This is the beginning of many posts about my amazing trip (see below for location details).  Pictures will be arriving shortly.

 In brief:  Profound.  I went with no expectations, and discovered a land rich with culture, identity, beauty, renewable energy, and the renewal of a close friendship.

And sand, lots and lots of sand. 

I left Israel, flew to Turkey, and then on to Casablanca.  All of a sudden I was filled with a sense of “stranger in a strange land”, as I began to stick out as a white person and clearly not surrounded by many Jews.  While waiting for the flight to Nouakchott, it became clear that life as I know it was about to be turned upside down – people, none white, wearing what I would later know as a “Boo boo (a tank-top dress of sorts for men)”, and clothes that I would describe as “traditional colorful African garb”. 

I boarded the plane, unable to communicate with anyone around me,  fell asleep, and awoke as we touched down in Mauritania….