We
finally got the trucks buttoned up and at least for now they are all running
well. Before dawn we left Nouakchott for the Senegal border at Rosso. There we
encountered one of the toughest border crossings. We were haggled to death on
the Mauritanian side. Then we had to pay several “fees” to leave the country and
hire a guide to get us through the Senegalese side. We then loaded onto the
ferry to cross the Senegal River.
It was only a 10-minute ride and we were happy to be back on land with
our trucks in one piece. Amid
chickens, donkeys, goats and throngs of people we were offloaded and quickly
found out the hassle was even worse on this side of the river. Paul “the chief” (pronounced “chef” in
French) as the locals call him,
handled the customs clearance in French. The rest of us waited outside in
the 103 degree F heat and were hassled to near death. Whether it was our death
or their death one could only guess. Eventually, Paul appeared to ask for more
money and then returned several times to deliver the fee to “ease our passage”.
We were all happy to be on the road again after three hours of this.
We
arrived in San Louis by late afternoon and settled in and relaxed in this very
French colonial town. We enjoyed a
few beers and a bit of dinner entertainment and then retired to our rooms in
anticipation of our drive to Dakar the next morning.
We
arrived in Dakar shortly after noontime and then proceeded to take nearly four
hours to find a hotel with safe parking for the trucks. After incurring two
traffic violations both for driving in a taxi lane we managed to bribe the cop
to take us to a hotel instead of writing a ticket. The taxi fare to get him back
to his watch cost us a hefty amount- but still better than having to go to the
police station. We had a decent
dinner in a otherwards-boring restaurant and went back to the hotel for beers,
bed and phone calls to the states.
Michael
Ladden