the beach (I even went swimming!), the Picasso Museum (thought there would be more things), visiting the castle (my calves are uber strong now) and enjoying relaxing and sitting on the terrace with a good book! And obviously meeting cool people from all over the world. Hostels are amazing places. What better way to meet people than living with them :)
Hope everyone who reads this is well and good!
More updates and eventually pictures to come...I hope! Really...I do!!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Malaga - Day 2
Day 2 in Malaga:
I have succeeded in putting pictures on this computer. Unfortunately the internet is being weird and I cant seem to upload them on this website. I will try again later...they are on the way :)
So..
Last night as I was getting ready to go to bed my roomies returned from their day adventures and I got to meet them. Two of them are sisters from Finland. The older sister is going back to Finland on Thursday and the younger sister is spending the month travelling in Spain and Portugal. The third roomie is from Switzerland and is travelling around in Spain...and has been for a long time.
The sisters from Finland are super nice. We started talking about travelling alone and how hard it was and they invited me to go to the beach with them today. The weather was a bit cloudy (still hot) so we skipped the beach and instead spent the day in Malaga.
We had coffee at a little cafe in a nearby plaza and watched people go by and chatted! Then we went to the local mall so they could do some shopping. Walking back to the hostel again we stopped at a restaurant and ate Tapas. Which is not actually a specific dish but rather refers to eating your meal in several small dishes. Almost as if you are having a bunch of appetizers. It was very tasty and topped off with Sangria it was very nice!
Even though we didn´t do anything to amazing it was nice to be with people. We all really got along and it was a lot of fun!!
I also heard from Annie. She is getting a temporary passport to replace her lost one and will get a proper one in a few months. The temporary one should be good enough to get her down to Senegal. She expects that latest Oct. 9th she will have everything sorted out. That means that on Thursday (I hope) Genet and Annie will come down here to Malaga and we can get started on moving down to Casablance for the 10th or 11th. That way Lenny wont be waiting on her own for too long.
This means that I have booked another night at this hostel (tomorrow night). I was thinking I would leave tomorrow to explore some other city but now that I have met these Finish girls I think I will stay here and likely hit up the beach tomorrow. I think that would be more fun than going to another new city and again not knowing anyone. It feels much nicer to be doing things with people and it feels like I am here with friends!!
So - life is good. I have mildly guilty feelings being here and lounging around with no particular agenda. I need a to do list or something...I feel like I am slacking when really I should just be enjoying the holiday!! Yikes...I hope this isn´t a sign of some greater problem meaning I will never truly be able to relax....I guess I will find out, eh?
More updates to come on what I am doing and where....
I have succeeded in putting pictures on this computer. Unfortunately the internet is being weird and I cant seem to upload them on this website. I will try again later...they are on the way :)
So..
Last night as I was getting ready to go to bed my roomies returned from their day adventures and I got to meet them. Two of them are sisters from Finland. The older sister is going back to Finland on Thursday and the younger sister is spending the month travelling in Spain and Portugal. The third roomie is from Switzerland and is travelling around in Spain...and has been for a long time.
The sisters from Finland are super nice. We started talking about travelling alone and how hard it was and they invited me to go to the beach with them today. The weather was a bit cloudy (still hot) so we skipped the beach and instead spent the day in Malaga.
We had coffee at a little cafe in a nearby plaza and watched people go by and chatted! Then we went to the local mall so they could do some shopping. Walking back to the hostel again we stopped at a restaurant and ate Tapas. Which is not actually a specific dish but rather refers to eating your meal in several small dishes. Almost as if you are having a bunch of appetizers. It was very tasty and topped off with Sangria it was very nice!
Even though we didn´t do anything to amazing it was nice to be with people. We all really got along and it was a lot of fun!!
I also heard from Annie. She is getting a temporary passport to replace her lost one and will get a proper one in a few months. The temporary one should be good enough to get her down to Senegal. She expects that latest Oct. 9th she will have everything sorted out. That means that on Thursday (I hope) Genet and Annie will come down here to Malaga and we can get started on moving down to Casablance for the 10th or 11th. That way Lenny wont be waiting on her own for too long.
This means that I have booked another night at this hostel (tomorrow night). I was thinking I would leave tomorrow to explore some other city but now that I have met these Finish girls I think I will stay here and likely hit up the beach tomorrow. I think that would be more fun than going to another new city and again not knowing anyone. It feels much nicer to be doing things with people and it feels like I am here with friends!!
So - life is good. I have mildly guilty feelings being here and lounging around with no particular agenda. I need a to do list or something...I feel like I am slacking when really I should just be enjoying the holiday!! Yikes...I hope this isn´t a sign of some greater problem meaning I will never truly be able to relax....I guess I will find out, eh?
More updates to come on what I am doing and where....
Monday, October 6, 2008
Malaga
I took lots of pictures today in the hopes of being able to post them but it doesn´t look like this computer has a program for me to upload photos...
So I will get to that as soon as I can!
For now: Malaga is a nice little city. I walked around a lot today, exploring! Tomorrow might mean more of that or it might mean a day trip to the rock of Gibraltar. Annie and Genet are in Madrid (or on their way) and hopefully I will hear from them tomorrow about the time-line for Annie getting a new passport. I hope it is quick. As much as it is fun being here I am ready to start the journey south and feel a bit at a loss just waiting around...
Maybe I will move on to another city just to keep things interesting if the delay is going to be long...I feel really bad for Annie! I do not envy the stress of losing all your important documents...
Today was spent walking around and looking at people and buildings! I had a nice chat with a man from Ghana...was almost robbed in a scam by a lady selling flowers (she wanted to dig in my wallet for the appropriate change...luckily I kind of figured out what was going on but she wasn´t impressed that I foiled her plans...a nice man came up to me afterwards and warned me to watch out because he had been watching and could see what she was trying to do!!)...I also had a nice chat with an older American man staying at the hostel. We talked about the state of world affairs and environmental activism. He was a little odd but super nice!!
Oh and the best part...I was pooped on...TWICE! It was while I was eating my lunch (luckily it didn´t touch my food!). I can´t say I was impressed :( But maybe it is a sign of good luck!
That was today...
Stayed tuned for follow up days and more pictures...
So I will get to that as soon as I can!
For now: Malaga is a nice little city. I walked around a lot today, exploring! Tomorrow might mean more of that or it might mean a day trip to the rock of Gibraltar. Annie and Genet are in Madrid (or on their way) and hopefully I will hear from them tomorrow about the time-line for Annie getting a new passport. I hope it is quick. As much as it is fun being here I am ready to start the journey south and feel a bit at a loss just waiting around...
Maybe I will move on to another city just to keep things interesting if the delay is going to be long...I feel really bad for Annie! I do not envy the stress of losing all your important documents...
Today was spent walking around and looking at people and buildings! I had a nice chat with a man from Ghana...was almost robbed in a scam by a lady selling flowers (she wanted to dig in my wallet for the appropriate change...luckily I kind of figured out what was going on but she wasn´t impressed that I foiled her plans...a nice man came up to me afterwards and warned me to watch out because he had been watching and could see what she was trying to do!!)...I also had a nice chat with an older American man staying at the hostel. We talked about the state of world affairs and environmental activism. He was a little odd but super nice!!
Oh and the best part...I was pooped on...TWICE! It was while I was eating my lunch (luckily it didn´t touch my food!). I can´t say I was impressed :( But maybe it is a sign of good luck!
That was today...
Stayed tuned for follow up days and more pictures...
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Alright - I have made it to Malaga safe and sound!!
The trip was fairly uneventful. Except for a really nice guy in Barcelona who gave me a free fruit salad because I didn´t have enough euros to pay for both the sandwich and the salad. So I paid for one and then he just motioned to the salad as if for me to take it!! That was really nice...
I also got on a different bus then I had planned so the driver didn´t go to the exact place I wanted but he was really nice and let me off where he thought would be best. It turned out it was really close to the hostel and after asking a few people for direction clarifications I made it!!
Right now I am staying in a room with three french guys who all just spent two months in Morocco. One of the guys has Moroccan parents. There is also a guy here planning to bike to Senegal :) I definitely need to talk to him. How perfect is this??
Already meeting cool people makes me feel much better and less alone!!
I just got an email from Annie and her purse was stolen in Valencia. Everything of importance was in there so YIKES. They (Genet and Annie) are coming to Malaga tomorrow to go to the canadian consulate, so I guess I will meet them here and not in Granada.
It also makes me realize that I need to make photocopies of all my important documents so that in the event of loss...recovery is faster and easier!! I would not like to be stuck somewhere without a passport.
This is today´s update ;)
The trip was fairly uneventful. Except for a really nice guy in Barcelona who gave me a free fruit salad because I didn´t have enough euros to pay for both the sandwich and the salad. So I paid for one and then he just motioned to the salad as if for me to take it!! That was really nice...
I also got on a different bus then I had planned so the driver didn´t go to the exact place I wanted but he was really nice and let me off where he thought would be best. It turned out it was really close to the hostel and after asking a few people for direction clarifications I made it!!
Right now I am staying in a room with three french guys who all just spent two months in Morocco. One of the guys has Moroccan parents. There is also a guy here planning to bike to Senegal :) I definitely need to talk to him. How perfect is this??
Already meeting cool people makes me feel much better and less alone!!
I just got an email from Annie and her purse was stolen in Valencia. Everything of importance was in there so YIKES. They (Genet and Annie) are coming to Malaga tomorrow to go to the canadian consulate, so I guess I will meet them here and not in Granada.
It also makes me realize that I need to make photocopies of all my important documents so that in the event of loss...recovery is faster and easier!! I would not like to be stuck somewhere without a passport.
This is today´s update ;)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Family in Danmark
Sunday morning - departure day. It is the first morning that I have woken up to dark grey skies and rain. I think it is a sign that it is time to move south to sunnier places :)
My aunt and uncle's flowers!!
Today I am flying from Copenhagen to Malaga...with a short 3 hour stop in Barcelona. I would have liked to have prolong the Barcelona stop to a few days, but that didn't quite go as planned. Although, apparently the plan now is that I am catching a bus from Malaga to Granada tomorrow (Monday) to meet Annie and Genet. Raph sent us a note saying she was delayed in her plans and would try to catch us in Morocco! Hopefully that works out! Lenny we are meeting as planned in Casablanca on the 9th.
I don't mind going to Granada...that just means I get to see a bit more of Spain while I am in the region.
My wonderful visit in Denmark finished off nicely with lots of family visiting. I visited my Farmor (grandmother) - which was nice and sad as it usually is. She is 95 and a bit cluttered in her head. She did eat the entire Flødebolle kage that I brought her which is basically whipped cream, with the consistency of melted marshmallows, dipped in chocolate and piled on a cookie dipped in chocolate! WOW it was a lot of sweetness at one time. She enjoyed it though so that was nice...
I then visited with my aunt and uncle for a few days. That is always nice...they feed me lots of good food :) My aunt also took me in to Køge (a nearby town) and we saw some art work in the art gallery...bought some candies (mmm) and went for a nice walk around town. Those of you not familiar with Danmark, small towns are incredible because they have beautiful old buildings, cobble stone roads, tiny alleys and much much more! My uncle and I also went for a beautiful bike ride that included a stretch through the woods!
Saturday was the COUSIN day! We spent HOURS at the science centre (that place is so not just for kids!!). We had yummy thai food for dinner and we chilled at a pub and chatted. All in all a pretty nice, relaxed last full day in the country.
Here are pictures:
My aunt and uncle's flowers!!
Their house from the backyard where all the flowers are....
Me! Jørgen and Grethe (my aunt and uncle)
BUBBLES! They are amazzzing...we went to a bubble show...who knew you could do such cool things with BUBBLES.
The cousins!
Pretty windmills in the water. The cousins (from left to right): Sofie, Jacob, Anders, Asger
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)