Gris-Gris

Mosque

Tourists, too, are just starting to come back. The civil war in Algeria and the Tuareg revolt here in Niger interrupted the travel business for more than 10 years, though there were some foreigners here even then. I met an American family from United States here 33 years translating the bible into Tamachek, and a French couple organizing “little projects”.

Street Vendor

I met a Dutch industrial designer working with a cooperative of 400 basket weavers, developing a product that would sell better in the European market than the baskets they make now. I thought: here perhaps was a project that could really make a difference. Unicef is here, USAID is here…there are German and French projects as well. I am not here long enough to understand everything that is going on.

School

School

Doing some laundry, taking a shower, dinner and a beer in a restaurant, hours in the Cybercafe: these feel like a welcome respite. I am in the Sahel now and the desert is behind me.

Mosque

Foundry Casting Accelerator Component

Thinking about the Sahara leaves me somewhat conflicted: fighting all that sand would have been a grim affair on a bicycle, though I feel that I was pretty well prepared. I miss the towering satisfaction my original plan would have brought, but know I had a much more enjoyable experience by truck and with friends. Wolf Gaudlitz left this morning for Ouagadougou, however, and Ahmed left yesterday for home in Ghardaia. It all feels like a dream already, I've bought a little satchel of powerful gris-gris to hang around my neck, and after a few days of relaxation I am ready to move south.

Campground