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one of them with numerous peacekeepers beside and across from me. I fastened my fighter
pilot seat belt and readied myself for take-off. Talk about a no-frills flight. It was noisy and
hadnoinflightentertainment,foodortoilets.Wetookoffslightlybehindschedulebutwhat
a feeling it was to be in the air! My fellow passengers slept almost immediately. I, on the
other hand, was staring out my small window. Au revoir and salem al-allikħom Morocco!
The Canary Islands
We arrived in Las Palmas without incident. I took a quick photo of my bike against
theaircraftandcycledtotheterminal building.Istayedthereforacoupleofhoursanddis-
covered there were 3 flights a week to Mauritania. I was told to return to speak to an Air
Mauritania representative.
I left the airport and went to a small village nearby to buy some bread and cheese.
I visited a local church and stayed there until around noon. I returned to the airport and
met the airline's representative. He told me that the day's flight was fully booked and that
I needed to go to the main office in the city the next day with 48,000 pesetas.
I spent the next morning running errands. I quickly found the Senegalese Embassy
and was told that the visa was 3,000 pesetas. With a little bit of grovelling and a brief ex-
planation of my intentions in visiting the country, I asked if it was possible to get a reduc-
tion in the cost. I was amazed that they gave me the visa for free! I went to Air Mauritania
office and purchased my ticket. It came to $550 US dollars. Parting with so much money
made me physically sick to my stomach. I walked over to a telephone exchange and called
my mom. Just the sound of her voice turned my depression into joy. I spent the rest of the
day by the beach drinking tea.
The next morning I cycled to the local newspaper, Las Canarias 7 and was inter-
viewed and photographed. They promised to send a copy to my mom (which they didn't).
With a strong tailwind, I made my way to the airport. Upon arrival I was told that I was
30 kg over and ended up paying an extra $120 US. On top of that, the airline agent wanted
me to strip the bike (pedals, derailleur, handle-bars, and tires). I had a total of 9 pieces of
luggage and because several were quite small, I was worried that some would get lost or
stolen.
The security at the airport for this flight was a joke. They never checked me for ob-
jects through a metal detector and I basically walked onto the plane from the main lobby.
The flight itself was actually amazing. The flight attendants were friendly and the food
was good (I asked for seconds which I promptly received.) My arrival in Mauritania was
slightly delayed for the presidents of Mali and Senegal were at the airport and we had to
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