The Dakar Rally

The Dakar Rally is an off-road endurance race where people ride cars, motorcycles, trucks, vans, and every other kind of vehicle imaginable overland from Europe (here in Senegal they just call it the Dakar Rally, which makes sense considering it starts in different cities) starts on January 5^th in Lisbon and ends in the outskirts of Dakar on January 20^th. Most of the participants don’t make it across the Sahara desert but I did. I engaged in my own sort of Dakar Rally traveling overland from Madrid through Morocco and Mauritania and reaching Dakar about 40 days later. Lest you get the wrong impression, it wasn’t that glamorous or romantic. It’s not like I rode a bicycle or camel back here or walked across the desert; most of the trip consisted of long-ass bus rides. Moreover, I took the easiest route across the Sahara, hugging the Atlantic Coast all the way down (mind you I said easiest, not easy). Still, it was quite the adventure. Not always fun, but always interesting.