West African Travels

The New Year is here and I have finally returned home to Boghe after several weeks of touring West Africa as we celebrated Christmas and New Years in Nouakchott and St. Louis, respectively, and then returning to Nouakchott for a week of meetings. More has happened in the last three weeks than in all of my time here as I traveled from city to city so I will do my best to recount the highlights of my trip since it would be nearly impossible (and likely very boring) for me to document every moment.
Christmas Eve and Day were spent at the Mauritanian PC Country Director’s house in Nouakchott where we were fed delicious American food, while drinking celebratory cocktails, and given free range of the ‘mansion’ which included a theater style movie room and covered veranda for dancing in addition to many comfortable couches and chairs. Although my mind still hasn’t grasped the fact that I missed Christmas, it was nice to spend the holidays with fellow Americans and Christians in a festive environment – and the free hotel rooms with air conditioning, hot showers, English movie channels and comfortable beds with mattresses were a welcome change to my room in Olo Ologo.
On Christmas morning, I attended a Catholic Mass in Nouakchott with a dozen other volunteers in an attempt to refocus myself for the upcoming year. Although all Mauritanians are Islamic, there are 3 Catholic churches throughout the country for ex-patriots and other non-Mauritanian visitors. The service itself was performed in French by 4 priests but included a number of songs performed in several Traditional African languages, and was overall a fascinating experience. I especially enjoyed the dance party (accompanied with African drumming and clapping) that occurred on the alter at the conclusion of the service and the nativity scene that included all figures dressed in African Wax Print (think bright colored cloth),
The moment I crossed the river into Senegal, I discovered a glorious land filled with flowering trees, greenery, traffic laws, booze and a variety of nice people although even Senegal had its downfalls. The trip to St. Louis via ferry and taxis was interesting, particularly since we were stopped within minutes after leaving the garage by the National Guard and forced to turn around because of a clandestine fleece blanket purchased in Kaedi, Mauritania. After returning to the garage and leaving the contraband blanket at the garage we started the trip south.
Travel in Mauritania is uncomfortable to say the least with the majority of trips being made in 3 row station wagons that accommodate a total of 9 passengers in 7 seats, so I was ecstatic to hear that Senegal has laws requiring each passenger to have a seat; however, I had the luck of being seated in the third row with two large Pulaar persons including a woman who insisted on keeping her purse on the seat beside her forcing me onto the wheel well for most of the 3 hour car ride. Combine that with a severely potholed road that forces drivers to swerve continuously and drive on the sand shoulder made the trip almost unbearable although I remained optimistic and tried to keep my eyes on the prize – 5 days on the tropical island of St. Louis.
We arrived at our hostel – Auberge de Jeunesse – early afternoon, grabbed bathing suits and some cheap Senegalese Gin and headed to the beach. Located on the ocean side of a thin peninsula, the beach was deserted except for our group of 40 Mauritanian Peace Corps volunteers and an occasional man trying to sell wood carved necklaces or statues.
Around dusk I returned to the island for an amazing dinner of thin-crust pizza with tomato sauce and cheese (a delicacy in this part of the world) before enjoying a hot shower and attempting to dance the night away at a local bar called the Iguana.
The following day was spent exploring the island and enjoying homemade sandwiches with cold cut slices and cheese bought at the local supermarket, including fresh French bread. St. Louis was the first French settlement in Africa and retains many elements of its French heritage including classic colonial architecture, although much of the city has been badly maintained (it reminds me of a slightly dilapidated New Orleans) in addition to many local bakeries and French pastry shops. We eventually returned to the beach for 6 hours of fun in the sun, including an obstacle course created out of sticks by two volunteers. Although it was December, the weather was remarkably warm and even the water was tolerable for a quick swim.
I returned to the hotel in style on the back of a scoot-scoot, cheaply rented mopeds, with plans to join several other Volunteers for a Vietnamese dinner. La Saigonnaise overlooks Mauritania but offers food much different than anything I had eaten in 6 months on the continent, so I was delighted to have the opportunity to eat [with a fork] a delicious plate of spicy beef with rice containing no trace of oil! After dinner I slipped on a jacket and hopped on another scoot-scoot to return to the beach for a relaxing campfire hosted by the 2nd year volunteers.
New Years Eve festivities began with wine and cheese in our hotel lobby but the year ended with me sitting on the bar of a local watering hole with a glass of champagne. Overall the entire evening was a lot of fun with over 150 Peace Corps Volunteers meeting at a local bar called the Taverne for drinks and some African drumming as we rang in the New Year. Eventually we tried to move to a local dance club but a series of hilarious events, including a contraband bottle of beer and several cups of cold water changed our plans. Nonetheless, I am fairly certain that PC Senegal was a little overwhelmed and possibly scared by the Mauritanian Volunteers…just imagine 140 college students who have spent several months in the universally declared ‘hardest PC country’ that is also dry being let loose in the tourist town of St. Louis….The night was amazing!
Our hostel was clean and charming with an open air foyer, grass-covered bar in addition to dorm style rooms that contained multiple four poster beds and mosquito netting for the illusion of a tropical get-away. Four hall bathrooms served the 12 room hostel and the showers contained water warmed by a gas flame mounted on the bathroom wall.
After an amazing few days in the paradise of St. Louis, Senegal, all first year volunteers returned to Nouakchott for 4 days of Early Term Reconnect (ETR) and In-Service Training (IST). Although the sessions were not exceptionally thought-provoking, I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to explore Nouakchott and remain in hotels for a few extra days. In addition, 4 other girls and I treated ourselves to an afternoon of spa treatments which felt miraculous after 6 months of hot, dry desert air. The Peace Corps headquarter in Nouakchott is beautiful and in the tallest building in the city it provides exceptional views of the vast capital city. Luckily, it also provided plenty of space for all the volunteers who got locked-in during several protests/demonstrations in support of Palestine. Although most of the protests within Mauritania are generally peaceful, the recent Gaza situation in addition to the ongoing rule by military junta, left many people angry and we witnessed a bunch of mass marching that often included burning tires and throwing rocks at policeman. All in all, I felt safe throughout the entire visit and was relieved by the increased military presence throughout the city to ensure peace. But maybe the best part of our visit to Nouakchott was the food choices. Most meals were spent visiting a variety of burger, pizza and sandwich restaurants that are located throughout the city and trying to ingest as much cheese, ice cream and non-goat meat as possible. I also visited the local American style grocery store several times to stock up on a few canned vegetables, cereal and cheese before returning to Boghe yesterday.