mardi 28 octobre 2008

A Tour of Nouakchott

The tallest building in Nouakchott is a ten story office and hotel in the center of the city. One the first floor, there's a Swatch watch kiosk, like you'd find in a mall in the States and a small electronic store with incredibly expensive HP computers and a few massive flat screen televisions. There's two thin escalators, which I've never seen working, leading up to and down from the second floor, where you find a small cafe and a shoe store, neither of which are ever open, and my barber, who washes and shampoos my hair before, after and sometimes during the cut.

An elevator takes you to another café/conference room on the tenth floor. It's surrounded by balconies on all sides so you can take in all of Nouakchott. A Mauritanian friend kept telling me how amazing it was up there, that at night, “the lights go on forever,” but coming from Sears Tower country, ten story views weren't a priority for me. When I finally made it up there I was really surprised. The best view is probably towards the Saudi Mosque, which stands at a nearby corner.

The mosque is the largest in the city, with two huge minarets. Five times a day, the huge speakers at the top of the towers sound the call to prayer and a river of people dressed in their flowing white and blue boubous converge on the mosque from all directions. It's a sandy brown building with an attractive green tile roof. I believe it was built and paid for by Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. Much of the decorative trim has fallen apart, so I'm a little suspicious of the build quality. It'd be nice if the Saudis offered to renovate it eventually.
From the opposite balcony, you can follow Avenue Charles de Gaulle, the Champs Elysees of Nouakchott, south towards the Mosque Moroccan, the next largest in the city and, in my opinion, the most impressive. It's entirely white with one large tower and dark green tiling on the roof. It looks like it's in better condition than the Mosque Saudi, but it's also a little newer. Unfortunately, it's surrounded by the dried fish, used tires, and metal rebar market—a ramshackle collection of scrap metal lean to's which can be visually and olfactory a little distracting.

Beyond this you'll find Marché Cinquième, perhaps the largest of the city's many markets. The others that I know of are Marché Capitale, Marché Sixieme, and Marché Socim. They are all south of the city center and sort of blend into each other, creating one massive super market selling a huge variety of the same things. For no real specific reason, I like Socim for vegetables, Capitale for fruit, Cinquième for clothes and gifts. Cinquième is the most fun to get lost in, with thousands of stands creating a maze of open air and covered markets filled with colorful beads, bright fabrics, jewelry, traditional medicines, like bird skulls and bunches of roots and grasses, home appliances, second hand clothing from the States, books, music, food, drinks, cell phones, kitchenware and at least one of everything that is currently being produced in China.

Following Charles de Gaulle north of the city center takes you into the quartier of Tevragh Zeina. This is where you'll find the wealthiest Mauritanians as well as the ex pats and the embassies, the hospitals, the better schools, running water and more reliable electricity. But for almost every mansion here, there is an adjacent shack of wood, metal, plastic, and fabric. On Charles de Gaulle, as well as any other road, you'll see donkey carts slowly leading a line of cars, herds of goats picking through the trash and packs of wild dogs, too tired to notice you stepping over them during the hottest part of the day. This mix is part of what makes Nouakchott charming—whatever the circumstances are now, this is still a land of herders, farmers, and desert traders.

North of Tevragh Zeina, the paved roads end and you pass through Las Palmas, a quartier of mansions and SUVs. Continue on a few more kilometers and, as is always the case in Nouakchott, the buildings disappear and the desert begins.

The Rainy Season

The rainy season passed with four or five real storms, followed by two wickedly hot, dry months. In the last few weeks, it's been cold enough at night to sleep under one or two sheets. Sometimes I'll even turn off the fan, but the flies usually start buzzing around my face, so it goes back on, which helps to chase them away. For the next six months, the temperatures in Nouakchott won't be too bad. Most afternoons will briefly peak in the low nineties before it starts to cool off again in the evening. The problem now is that the strong winds kick up constant dust and sand storms which make some afternoons feel like your walking through smoke. The dust gets into everything, your nose, your ears, your eyes and even inside the house, with all the doors and windows shut, making spring cleanings a twice weekly necessity.

The cold season here seems to last much longer than in the interior of the country. In February and March, I'll hear volunteers in the interior start complaining about the temperatures, but here in Nouakchott it actually gets cooler in those months. The hot air covering the interior sucks the cold ocean air up, directly through Nouakchott. The wind shifts from the east and the air becomes noticeably moist, with thick blankets of fog some mornings.