Getting to Africa: Niger
Llegar a África es contemplar desde la ventanilla del avión un puñado de casuchas solitarias y desamparadas, llegar a África es saborear la primera bocanada de aire polvoriento que te sacude el alma como una bofetada, es descomponerte en un torrente de sudor que te afloja hasta la hebilla de los pantalones, asimilar thousand scents that you hacen debatirte between Fascinacion are the nausea. Llegar a África es tomar consciencia por primera vez de tu propia piel translucida e indefensa, habituarte a sentirte débil y perdido. Llegar a África es mirar has disoriented you alrededor y diez veces preguntarte seguidas that demonios estás haciendo este in torbellino Descontrolado of color, ajetereo vida y. Through the doors of adventure without looking back, banish the possibility desolate back home when you see the plane leaving for his next stop.
Aterrado aún le estoy dando vueltas a ese ya verás, maybe I periods less smooth drive in the state of ignition
After a moment of indecision, Abdou plump figure moving through the crowd smiling. Luce proud belly and big kid smile, take my backpack and I question the fate. "Mission Catholique sil vous plait in French gibberish". - Is it hot huh? Le suelto por decir algo. He looks at me as if trying with a moron, y los goterones de sudor que me atraviesan como Niágaras la frente fuesen los efectos de alguna extraña enfermedad polar propia de blancos. This is not repeated, if we are in cold season, You'll see! Aterrado aún le estoy dando vueltas a ese ya verás, maybe I periods less smooth drive in the state of ignition. Pero Abdou indiferente ya, I embedded against the passenger door and for a moment while my moflete detachment of the window I have the impression that if I stop to look at it could be perceived as fattening slowly, gram for gram anatomy scattering throughout the vehicle. We started the show and watch amazed disheartening to greet me the streets of Niamey.
Most West African capital, son indescriptibles. When you write to tell the beauty is easy, uno encadena clichés y adjetivos más o menos grandilocuentes que van componiendo una portada idílica de revista, exaltación poética, nostalgia for paradise lost, the charm of adventure, find yourself wrapped in pith helmets and shirts, ese tipo de cosas. Describe the first impression I had Niamey is a bit more difficult, buceo y buceo intentando encontrar adjetivos que reflejen la fealdad y el horror y no acierto a transmitir el estado de zozobra que me produjeron las horas de madrugada de aquel l 3 January 2011.
No asphalt, no buildings in many places , themselves even streets, however there are people, many people
Calling this hamlet a city might be too generous. No asphalt, no buildings in many places , themselves even streets, however there are people, many people. Se apelotonan de cualquier manera casi como figurantes de un decorado fantasma a los dos márgenes del camino. They just sit and wait, nobody seems to have much to do. Un millar de miradas inquisitivas nos asaltan a nuestro paso. Ojos que se vuelven como faros a mirarme fijamente convirtiéndome en un conejo paralizado, I am unable to tell if curious, threatening the inexpresivos. Nobody SALUDA, nobody smiles, limited to maintain tu look, serious, undisturbed, with a point of sadness. The feeling of being different, be it otro, ese estado de estar sometido a permanente observación es algo que llega a provocar casi una opresión física y que no te abandona en determinadas partes de África durante semanas.
In this context the appearance of it just, de una piel blanca Dejean you look like a ghost among the muchedumbre, provoca una sensación irracional de proximidad, of reconocimiento, de vuelta a casa. Durante mis primeros días en Níger más de una vez me vi corriendo como un lunático detrás de un fogonazo pálido y fugaz para comprobar decepcionado al volverse que era uno de los muchos albinos que pululan por las calles de la ciudad.
I cross my fingers that the Lariam operate in a country where you have a chance of catching a cold malaria
Abdou has been fired me, leaving me in the door of the Mission with dusty bag, empty pockets and an unsettling feeling of having been ripped off thoroughly. It's eight o'clock and the heat at that time reached the level of unbearable. Clouds of mosquitoes around me tenacious. I cross my fingers that the Lariam operate in a country where you have a chance of catching a cold malaria. I call all the rooms without result, the end of the courtyard under a giant gao find a mattress incorporates a half guardian. "We're closed, open to the 8 average and tells me ". "But excuse moi, Monsieur,I booked a room forgive ". Por toda respuesta señala el destartalado reloj de la recepción y vuelve a adormilarse. Son las ocho y veinte.
I sit at the foot of gao and hope. At half past eight rings a bell, the type stretches, y se pone a orinar indiferente contra el árbol a un metro de mí. Sueño con duchas, fluffy pillows and head fan and as a castaway to the rooms, cuando sin apenas volverse me dice ¡Il y a pas de place Monsieur, nous somme complets Loose pack and for a moment if not to mourn me out right there, or trigger a bloodbath Full?, how, if I have booked two weeks ago? Nous sommes complets says with obvious satisfaction and highlights the ridiculous fuss with crossing hands as if they were windmilling. It's half past eight, I remain 20 horas hasta que salga el autobús hacia Zinder mi destino final en el otro extremo del país, I lost the housing, el calor hace que te entren ganas de arrancarte la piel a tiras y afuera me espera un simulacro de ciudad en la que no se atisba un solo edificio.
You will find him a great hotel Mr., a hotel of blancoooos, and to say the word stretches and opens her eyes
The mobile Marco Abdou five minutes to go smiling, seems to have gained five pounds over and rubbed his hands with pleasure. You will find him a great hotel Mr., a hotel of blancoooos, y al decirlo estira la palabra y abre mucho los ojos como si eso quisiese decir que estará repletos de todas las majaderías que nosotros ¡oh seres caprichosos e incomprensibles necesitamos para vivir! Las siguientes dos horas son un desfile inenarrable de antros en los que observo la exuberante riqueza del mundo de los invertebrados nigerinos. All tell me that the minimum price per night hotel are 50 EUR. At that point I decided to hang the first tree to find.
I need a shot of the other African, I've been feeding with meticulous insistence on my childhood dreams, Postcards need refuge in National Geographic, algo con que ponerme el salacot y saludar al continente como dios manda. A few 30 kilometers from Niamey still alive the only group of giraffes in West African freedom. How about going to see them? Abdou hace cálculos con los dedos como si estuviese cuadrando la deuda externa de Níger. 400 euros! View hippos? There in the Niger River on the outskirts of the city? Ugh complicated, gasoline has hiked, I can not get a picture 100 EUR! On the brink of insanity, faltered, I beg leave cockroaches company not too greedy and wishing me a good firing stroke.
A few 30 kilometers from Niamey still alive the only group of giraffes in West African freedom
I spend the afternoon in a passable hotel welded to fan. Occasionally sounding muezzins' calls to prayer, I look out the window a string of little gardens where farmers tend interrupt their work and prayer mats. En el patio del hotel todos los vecinos se congregan alrededor de un televisor para ver fascinados la programación de Telesahel, culebrones protagonizados por conocidos actores malienses. A television news broadcast interrupted, have ten days before the election, disturbances with the Tuaregs in the north, we do not know anything about the French kidnapped by Al-Qaeda for months in Arlit. I stay in bed and open Moby Dick. A wave of loneliness overwhelms me like a tsunami, me siento como un marciano en un mundo nuevo, alien and incomprehensible. A oceans of time from home. I let myself off to sleep, exhausted, the day's events swarm around me along with dozens of mosquitoes.
The bus leaves at 5 am, A hotel employee walk with me to the station, the road is dangerous tell me. Allí cientos de personas se agolpan alrededor de autobuses destartalados. Among the tumult hear shouting out names. Dakar, Bamako, Agadez, Gao, Timbuktu, I'm still the only white dela station, I try not to be wrong with my car and end up in Agadez, in North fearsome, ese hacia el que decenas de tuaregs se embarcan lanzándome miradas de curiosidad. I locate the bus to Zinder and me against the window Arellano, still go out at night while the radio speaks of civil war in Ivory Coast.
The landscape monotonous brown parades and shows the first baobabs
Slowly begin to sound African songs. The landscape monotonous brown parades and shows the first baobabs. My seatmate is an elder from Nouakhchot tells me that goes to Sudan traveling across West Africa to see his brother, sleeping in stations, some days I ran out of money and feeds on the dates he brought from his Mauritanian oasis, I offer half. It echoes the cry of a child, his mother cradles and gives the chest. He smiles. The bus leaves the city and makes its way between the first lazy morning light.
Comments (4)
Ann
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Enrique, you missed your stories. Thanks!
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Isabel
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As always exciting , an exhausted and sweaty just to be making the journey with you
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Lydia Peiró
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How well you described how you felt, what you saw! You get us to imagine stepping your experience. You're a great storyteller.
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Enrique Vaquerizo
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Thank you Lydia!
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