Send Hillary

      First let me say that if international relations have broken down between Mauritania and the US, it was before I showed up at their embassy in Rabat!  I had nothing to do with it .. so... If Obama is sending Hillary to the region, it would help me out if she could swing by Morocco and pay a quick visit, (and bring some of that money from the printers if any is left).   Also,  if I'm going to live to be 100, my teeth must last. Sharing three cups of tea is nice, but is asking for sweet and low instead of a pound of sugar in every pot of tea so bad? Get rid of the tea, and start a tradition of three pints of beer and use the sugar for making beer, wine, whiskey! It's easy, and a much better way to use up all that dam sugar !

     Finally -  what is the big deal? I wait until almost everyone is gone from the Mosque before asking the " few good men left " if I could go inside. I will remove my shoes, take no pictures, not wipe my feet on those mats, and ask no stupid tourist questions, I promise ! One guy is okay to let me in, but the others all start arguing.. I leave.Maybe the sarcasm I picked up playing cards Thursday nights in Fall City doesn't translate in Arabic, German, French, or Spanish the way one would expect.

      Mali & Niger must be the recipients of more US aid, because onward travel visas only took 24 hours. But Mauritania does not want to budge after six trips to the embassy.

      Chad and Sudan want as much crap as Graham Construction would after doing everything possible except wash their trucks to get paid. So, what does this all mean ? besides not working for Graham again?  Well, in the morning I return to the embassy and hope everyone had a good weekend and my passport has the precious needed rubber stamp.

      I continue to work on visas for Chad, Sudan , & Ethiopia and hope I have it together before I show up at the border.

       Onward travel visa applications often require proof that I am leaving ! (Could be booking flights back to the USA just for copies of the itinerary and then cancelling later.) They want to know where I am staying, reservations at the best hotels for a nice reference letter to the embassy, letters of introduction, a full breakdown of my itinerary, financial statements, passport photos, money, and picture taking permits, ( really !)

     
      Then I wait. The good news is while waiting I see Morocco, buy 12 blog  followers those souvenir tee shirts, and teach the locals how to make beer !