Western Sahara

Hi BoBers,

Things changed when crossing into western Sahara. The region is disputed territory and you can tell. Lots of military checkpoints and police presence, which some people quite casually hid in a compartment in the bus to avoid.

I could taste adventure in the air as soon as I arrived in Dakhla. People were very talkative. One guy told me about his English wife and kids and how you can’t trust African people (he was clearly Moroccan). Another peppered me with questions about why I’m not a Muslim over google translate. 

Ramadan started yesterday so all of the restaurants are closed and things generally seem slower, but otherwise no problems.

I feel a bit hard done by because there is supposed to be a consistent tailwind heading south to the border - “the trade winds” - and I’ve actually be fighting a mighty headwind all day, averaging 11km/h at some point. Annoyingly I also had a headwind heading north from dahkla yesterday. Not fair.

I’m currently camping on the tropic of cancer line. Some soldiers walked by holding ak-47s, but luckily they were just walking home and didn’t move me on. 

Still another 200 km to go to the border. Could be a breeze. Could be a slog.

J&BoB

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