October 5, 1980

TAMANRASSET, ALGERIA
Woke about 5:30 and we thought we heard something like running water, but it was still dark and I figured it must be a truck idling. Then the road ahead seemed to be glistening, but I called it a mirage. Eventually we realized that it had rained in the mountains and a river had formed, crossing a big field and cutting off the road to town.

We passed the day, Jens and I, at the customs station, where we'd been told we could catch a lift, but saw only one truck to Agadez all day and it had no vacancies. Back in town, someone had found a driver leaving in two days and though most people had some half-baked scheme in the works, this one sounded plausible.

Frederico, the Italian, had spent the previous night in a local's house and invited Jens and me back with him. It was a long way out of town and we had to wade across the newly-formed river. After staring at an Algerian TV show for a half-hour, we threw our sleeping bags on the floor and dozed off.

PHOTO CREDIT 1
PHOTO CREDIT 2