Finally we crossed the border into Mauritania at 8.00 o'clock at night .The wind was still howling.  Our driver raced the jeep over the sand. There was no paved road.  Blowing sand drifted and covered the road making it impossible to remain on the pavement.  The driver swerved and zig zagged all
over in order to find hard surface.  I was scared thinking about all of  the land mines that are still buried in the sands of the western Sahara.  I  was thinking what will happen if our jeep hits one of the land mines.  There were many reminders laying around of what happened to other travelers whose
vehicles were unlucky enough to tread upon one of the hidden explosives.Cars, refrigerators, televisions, tires.....Oh! it was terrible.  After a half an hour of riding through this no man’s land our jeep became stuck  in the sand and stalled.  The driver tried to start the jeep, it would not start. Now I was even more scared.  The other passengers didn’t seem to be
scared, they were laughing.  The driver got out of the vehicle and walked away.  We didn't see where he disappeared to in the dark.  I already started imagining what might happen next.  I went to the back of the jeep and took with me my back pack and put my Khukuri on my waist bag.  I was ready to run
away, but I didn't know where to go.  Within five minutes I heard the sound of people coming near our jeep.  Before I could take off and run away, these people were crowding around the jeep.  I had already decided in my mind that we going to be robbed.  I took my khukuri in my hand before they opened the door.  They opened both side doors and called us to come out and push the jeep. They had come not to rob us, but to help us push the jeep out of sand.  We pushed the jeep until it was no longer stuck in the sand.  It still would not start.  There was another vehicle coming in our direction.I decided to stop the second vehicle and ask for a ride until next town.  I couldn't get a ride. Our driver announced that we would sleep in the jeep overnight.  I was now even more scared.  I could not imagine staying overnight in this isolated and dangerous place.  There was other vehicle approaching so I asked our driver to hail them and ask them to tow our jeep.The driver of the other vehicle was not interested in helping us out.   I stopped one truck myself and asked the driver to please pull our jeep.  The truck pulled our jeep.  After half an hour our jeep got a flat and the truck left us behind to fend for ourselves.  Our driver said he could not change the tire in the dark.  I gave him my bicycle light and asked him to
change the tire.  He said he could not remove the tire.  The two other passengers,Moroccan guys, were napping inside the jeep. I changed the tire myself.  Our jeep was once more ready to roll,  but we had to wait for another truck to tow us.  After waiting about ten minutes another truck came.  I stopped the truck and asked for a tow.  There was another 50 kilometers further to reach the city of Noudhibu, the truck cannot drive fast in the sand and of course there was no pavement.  After pulling for about a half hour, the tow line broke but the truck continued driving on.  I asked our driver to sound the horn, please.  He just gripped the steering wheel but didn’t sound the horn,so I got up from back seat and blew the horn myself.  The truck stopped.Again,  we tied on.  The truck driver warned “if the line breaks again I can't stop”.  But it didn't break.  We reached Noudhibu at 10:00 p.m. The driver and the Moroccan guys asked me to stay in same hotel because it's cheaper if we share a room.  I told them “ I don't have money for
hotel, I
am going to a camping site.”  They asked me which camping I am gong to.
“Buba camping” I said to them.  “ok! we will also go there. Lets go by
taxi.”  I said I will go by bike, I don't have money for taxi.  They
replied “see you then in camping”.  I decided to go to another camp ground because it seemed very odd that they wanted to follow me.  In the morning I was surprised to see that they were at the same camp ground.   I asked them how they found it and they told me they had seen my bicycle tire track in the sand.  But they didn't find where I had actually slept because I had gotten a small room at the camp ground.  The driver invited me to have dinner with him that night at his house.  I didn't understand why he didn't go last night to his house?  Why did he follow me to the camp ground?Fortunately, I met a German couple in campground. They were driving a truck through the Sahara and Mauritania .  I asked them if they could give me a ride to wherever they were going.  They said they would take me.  With much relief, I said “bye!bye!” to yesterday’s friends.