This morning I took off from Ouadane with this tax driver. Lucky me I was alone and had plenty of space for once. And the driver was really good on the trail speeding as if he had an important meeting to make in Chinghetti.
The ride was smooth and quite.
The night before, the american guy had told me how uninteresting and plain he had found Chinghetti, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. In my mind it couldn't be any worse than Ouadane anyway.
When we arrived I was blown away. This big very large city sort of camouflaged into the desert. On one side the old slightly in ruins city and on the other side the new part of the city. In the middle a giant dry river bed, or Oued as they call it in Arabic.
All around, nothing but the smoothest and thinnest of whitish goldenish sand. Beautiful and exactly what I was looking for.
Chinghetti used to be one of the most important cities of the Muslim faith centuries ago. So it still reigns this mysterious historical vibe in the air, mostly on the old side of the city. However, tourism has taken such a dramatic toll on the city year after year that a lot of of the more front row and attractive infrastructure of the old town is the numerous auberges built by foreigners. And consequently, all the necessary "urban" infrastructure to foreigners life style has also been built all around. Huge phone antennas, giant electric generator running 24/7, power cables a bit all over, running water pipes popping through the sand here and there...all such things that if you look a bit further than the tip of your nose you will notice and will realize the kind of negative impact foreigners can have had in such a former desert heaven.
When I look at places like Pokhara in Nepal and how to some extend the impact of foreigners has been so beneficial and positive to the city. Trash cans all over, tree planting initiatives all around, only solar based electricity, etc... I am not saying that Pokhara is a model town for tourism. Hell no. But compared to most places I have seen in Africa, I don't really understand why such places do not try to replicate successful models from other places.
Anyhow...back to Chinghetti.
Once I arrived there I was quickly met by Moussa, the man who Wedadi had told me to contact to get a place to sleep. I wasn't told anymore than that so once again I had no clue where I would end up. Let life surprise me yet again.
Oh boy! Did it surprise me big this time again. Moussa (who was born a month a few days before me) happens to be the house keeper of this beautiful stone house built by a Belgium architect and a Belgium movie producer a few years back. And because of the recent Islamic crisis that has bee going on in the region, or rather east of that region, both Belgium ladies haven't come to Chinghetti for over two years now.
So Moussa and I would be the only ones here. Amazing!
I had my own little room, though I will realize soon enough I am sure that sleeping on the roof is the best option.
Since it was the weekend, Moussa had two friends of his join us to share breakfast and tea. Me still being the victim of my criminally sick intestine, I decided to pass both on tea. I read somewhere that caffeine and sugar were not good for what I had. Having been uncomfortably sick the night before I didn't sleep so well and still felt pretty bad. So after a few bites of bread I apologized and went to my room to lay down and sleep for a bit.
After a couple of hours of heavy sleep, everyone but Moussa had left the house. I woke up and Moussa and I crossed the giant oued to get to the new part of town to go buy some food to cook.
Moussa cooked a delicious vegetable and rice and we ate like there was no tomorrow. I decided to eat as much rice and veggies as possible to not lose any more weight and stay energized.
Right before sunset Moussa took me for a long walk to the far away huge dunes. It was magical. The dune was like a cliff almost. The sand was so thin and smooth that from afar and even from close it looked like some sort of caramel custard. Digging my bare feet in that sand and hiking up the dune was so delightful. I had been dying to do that for such a long time. Real Sahara dunes...
And so after hiking and walking around for a bit we sat atop the tallest dune and waited there watching the bright red sun setting and swallowing the whole desert town of Chingethi. I tried to call Angelina, but no luck. :-(
We waited until it was totally dark outside. It made the walk back all the more fun and adventurous.
Now that we are back home, we are watching a movie on TV. Am pretty sure I will fall asleep in a few seconds...
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