so that's what it looks like here

Having visitors was a wake up call to my senses. I realized how many visuals I have learned to actively ignore, for better or for worse. This is what my American ladies helped me notice- and remember that I noticed this all before, in July 2006:

-Trash is everywhere. Stores in cities look like they are built on piles of garbage. Spaces in between litter and donkey dung are filled with dust, grime and sand. Ew.

-Trash doesn't end at the city limits. Plastic bags decorate the road side all the way to Timbuktu (I'm confident, that unless Mali's government is more diligent about litter, that this is actually true.)

-Animals fill the streets, climb through dumps, run through houses and poop on anything that doesn't move, or at least moves slowly. Animal and human spaces are, if defined at all, divided by very blurry and flexible lines.

-My village likes people first and asks questions later. I'd forgotten the open arms I'd fallen into.

-Garly is the best place to be in Mauritania. Any question I'd harbored about that is totally wiped away. Now, if I could return to my obliviousness to Mauritania's city messes, I'd be all set.