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West Africa, Malta and the Balkans in 1999
MAURITANIA
Bec2004-09-18 19:25:59
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organized like a scout troop with a Head Scout which happened to be Steve's wife Emma who edicted a set of rules such as washing our hands with Dettol disinfectant before every meal, not eating ice cream to avoid poisoning etc...
A few hours later in the same sand storm. From time to time some of the trucks ahead of us could barely be seen through the sand.
Steve did not interfere with the Head Scout role his wife had adopted, he appeared not to see it. Nicky actively supported it and was verbally gratified several times a day for doing so. Her role of transmitting the Head Scout's wishes gave her a degree of authority she probably would never have achieved by herself.
Our second bivouac was only 80 kms from the first one. According to our longitude and latitude we were supposed to be close to a place called Bir el Gareb but I didn't see anything that looked like a well (Bir means well).
The two groups used the the same campsite but each one cooked its own food and kept pretty much to itself except for Peter, who spoke German and owned the GPS. He spent most of his time driving in the Mercedes with Klaus who also had a GPS. Together, they decided upon the route to be followed. That distance from the scout group probably saved him from role playing.
Trapped again.
Ian and Lee, the bottom men on the totem pole, grudgingly accepted the role that had been thrust upon them and chose to obey rather than contest the Head Scout's orders even when they did not make sense such as cleaning the sand out of the lockers during a sand storm.
French being my mother tongue, the Head Scout asked me to translate for her a couple of times when dealing with the local authorities but every time she pushed me aside, took over and finished the job herself even though she did not really understand what the officials were saying. I gathered that I had been attributed a low position on the totem pole
...
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Mauritania Gallery
