Chapter 966 Desert Market
The area around the gas station is quite lively, with at least four or five hundred people gathered here.
This was the first time Xiao Peng encountered so many people after leaving the city in this country: here, a village with a population of over 100 people is considered a "super large village."
This is a market, and it really seems like everything is for sale: camels, cattle, sheep, pickled fish, fruits, clothes, shoes... Coupled with the desolate appearance of the yellow sand here, Xiao Peng first thought of the couplet he saw at the door of the guesthouse under the Huaxia Company in Nouadhibou: Wind and sand wash the sun and moon, and fierce fire refines the golden body.
Many women run businesses here: Mauritania is actually quite good in this regard. Women's status is definitely high in Muslim countries. You can often see female drivers on the streets and women appearing in public. Although Saudi Arabia has allowed women to drive since 2017, it's still rare in Muslim countries, but it's very common here.
In most Muslim countries, women are required to wear a veil when leaving home, but this isn't the case here. And while other Muslim countries strongly discourage women from getting divorced, this is another exception. Mauritania has a very high divorce rate, and it's quite easy for women to remarry after divorce, with remarriage three or four times being common. It seems that here, divorced men become destitute, while divorced women become more valuable.
But the women here are not like those in the city. In Nouadhibou, you often see many "round" women, but here they are rare.
Let's be honest: Mauritania is extremely poor. Many families are lucky to have enough to eat. Can they drink camel milk every day to gain weight? This is impossible.
Seeing the market here, Xiao Peng's first feeling was "something bad is going to happen"!
Honestly, filling up your car in Mauritania is a real struggle. There aren't many gas stations, and even if you go, they might not have gas. And the ones that do exist in the markets are almost always out of gas!
And there are far more donkey carts on the roads here than in Nouadhibou - they are ubiquitous in Mauritania, and in cities they share lanes with cars.
Those who honk their horns when they see slow cars should really come here to experience it. If you see a donkey cart moving slowly in front of you, try honking your horn. The consequences will be at your own risk!
There's a traffic light here, but believe me, Xiao Peng, no one obeys it. Even in a city like Nouadhibou, traffic lights are just for show, let alone here: traffic lights are a rarity in all of Mauritania. They haven't been installed for two years, and the people haven't gotten used to them yet...
Xiao Peng drove to the gas station, and just as he expected, there was no gas. However, Xiao Peng didn't care too much, as he had oil and water drums in the back of his car.
He strolled through the market with great interest. He was truly amazed by the sight of everything on sale. This place had another advantage over Nouadhibou: there weren't as many children chasing after Xiao Peng for money. This allowed Xiao Peng to stroll around the streets in peace.
In Nouadhibou, it seems that all the children I see are asking for money, as if it is their job.
Whether to give this money or not is really a question.
Seeing a child so young asking for money would make anyone sympathetic. But when there are so many children coming up every time, would you give it to them or not?
Who are you going to give the child to among a bunch of kids? What if you give it to just one person?
Xiao Peng has the money, so he can give it all away? How childish! If he gave it to everyone in Nouadhibou, every child would come running over and ask for money!
This is simply a torture to the soul!
There are no children asking for money here, which makes people feel less tortured and allows them to slowly look at what is being sold here.
What interested Xiao Peng the most was that the best-performing business here wasn't cattle, sheep, or camels, but a vendor of slippers, who made and sold them one pair at a time.
That's right, he makes slippers on the spot: the raw material is car tires. After the tires are cut, whoever wants to buy them puts their feet on the cut tires to compare the size, and then he cuts and threads the ropes, and a pair of slippers is ready in three minutes.
These "tire slippers" are so popular here that almost everyone in the market has a pair. They are also cheap, costing 200 ouguiyas a pair, which is less than 4 yuan. The shoemaker is very confident: if the shoes don't last two years, he will compensate them with 500 ouguiyas.
For them, durable shoes are the best. As for appearance? That's not really a priority. And wouldn't wearing slippers here be the most appropriate thing? Xiao Peng was also very interested and bought two pairs. Such souvenirs can't be found everywhere.
After receiving the slippers, Xiao Peng discovered a fatal flaw: they were heavy, but that was a minor issue. The main problem was that they were black! Black absorbs heat! Xiao Peng's feet felt hot after wearing them for a while. Hmm... he quickly changed back into his own shoes.
As soon as he changed his shoes, he found a group of people gathered together. What were they selling there that was so lively?
Xiao Peng ran over happily to take a look, and found that Renault and his friends were talking to the locals. They were speaking French and the locals were speaking Arabic, and they were talking incoherently.
Although French is widely spoken in the city, how could there be so many people who know French in this remote area? There was a local man in uniform translating, but his French level was…
Oh, it’s horrible!
Xiao Peng leaned over and asked, "What's going on?"
Seeing Xiao Peng coming, Renault and the others were like seeing a savior: "Commander, you are finally here. They stopped us from leaving! What does this mean?"
Xiao Peng waved his hand to signal them to calm down, and asked the person next to him, "Excuse me, what happened?"
When several locals saw that Xiao Peng knew Arabic, they started talking at once. In fact, as soon as Xiao Peng's car came in, everyone's attention was on him: 80% of the vehicles in this country are old Japanese cars. Xiao Peng's big Mengshi was too eye-catching, and it was a United Nations car, so it was hard for them not to notice it.
Xiao Peng's Arabic was mediocre to begin with, and they were speaking at a machine gun-like speed, with several people speaking at the same time. Xiao Peng was completely overwhelmed: "Can you speak one by one?"
The uniformed local waved his hand for everyone to be quiet, then explained the whole story to Xiao Peng. After Xiao Peng understood everything, he turned to Renault and the others and said, "How many of you bought three lambs?"
"Ah?" Renault was confused: "No!"
One of the Arabs pointed at Melanie and started talking again. Xiao Peng was annoyed by the noise and shushed him with a gesture. Then he said to Renault, "Wasn't Melanie watching this sheep just now? Did she talk a lot with them? They told Melanie it was a wedding sheep and asked if she bought it because she was getting married. Melanie nodded and said yes, and gave her a thumbs up! Of course they're not happy that you're leaving!"
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