The great glory of travel, to me, is not just what I see that's new to me in countries visited, but that in almost every one of them I change from an outsider looking in to an insider looking out. - Clara E. Laughlin

18-22 February 2020, Nouakchott
Guesthouse Ziena UM600 (R240)

We literally did as little as possible. Both of us had mild colds. Both of us had wifi. If you have to have a cold, having wifi at the same time makes it tolerable.
Every morning, Charl popped across the road to buy two fresh baguettes, one for breakfast, one for lunch. For breakfast we ate our bread with fried eggs; for lunch, with butter and jam.
Every night we went out to dinner. Once to Hubei Chinese restaurant, twice to KFC, and three times to Al Fantasia. We really enjoyed Hubei until it came to paying the bill. We had made the mistake of ordering a beer, a rare find in this predominantly dry country, without checking the price. That beer, so enjoyed by Charl, cost us a whopping R180. Thank goodness we had not ordered a second. The chicken at KFC is tender and hot and fresh and coated in a delicious and spicy and crispy something. And at Al Fantasia we ate Italian (lasagne and another pasta dish) and then tagines, our first and yummy.
We made the mistake of running out of cash, almost. We knew we would need to draw cash before leaving the city, but left this to the night before our departure then found that several ATMs would not or could not dispense. In the end, we had to use our rapidly diminishing funds to take taxis to increasingly distant banks. Just when we were getting despondent, we lucked out. A taxi driver picked us up. Despite his lack of English and our lack of Arabic, we managed to explain we need a “banque” and ATM. He drove us to a possible option and waited while we discovered yet again that our card would not work there. Before he took us to an alternative, we tried to ascertain the cost of the next leg of our journey, having already done so for the first. But he would have none of it. He made it clear he would take no money at all for us. When we objected, he took out his wallet, opened it up, and riffled for our benefit through a wadge of notes. I think it was at the second or third ATM we hit paydirt, after which our benefactor generously dropped us at KFC, unbelievably crowded on a Sunday night, with separate queues for men and women. 
Oh, and we got some washing done in a washing machine - such luxury.
Nouakchott means “place of wind”. In 1978 a major drought in Mauritania drove the nomads to the city, reducing their numbers from 75% of the population to just 25% and putting tremendous strain on the city, and the nomads. Our host, an American studying human rights related to climate refugees, says they brought their slaves with them. Though abolished in 1981, slavery is still practiced here.