Chapter 35 32 Advance to Africa

It takes only two hours to take a rickety boat from Spain and arrive at the gateway to the African continent-Morocco.Compared with the modern ferry terminal in Spain, Morocco is very dilapidated. As soon as I stepped into the toilet, I could not help frowning because of the strong stench. "Wow! Come to another world..." At this moment, the real sense of coming to Africa finally emerges.Cycling on the road, what catches the eye is not a supermarket, but a market.Vegetables are piled up on the side of the road and feel very fresh.Children in dirty clothes are everywhere.In broad daylight, adults seem to have nothing to do, so they gather in twos and threes to drink mint tea.Most of the ground is not paved with cement, but red earth, and the houses are also very rough.

Thinking back to when I first stepped into Mexico from the United States, I am now immune to developing countries, and I am not as shocked and scared as I was then.Even so, I still didn't expect that the world would be completely different from Europe to Africa, and I was inevitably stunned. At dusk, I came to a big city called Tangier and stayed in a cheap hotel with peeling paint.There were no showers, so I had to go to the town's public bath. It was just as the sun was setting, and while walking in the town, the adhan began to ring in my ears.The unique rhythm and soothing tone of the words echoed in the streets and alleys dyed orange, announcing that the moment of worship has begun.

There is no one but Allah, the Prophet is the messenger of the Lord At this time, I strongly realized that I was in the Arab world, a place far away from my daily life. I also knew that I was a foreigner, but I could feel an incredible sense of security, probably because I had the blood of a traveler? The public bathhouse, a dilapidated, seemingly defunct building, costs only five dirhams, or seventy yen.Walking through the underground warehouse-like passage and stepping into the dim shower room, my face couldn't help wrinkling for a moment-the same stench as the yacht dock toilet, shrouded in steam.

"This is too miserable..." Probably the drainage hole and the toilet are connected.It is indeed a different world. For such a change, I can now look forward to it with the mentality of "things seem to be more interesting".Being able to have such an idea, I found that I have really grown a lot.All the way to the south, the houses are also sparse, gradually stepping into the desert.This is the Sahara, the largest desert in the world, which can hold thirty Japans in one go, and almost all of them are barren wasteland.Even so, there are still people living in groups in dots, and the road has been extended, paved to the depths of the desert.

One day, the desert blew just the right wind, and there was no need to step on the pedals. I enjoyed the left and right scenery in the flat sand sea, and slid forward.It is winter now, and the weather is not too hot, which is really comfortable.While listening to the Walkman, I played "Favorite Baroque", which was almost rotten, and I started to play Bach's music in my ears. "Oh oh oh! Here it comes!" I was completely intoxicated by the music. The desert in the distance moved slowly like a slow-motion film, blending with the beautiful lyric of the symphony, which made me float.

After riding for about two weeks, the road disappeared and there was only a real sea of ​​sand in front of me.There are still countless landmines planted around the local border with Mauritania, so I had to let the truck of the border guards take me and my bicycle across this area. Although it seems a bit serious, it is actually not a big deal. It is a common mode of transportation. Then, continue south from Mauritania, across the Sahara Desert to Senegal.This is different from North Africa. It is the so-called black Africa, that is, Africa where black people live.The scenery changed suddenly, and the ground was covered with fine and soft weeds like hair. This is the so-called tropical prairie.The green-brown grassland, swaying and rustling in the wind, comes into view softly. "Green" has a great impact on the soul, especially after being immersed in the desert for a long time, the sense of peace of mind is indescribable.

You can see the village, and slowly pass by several mud-walled huts.The conical thatched roof is like a pointed hat. Although it is simple, it has a lovely and warm feeling.In the courtyard, children are dancing to the drum. "Wow..." I also felt hot all over. This situation is completely the impression of Africa, and it is the first village I pass by! The children noticed me, showed their white teeth, smiled and waved, and shouted in unison: "How are you?" I happily replied "Hello!", and a girl ran onto the road, also grinning, and performed a strange dance in front of me, kicking the ground like a sumo wrestler.It was so funny, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

She seemed pleased by my reaction, grinning even wider and kicking harder.I also showed my teeth and smiled at her.After bidding farewell to her, we continued to move forward, and heard a folk-like singing. Looking carefully, an old man with a hoe was walking and singing along the path beside the field. How melodious the singing was!I slowed down and listened carefully for a while. Why am I feeling so excited? I also felt a certain excitement when I stepped into Mexico.Now I feel a hotter, stronger energy, pounding, pounding a unique rhythm in the body. Passing through the village, many huge trees began to appear on the savannah—as if descending from the universe, piercing the earth, the huge and incredible tree, the baobab tree.No matter which corner is cut off, it is an out-and-out impression of Africa!

That night I camped under the baobab tree.Lying on the ground, under the starry sky, the dark shadow of the baobab tree is like a huge ghost.In this vast grassland, the sound of drums beating in a certain village is heard in the wind, which sounds really comfortable.I don't know why, but it makes me feel so nostalgic. In this way, I slowly fell asleep.Gradually, I felt that the sound of the big drums seemed to come from the depths of the earth.