El Meniaa

Wolf Gaudlitz called the night before I left Ghardaia for Tamanrasset to say he had gotten his truck to the Kherfi farm, but that the part Ibrahim had found at the Mercedes dealership in Ghardaia wasn’t going to work and he would have to wait for it to be sent from Germany. It could take a week, and I didn’t want to wait.

Listening to Nina Simone

Listening to Nina Simone the night before departure

I hitched a ride instead with Faysal, a photographer and friend of Said, headed back home to Tamanrasset from Alger where he had been visiting his wife and kids. Things apparently hadn’t worked out with his wife, but they were good friends he says. We left early in the morning for the 400km drive down to El Meniaa and then In Salah, where we would spend the night, Said entrusted with the task of sending my bicycle by bus.

Faysal drove like a man late for a meeting, the 240km took no time at all, and we arrived in El Meniaa before noon. The town used to be called El Golea under the French, and it is famous for its mineral water, still marketed under the old name. We discovered however, that no one in town sells bottled water (because…why should they: the mineral water comes out of the taps)! We filled my water bottles at a gas station.

Plaza at El Mineaa

El Meniaa around noon

The only gas station between El Meniaa and In Salah was closed. Faysal bought a jerry can (they call it that in Arabic as well), filled it at the gas station, and because it didn’t fit in the trunk, sat it on the back seat with all my stuff. He then pulled out some truly wonderful smoked salmon from Belgium out of the trunk for lunch, and we memorably set out for In Salah reeking of gasoline and fish.

Looking for jerry cans

El Golea, Algeria