a throw back entry

(From my journal a year ago)

I wasn’t aware of how accustomed I was to Garly until Neda and I pulled into Nouakchott and it was a buzzing metropolis. An electrified alive city with traffic and large glass windows displaying products I’d seen only in daydreams for half a year. Rows of toothbrushes, cereal, cleaning supplies, microwaves, jeans, peanut butter…had I really learned to do without so much? Upon seeing the hotel room (cable TV, shower, actual bed off the floor) Neda and I jumped and laughed and smoked a victory cigarette.

One average boutique offered more products and food than all the boutiques in Garly combined. I slurped soft serve at a pastry shop, inhaled a cheeseburger for a staggering 1000UM (don’t think about what this could buy in the village, Laura). Mexican food with tasty cheese and the unfamiliar tang of spicy salsa. I danced to jazz and drank beer at a bar, strolled under glowing streetlights at night, curving among the carnivalesque street vendors.

I gained 4kgs. The entire village reacted with a “Mashallah” (God is good) upon my pudgy return.