South to Senegal

After my friends headed North to go to Morocco I climbed on a truck and headed South across the Sahara desert. Sometimes the truck was able to drive fairly fast across the sandy or gravely desert terrain. We wound South through sand dunes and rolling foot hills with very little vegetation or anything but rocks and stones. There were some nice views when we hit higher spots and could look out at the multicolored layers of rock when they were there. Otherwise there was not much to look at.

Sometimes when we were going through just sand, especially if there was any grade, we would start to get stuck in the loose sand. Then the helpers jumped off the truck and placed aluminum tracks in front of the wheels and the truck would drive forward the length of the track and the workers would move the track in front again. Sometime we had do do this slow crawl for several miles at a time. We still made steady progress South. Once in a while we drove along the beach or close to the shore but most of the time we drove a few miles inland. The ground was more solid there and that allowed us to drive faster.

We did not have a single mechanical problem with the truck. We were in a caravan of three vehicles. Nobody crosses alone because if you have a problem it can quickly be a deadly problem unless there is somebody to rescue you. We stopped here and there and they made a fire to heat up some mint tea and some food. The food was tasty Moroccan dishes with bread to soak it up. We had a lot of fun. I tried to do the track job but I was way to slow for their tastes and they quickly took back their spots while I rode in the cab.

Every once in a while we would drive past people just standing out in the middle of nowhere. We stopped if they asked us to. They would give us mail or packages to deliver. We delivered some packages and mail also. What's your address? Oh about 140 kilometers south of the big rock and ten kilometers east at the dry wash. How these people survived out here I do not know. It was totally desolate from what I could see. Even my driver was surprised where we ran into some of the people. We just kept going South.

We finally came to a little short road. Up to this point we were just driving across open space. Just down the little road there was a border crossing. Out in the middle of nowhere a guy was sitting in a little open covered hut. He had a little swinging gate across the road. Remember now, for hundreds of miles on either side of him there was nothing to stop someone from just continuing around this crossing. We stopped and he asked us some questions, looked at my passport and waved us through as he lifted the "barrier". We were now in Mauritania. There was no difference between Western Sahara and Mauritania as far as I could see. We just kept heading south.

When it got too dark to drive we stopped and circled the trucks. Then we built a big fire and had dinner. My friends pulled out their pipes and started smoking some hash right after dinner. We talked and horsed around then we all crawled under the trucks and went to sleep for the night. I stared at the amazing stars almost all night while the others slept. I had the fire going when they got up in the morning and we cooked breakfast and hit the sand since there was no road to hit. We were able to drive faster here because there was less loose sand. After driving most of the day we again came to a little border station on a little tiny road with two little barriers this time. There was one for Mauritania and one for Senegal.

I thought it was going to go just like the last crossing but it did not. The Mauritania guy just waved me through after a glance at my passport but the Senegal side looked at my passport, searched through all my things and broke my balls over every little thing. Then they refuse me entrance. I asked my buddies what to to. They suggested a small bribe. So I offered him the amount of money my buddies suggested to me. He refused. I doubled it and he refused and ordered me to leave and go back to Mauritania. My buddies tried to talk him into changing his mind but he was adamant now that I was not coming into the country. He did not say why. He kept saying he did not like my look. I think it was my long hair that he didn't like but he never said it. In the end I had to go back. My truck driver friends told me that I would get a ride going back to Morocco right away and they would be back in the morning in any case. We said good bye and they took off for Dakar.

I was sitting out in the middle of the Sahara desert with almost no water, no food and it was about a hundred degrees in the sun with no shade in sight. I was hitch hiking on a road about 60 feet long with open desert on either side of it. There was nothing in sight. I felt a bit bleak for a second there. I talked to the border guard on the Mauritania side. He was young and friendly. He only spoke French so we could not communicate very well. He also did everything slow like a chameleon. I guess if you have to sit out in the broiling sun all day everyday with nothing to do except stamp papers a couple of times a day you don't want to have a bubbly energetic personality or you would go crazy. He seemed content just sitting there staring out at the desert. I wondered if this guy had to commute to work.

It only took me about an hour to catch another truck going North. The drivers were looking for me because my other buddies told them about me. We took off heading to Marrakesh. Going North these guys were a bit more reckless with their truck and driving. They drove much faster than we did coming South. We hit some bumps that sent me sailing up bouncing off the roof quite a few times. I was afraid they would get a flat tire the way they hit so many holes and rocks. We also did not stop to eat or anything unless one of them had to use the rest room. I mean the desert. I had to learn to hold it in while bouncing up and down in a vibrating truck. These guys had some big strong bladders is all I can say.

I had to get used to doing my private functions out in public. There were no rest rooms anywhere. Every time I had to go it seemed like thirty onlookers appeared out of nowhere. I pissed standing up and all the Arabs pissed squatting down. They told me I piss like a girl. I didn't know what they meant until I saw a woman pissing one day while standing up. Just like I did. At first I thought maybe she was a transsexual but she clearly wasn't. The women just put their hand down there and spread it and let fly. I always carried my own toilet paper with me. They also laughed at me for using toilet paper. They just rinse it off with a little bit of water. They thought I was nuts doing it my way and I thought they were nuts doing it their way so it balanced out nicely. At least when I had to take a dump I usually had a good quick clean bowel movement. I ate fairly healthy food and unlike other travelers I almost never had problems with my bowel movements. Nothing worse than having thirty or more people staring at you as you drop a load while you are having constipation making you grunt and groan to give them something to laugh about. Sometimes I faked it and just put on a show just to make them laugh.

We got to the border with Morocco really quickly. We crossed the border and a road started almost right away. That was a relief I thought. Then I saw how fast this idiot was driving on the road and I wished for the open desert again. He scared the crap out of me. The road was barely wide enough for one truck and when we passed other trucks coming at us he never slowed down at all. I thought sure we were going to catch a wheel on the side of the road surface and be flipped over or spin out or something like that. Some how or other he managed to safely pass everything. We pulled into Marrakesh and I said my goodbyes and checked into a hotel to rest up.

I still knew Marrakesh pretty well from my last visit. I did stay in a different hotel this time and I did not start smoking drugs this time. I had learned my lesson last time when I ran out of money here in Marrakesh. My plan was to head North and go around to Egypt and go South into Africa from there.