African Adventure

Cant tell you how hot it is here in Nouakchott, the coolest place is this internet cafe! With over 35 degrees plus in the shade and with a hot sandy wind blowing its exhausting just to sit. Sleepless nights just pouring with sweat.... mmmm, its lovely!
So, we are in the capital of Mauritania and planned to leave yesterday, head eastwards and then down to the border of Mali but of course things are very different here and the simple issues like exhanging or withdrawing money takes a long time. There are no cash machines in Mauritania, there is one in the city here but it's not open until December! The banks will not change our Moroccan money into Mauritania currency so we have spent quite a few hours transferring money via Western Union and in the Bureau de Changes exhanging our emergency euros! And when the person in charge feels like a break, well, you just have to wait until they have finshed. However we did manage to get the Visa for Mali this morning and insurance for all the vehicles for all the countries we will now travel through, except Ghana, so that's a huge bonus and hopefully will save some time at the borders.
We are all quite pleased to be away from the hassles from people in Morocco, people there are very pushy, not really taking no for an answer and the invites of "come and look in my shop, just look, no pressure" was becoming quite tiresome.
People here so far are quieter, calmer and seem just genuinely interested in who we are and where we come from.
Although the incessant barking of dogs in Morocco has been replaced by the honking of car horns, here in the city at least....its relentless, and seems rather pointless, our taxi driver to the fish market seemed to be beeping just for the fun of it, but with no clear rules of the road maybe it helps somehow.
We are looking forward now to getting to Mali- to visit the Dogon Villages, listen to great music in Bamako at the weekend and I have to admit buy a nice cold beer....its been a while! We have been drinking gallons of coke instead and a trip to the dentist when we return is not out of the question!
Thanks to you all for all the messages you send, keep them coming and yes, thanks I am feeling much better. Love and sweaty hugs to you all x