western sahara recipe

this is as good a place as any for the info. mauritanians, knock yourselves out:

to go from nouadhibou to dakhla costs 11,000 um, but this bought a real seat in a mercedes. the cars leave around 1:30 pm from the "garage maroc." buy a spot the day before and show up at 12:30ish. the border crossing takes about 1.5 hours, but is professionally handled by moroccans. then it´s another 4.5 hours to dakhla. the taxi gets in around 9 pm, and you´ll have to take a petit taxi from the garage into town.

in dakhla, mohamed lemine (see entry below) has offered to put up any RIM volunteers in his small but free apartment. he´s a nice guy, so what the hell. i don´t want to put his details here, so email me if you´re making the trip. i didn´t stay long in agadir so i´m not quite sure what there is to do. there was a shopping area close to the water with cafes etc. agadir is nicer than any city i´ve seen in mauritania, so i´m sure there are ways to kill time.

dakhla to marrakech is an extremely long, boring route, so prepare yourself with the usual taxi brousse diversions. the entire road from nouadhibou up is paved, however, and there are rest stops where you can get a coffee and use a (turkish) toilet! not bad.

at noon a CTM bus leaves dakhla for agadir (340 dh, arrives 7 am) or marrakech (430? dh, arrives 12 or 1 pm the next day). a bus from marrakech to casa is 80 dh and from marrakech to tanger is 140 dh. i travelled by bus the whole way mainly because i had a huge backpack... i was able to check it at the station when i stayed over in marrakech, and pay only a bit to put it under the bus. the trains are nice and don´t cost much more, but your bags have to go overhead on a rack. unless you buy first class, you are also not guaranteed a seat. overnight trains mean sleeping on a vinyl bench seat. go for the bus.

in tanger i stayed at the hotel fuentas because i got tired of walking uphill, and the ones in the guidebook tend to be more expensive anyway. it´s close to the pension palace in the medina. it was 70 dh for a single with a hallway squat toilet and shared bath (but free hot water).

one last thing. if you´re crossing into spain, remember there is a two-hour time difference. don´t miss your bus like me.

i did this trip in about five days, spending a night in dakhla, a night on the bus, one in marrakech and one in tanger. it was kind of intense- i think this is almost the minimum in which it can be done. total spent on buses was about $85. and for anyone who´s wondering, i did the trip by myself as a 25-yr-old girl on the small side, and i was fine. i´m so hardcore.

...hope this helps, daryn.