the termites ate her homework

First, to get this out of the way- about the Al Qaeda incident that I am sure some of you have heard about.... 12 military soldiers were killed in the far remote deserts of Mauritania 100s of km away from any peace corps volunteer. A similar attack happened here in 2005 and Al Qaeda took responsibility. There is an article on BBC if you are interested for further information. I do not know much more than this but the attack was of military interest and very far from me. I have had nothing but positive experiences with Mauritanians and every person I have encountered is happy to have Americans here and very entertained that I speak like a local. They are a very generous, hospitable, and welcoming people. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7617223.stm.

So anyways, we are back in Rosso because Megan and I spent almost all of our move in allowance and needed to go to the bank. Combined we could have maybe bought a camel burger, so we had to get to Rosso today. This is why when it started raining last night we were very nervous we would not get out of Jider today. We woke up this morning, and in fact the vans were not leaving from Jider because the roads were "mau zeyn" (not good). We had nothing else to do today and were determined to get to Rosso so we decided to walk with our backpacks to the main road and hope to catch a taxi brusse coming from Gani or Tekane into Rosso. Easier said than done. It is a little over a 2km hike to the road through mud that was sometimes knee high. I almost lost my flip flops and Megan fell in the mud. It was one of those slow motion falls where your feet slip for a few moments and you think to yourself, "I got this, I can recover" until you realize you can't recover and you go down with a splat. We saw a truck ahead and ran the rest of the way to the road yelling. We must have been quite a site, two white girls with their skirts hiked up to just below our knees, covered from head to toe in mud, carrying our shoes and dripping with sweat. I wish some of my friends from home could see me now. I feel like every day I live here is like a scene out of a backpackers dream. The truck was a small Toyota and already had easily 20 people on it but they let us join the party as well. When we got to Rosso there were people there asking us if we were going on to Nouakchott and laughed when we said that, no in fact, Rosso is our final destination. Dismal, flooded, dirty Rosso. I say dismal because of the Lonely Planet quote we found in the LP West Africa book the other day.

These are both quotes taken from Lonely Planet travel books:

"one could almost suggest that Mauritania was the place to avoid...to some the place is the pits - sand and an overwhelming sense of revulsion"


"Rosso is the main Mauritanian-Senegalese border crossing. It's a grubby, haphazard town with a slightly sinister feel. Most travelers breeze through, as there aren't any worthwhile attractions here."

Haha. It may be grubby and haphazard, but to me it is home. Anyways, we arrived in Rosso and walked another 1.5 hours to the bank and back in again knee deep mud and muddy water. One of the giant puddles we trudged through was hiding a dead donkey in it which we were lucky enough to stumble upon. All we needed was a proper shower and when we got to Brandon's house we were informed that there has not been water for 70 hours now. Lovely. Good thing we have mutard to lick us clean a bit. Also since it is Ramadan the restaurant (the only restaurant) is closed so we are now waiting, dirty and hungry for the sun to go down so we can eat.

To clear up the Ramadan situation for those of you who have asked, Jenny, the children do not fast. You do not start fasting until puberty. You also do not fast if you are pregnant, breast feeding, sick, have noncommunicable diseases (diabetes), are "unclean" as in have your period, or are traveling long distances. Although, many pregnant women still fast, which is an issue I may address in small groups. There is no hospital in Jider El Moghen, and I think for the most part people do not usually stay overnight in the hospitals anyways, but the sick are excused. If you are excused from fasting you make up for it a different time. In general, I love breaking fast with families. I love the cold drinks and the fact that everyone has a sense of accomplishment as they have survived another day and really deserve a giant meal. I wish families in the states ate together more often.

So Megan found a house and is living with the Mayor's family. It is an awesome place with a salon, a lumbar (outdoor hanger), big porch, bathroom, and the mayor owns a plot of land and said we could have some space for a garden right next to a small tributary where we can take water. When we were packing up her stuff she gasped because all her papers for school had holes in them. After we picked them up we discovered the root of the problem was a colony of termites that had nested under her books. She could actually use the line "the termites ate my homework, I am sorry."

I slept at Megan's last night since we were going to Rosso this morning and I woke up in the middle of a night to a large long-horned cow standing next to my tent staring at me. I got scared and flashed my light and it ran. They are easily scared. Megan and I went running yesterday at around 6, which is when they bring in the animals that were grazing all day. We came up behind a herd of goats that must of heard our pattering feet because they got scared and scattered in a few directions. The goat herder was not happy with us and yelled in angry hassaniya. It was an accident! We are new to this farm girl type of stuff!

I went to the dispensaire (doctor) the other day to hang out with the staff. On my walk to work I had to stop and wait for 6 monkeys to cross the path and scurry up the palm tree. I love my life. I also can't wait to share it with visitors! I told the mayor's family that my brother, mom, sister, and friends may be coming to visit and they got really excited and said there will be a big party with drums and food and dancing. So everyone figure out your visa stuff and get over here!