I've just been crazy busy getting back to work. Oh, and I'm still trying to type up my little diary-travelogue thingy.
In the meantime, since some of you have been asking, here's at least a picture of where I wake up every day. Featuring one of my staff, Junior Paye (Security guard).
And here's a picture of me. In the desert. With my camel, "Myrtle". Well, that's not actually her name. That's just what I decided to call her. The real name was something in hassanye, and absolutely unpronouncable by me. So I settled on "Myrtle".
Taken here as we were crossing the desert from the town (village) of Chinguetti to the village (collection of huts) Oasis Gala. Stopped for a brief (6 hour) rest stop to avoid being moving around during the hottest part of the already freakin' hot day.
In case you're curious, the big white sheet I'm wearing is a boubou (pronounced boo-boo), and the black scarf is a tierag (rhymes with bee-leg).
Usually, actually for most of the time I was in Mauritania, you'd see me with the tierag around my head, nothing to see but my eyes. But in this case, I thought I'd take it off for the picture. Boubous are great for, well, looking silly, but also great for spending an overnight in the desert (it's kind of like wearing a tent). It's very handy...it's got one big pocket in the front, and you can use it to keep the sun off you or you can huddle under it if, say, it's freezing at night and you're sleeping outside on a camel blanket.
So, that's a start I think...
ciao!
taj
