Shades of Black
Mauritania is a pretty great country. Very Sahara vibe and the place I’m staying at is pretty cool. Good people. The facilities and places are pretty modern but I think its because they’re pretty recently out of the desert. Like for instance you have to go to the internet cafe and it’s 1 block down and 2 blocks across and you decide to walk; take some water, make sure someone knows where you’re going and leave some emergency contact numbers because it’s kak far. The blocks are maaaassive. I think they still got desert mentality of quadrants and shit and “over the next dune” and such distances. Seriously, the first two times I walked to the internet cafe, I gave up. This time I took a taxi.
There’s some unexpected opportunities here. Like if you had that Kunte Kinte militant Roots kind of daydreams (like me) and wanted to free some slaves, this is a great place to do it. Yes, Mauritania is one of the few countries where slavery is still widespread. Apparently its a white Mauritanian black Mauritanian thing where the black Mauritanians work as slaves for food and lodge. I didn’t figure it out exactly and I can’t seem to spot slaves yet, but there’re definitely about. I was thinking that if the heat drains all the revolutionary life out of you (this is the desert remember), you could just own a couple of slaves for a while because that would fulfil some other dark daydreams. I could probably pass as a white Mauritanian because, let’s face it, they’re not that white to begin with. [I keep wondering if my humour crosses the sick border; sacred cows make the best burgers.]
It’s cool though. Real nice place for people looking for that Sahara experience. I’ve decided to wait till after Ramadaan before I do anything touristy because the heat is a killer. And will get some pics up once I remember to bring the cable for my camera. And if I’m really feeling energetic, I might just teach my brothers how to toyi toyi and we’ll do some Bob Marley Uprising on these motherfuckers.
Now how do you ask ‘Are you a slave?’ in French?
Tags: Mauritania, Travel, Tag Index
Ghalied
October 23rd, 2006 at 12:05 am
By the way: THIS IS NOT MAURITIUS. Mauritius is on the other side of the continent next to Madagascar.
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:49 pm
ya french for are u a slave is ‘voulez vous couchez avec moi?’ ok. try it. dont forget to smile. so if it not mauritius, where is it? africa? north south? thx for all the things to read, nice when its quiet at work! an happy eid for tom.
x mel
October 23rd, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Its in West Africa just below Morocco. The Western edge of the sahara basically.
I’ll try that line; maybe it’ll work now that Ramadaan is over…