October 1, 1980

GHARDAIA, ALGERIA
Took full advantage of having a room until noon: showered, napped, wrote a letter on the terrace, generally relaxed. Moved out at exactly noon, with six hours to kill before my bus left. Bought some bread and cheese for the ride and, because of the heat and having to lug my pack around, did substantially nothing all day. I met some French folks who'd just come up from In Salah, where I'm heading. They didn't seem too thrilled with it, calling it the hottest place in the world. I think the only reason Ghardaia seems better to them is that there's a breeze today. My face hurts, from sunburn or sandblasting, I don't know which.

The bus left at 6am-- unfortunately scheduled to arrive at In Salah at 2am. I didn't know what I would do for a place to sleep at that hour, but when we got there, I took my cue from half the busload, who unrolled their blankets on the sidewalk and slept there.