29.05.05 - 12:17

So, my father did come to visit and it was absolutely fantastic. So fantastic, in fact, that I’m going to insist hat he write a journal entry about it and post it here. You’ll do that, right Dad?

I will say that my dad was quite the trooper (trouper?). We stayed with volunteers for the whole of the trip. He ate with his hand at every Mauritanian meal. He attempted to greet in Hassaniya and French. He ate at places where the flies outnumbered humans exponentially. (Cheesy Dad line: “I used to eat where all the truckers went to eat. But since being in Mauritania, I know to eat where the flies eat.”) He even rode taxi brousse for 7 hours to Nouadhibou (though we did buy out an extra seat.) No, he did not give up using toilet paper, but I suppose that’s for the truly hard core (corps?).
Highlights: going to the fisherman’s wharf in Nouakchott and watching the men bring in their traditional pirogues (canoes). Chilling out in Kankossa and having my dad meet all these people I care about. Going on a pirogue ride on Kankossa’s lake (note to Dad: The point is the journey, not the destination!! Oh, those civil engineer types…) Visiting all m PCV friends. Going to cool and windy Nouadhibou (a first for me) and seeing an endangered monk seal and three white flamingoes, as well as exploring the beautiful sand cliffs by the beach. Drinking Perrier all I wanted because in Mauritania, my dad is RICH!!!

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