Some more fun from NW Africa!

After leaving the Canaries on January 6, we spent four days in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara, specifically in the Saharawi capital Laayoune. There we met with human rights campaigners and walked about a city becoming more Moroccan day by day. We also took a trip to the territory's principal port (25 km through desert from Laayoune, on a rugged stretch of Atlantic coast), where European fleets are overfishing millions of tons of octopus, flounder, and tuna from the waters.

On our way to the other Sahara--the refugee camps--we had to fly through continental Spain, then wait for two days in the beautiful Algerian capital, Algiers. In Algiers, we kept a conspicously low profile, but did manage to enjoy eating some wonderful couscous & patisserie and trolloping through the city's windy and hilly streets. A week ago, we left the Mediterranean for the desert, landing in Tindouf to a much-anticipated reunion with Maddy's host family in the camps. Maddy's host-mom, Haha, is a sweet and affectionate woman, not without some mischief, who cooks outstanding meals inspired by Rachel Ray, but who happens to be married to a creepy chain-smoker, Ahmed, who takes to telling near-total strangers about how he once whupped some Spaniards in soccer, back when Muhammad was a little boy.

Increasingly confident in her linguistic abilities (while Jeremy mumbles to himself about "halub-juhb"), Maddy is turning towards the difficult and exciting task of preliminary research. At the time of posting, we are entertaining a weeklong excursion through the desert to Mauritania (look it up!), but we'll keep you posted. Mauritania is a vast Hassaniya-speaking country, and many Saharawi refugees in the camps maintain business and kin relations with Mauritanian communities.

Quick notes so far: 1) going days upon days without showering (unthinkable in the Amazon) is actually not too bad in the desert. 2) goat meat IS as bad as Maddy warned; camel turns out to be sweet, vaguely reminiscent of mincemeat pie! 3) The Aljazeera cable network has some good contacts with the American producers of dopey made-for-TV dramas. 4) Saharawis tend to take 5 minutes to greet one another (even a neighbor whom you see everyday) in a ritualized speech pattern that is, increasingly, getting on Jeremy's nerves. Otherwise, no complaints. 5) the desert has thus far proved productive for syllabus wrtiting and dissertation mapping. Halub-juhb! Hamdillallah!