Atar to Nouakchott : Dehydration to Flat Tires
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- WhatTookYouSoLong
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Traveling as locals had never felt better; after 10 hours on the train we reach Choum where we changed to a packed up pickup; 6 people inside the car and 7 people in the bed, and the WTYSL team were of course those 7 hardcore people in the back on top of a pile of luggage stacked 3 feet over the bed’s capacity and held in with net. Throughout the 4 hours through the canyons and dune-ridden landscapes boasting shades of red, tan and yellow, we felt as if we had landed on Mars.
Arriving at Atar, it takes us one hour plus to mobilize the owner and driver of a bush taxi to take us to the capital. Without enough sleep the driver finally agrees to take the team and 2 more passengers down south. In the car with 10 people packed like sardines at 40 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit), the air surrounding us becomes a sauna. A 6 hour ride turns into a 10 hour struggle against the machine a.k.a. the car we are traveling in. First problem: 2 hours after departure the tire bursts and changing it adds 45 minutes to the ride. Second problem: finding another tire to replace the next flat adds another hour. Third problem: at every police control the engine dies, forcing us to get out of the car and push-start the taxi again. It usually took us 3 or 4 pushes before the engine finally agreed to get back into the game. 4th problem: 6 hours down the road the car stops – we are out of fuel. The driver hitchhikes back to a town to pick up more fuel and the incident added 1 hour to our bush taxi experience.
http://whattookyousolong.org
Arriving at Atar, it takes us one hour plus to mobilize the owner and driver of a bush taxi to take us to the capital. Without enough sleep the driver finally agrees to take the team and 2 more passengers down south. In the car with 10 people packed like sardines at 40 degrees Celsius (105 Fahrenheit), the air surrounding us becomes a sauna. A 6 hour ride turns into a 10 hour struggle against the machine a.k.a. the car we are traveling in. First problem: 2 hours after departure the tire bursts and changing it adds 45 minutes to the ride. Second problem: finding another tire to replace the next flat adds another hour. Third problem: at every police control the engine dies, forcing us to get out of the car and push-start the taxi again. It usually took us 3 or 4 pushes before the engine finally agreed to get back into the game. 4th problem: 6 hours down the road the car stops – we are out of fuel. The driver hitchhikes back to a town to pick up more fuel and the incident added 1 hour to our bush taxi experience.
http://whattookyousolong.org
