Mauritania

I'm working on blogs again while Calib is at class. I just finished Uzbekistan, and now it's back to Africa and on to Mauritania. 

Mauritania sits along the Atlantic Ocean just below Morocco. At nearly 400,000 square miles it's a little bigger than Texas, and a little smaller than Alaska. But, 90% of the country is covered in the Sahara Desert. 

In fact, they say the 'Eye of the Sahara' is in Mauritania. A large dome of concentric circles, it can be seen from space, and is actually a reference point for astronauts. Basically it looks like a hurricane from above, which is where it gets it's name.  Nobody is quite sure how it formed, but it's considered to be one of the most symmetrical and mysterious rock structures. 

Speaking of rocks, the highest peak in Mauritania is Kediet ej Jill. It's height (at 3,001 feet) isn't super impressive, but what makes this mountain so unique is what it is made out of- magnetite. Don't try using a compass on the blue colored mountain, it won't work there! 

Our landmark award goes to the Nouadhiboue Bay, which is known as the 'Shipwreck Capital of the World'. Now, the boys were all like 'Um,  didn't we already do this... twice?' They were referring to the Skeleton Coast of Namibia and Angola.  But, it's different, I swear! Those ships on the Skeleton Coast ran aground because of the harsh conditions. Nouadhiboue Bay has a different story. 

Lawlessness and money drove the early politics of the area, and with limited employment the city of Nouadhiboue is also somewhat poor. The economic hardships led to widespread corruption in the local government. 

Dismantling large boats isn't cheap, and so people looking to get rid of unwanted boats or ships discovered for a relatively small bribe in comparison, they could abandon their boats in Nouadhiboue Bay. 

Word spread, and by the 1980's, ships from all over the world were being left abandoned in the bay. Over 300 Naval vessels, fishing boats, and cargo ships all sat empty. Of course the toxic oils, paint, and rust seeping into the bay waters isn't ideal for the environment, but many fish began to call these rusted out ships home, and it did help the area in the fishing department. 

In 2016 the Chinese offered to help Mauritania clean up the ships. They were supposed to all be gone by last month, but even google won't tell me if that actually happened or not. If you're from Mauritania and you're reading this, leave me a comment, I'd love to know! In fact, if you're from anywhere and read your home country blog, I'd love to hear from you. (My stats tell me that happens more often than you'd think- I'm very popular in Namibia, Russia and the Ukraine, apparently). 

Mauritania, sadly, is out of bounds for travelers. The official US Department of State Travel Warning says it's advising travelers to avoid all travel to the far east, but the Department of State also says that outside of the capital of Nouakchott they can provide little help. The government of Mauritania has declared certain areas as 'Restricted Security Zones', and you have to have proper permission from Mauritanian authorities to travel there. It also says aside from violent crime, the areas are dangerous due to the remoteness and harshness of the area. 

If you make it there, though, you could always jump aboard one of the longest trains in the world to see the swath of the country.  Mauritania Railways Iron-Ore Train is over a mile and a half long and takes iron from the Zouerat mines to Nouadhibou. There's a blog someone wrote about their trip on the Iron-Ore Train. It's a quick bullet point read with pictures. 

The boys made their postcards, which apparently I forgot to take pictures of, until I was writing this blog. Luckily, they were all still in their collections, so they were easy to find. 

Calib's featured the traditional game of anigur. It's a pretend sword fight (with sticks, not swords) that usually happens between important people at celebrations. 

Peyton's featured a non-working compass on top of the magnetite mountain. 

And Hayden's featured the iron-ore train. 

Mauritania actually got picked as the country to do because of the meal. We did the country on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, Calib got his braces adjusted. I always google international egg dishes, because I know it'll be soft and he'll have no trouble. 

Enter Mauritania's Egg Rougaille. We added in some pears from Spain, because it's close enough and some crusty bread slices. 

This meal earned three spoons up. 

We did have it for lunch, and Peyton doesn't seem to like anything at lunch. Hayden also picked at it, he ate about half but wasn't thrilled about it. 

If this one seems familiar, it's probably because it's just a different version of the Shakshuka we had for Algeria, the Menemen we had for Turkey, and the Yemeni Shakshuka we had for Yemen Day (which is still the only dinner I have forgotten to take a picture of!) 

Since Mauritania is 90% desert, the boys decided yellow would be a fitting color. The only country colored in that boarders our big bright yellow Mauritania is the red-colored Algeria. 

That's 134 down, 62 to go! 

Next Up: Moldova