I am truly in the middle of nowhere

Hi everyone - Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, it's been tricky finding internet and my time here is limited so this is gonna be short.

To answer the previous 2 comments re: me being in NYC, I'm planning on going through for about 10 days (I need 2 weekends of going out!) in mid to late May. So I hope to see the Perry crew as well as the STBers...

So Camilo and I flew to Nouakchott and spent 3 nights with the PC country director, an amazing guy who was so nice to us. His house was beautiful and we ate some good chwarmas and walked around and relaxed and met some really nice 3rd year volunteers. We decided that, although we were extremely happy mooching off him, it was time to move on. So we traveled north to Atar. When we arrived in Nouakchott it looked like there was no town - just sand. We were laughing about how ridiculously in the middle of nowhere we were. But that feeling has only gotten more pronounced in the last couple days! Nouakchott was an interesting place to stay - the streets are a lot more calm and manageable compared to Conakry. And it doesn't smell like a cesspool, which was also a nice surprise.

Anyway, we made it to Atar and met a couple PCVs, one of whom let us crash at her place. We spent a night eating camel meat and hanging out (we also brought a bottle of illegal Absolut for them, which made us huge hits) and the next day we headed to Chinguetti, a touristy town known for camel treks. Another volunteer found us a guy with 2 camels and we took a 3 hour trek to an oasis, which was so nice. I wish I could post the photos that Cam took, but that will have to wait until I have more internet time. We spent the night out at this oasis under the stars - it would have been impossible to get a picture, but they were incredible. The next morning we headed back to Chinguetti and continued back to Atar and crashed with Ellen again. And I discovered that Camilo is afraid of horses and heights - a camel is like a horse, but higher and scarier. I tried to be supportive, but it was pretty funny to watch. It's really difficult to get up on a camel, because they move a lot while getting up from their knees and you have to hold on for dear life! Again, I'll try and get the pictures up soon so you can really appreciate it.

Sadly, I got really, really, incredibly sick the next morning. I'll spare you poor blog readers the gory details, but it involved a lot of bathroom time, aches, a 103 degree fever, and deliriously telling Camilo about how my dad brought me a plant one time when I was 5 and sick. Luckily, most of it passed within 24 hours and the PC doctor was really helpful. Thank goodness we packed a bunch of medicines when we left Mali!

So it's now day 3 of being back in Atar and we are headed to Terjit, apparently this magical waterfall-filled oasis in the middle of the desert, tonight. We'll spend the night and then travel on to Choum, where we catch a train overnight to Nouadibou. I don't think any of those names are spelled correctly.

Okay, will update again when I can! Miss you all and can't believe I'll be home and able to tell you this stuff myself in a little more than a month!

PS - Heard from the missionaries in my town that things in Mamou are totally normal. Now that they announced a new Prime Minister I wonder what the PC will decide to do about the program...