Border crossing days always start early, and it’s always surprising when the car you’ve arranged actually turns up. We did the rounds of the city picking up various passengers, human & animal:
Rosso was an intense market trading town but the border itself was relatively trouble-free: didn’t get ripped off changing money or have to pay any bribes.
After a couple of short trips by ferry & horse, we arrived at the garage for onward travel, where cars like this awaited us:
Fortunately we held out for something a bit more roadworthy. Destination Saint-Louis, the first French settlement in West Africa. There were a lot of lovely old colonial buildings, and especially after coming from Nouakchott, it was so nice to be in a place with so much life & colour.
The change in weather & landscape from desert heat to coastal breeze also brought a sense of relief. The beach was definitely not swimmable though! I’ve never seen that much rubbish or goats or people dumping their trash in & around the sea.
The centre of Saint-Louis is situated on an island, life across to the mainland is vastly different, much more African: bustling markets, child vs goat vs donkey, roadside laundry & washing.
Local services: restaurant, hairdresser, shoe repair and public transport, the colourful 30 seater Hamdoolilah.
We stayed with Moustapha, who was a primary school teacher, so we had the chance to visit his school & sit in on one of his classes. I think it was one of sciences… it was in French, give me a break! There were about 30 students, pretty well-behaved (or at least only silently mucking around), dutifully copying from the board… a disastrous way of learning I think, but seems to be the African way. Spot the white man:
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