"Rebels or Not?"

“Rebels or Not?”

The second day of our “tour” we headed out to see Sand Dunes. The guide was having car problems in Agadez, so we had to get out and push a few times while we were still in town. Where as most tourists use new SUV’s we had a pretty beat up 4-wheel drive, Peace Corps style. If we were smart, the car braking down would have been a bright red flag saying, “Hey, don’t go out in the desert where you can get stranded for days if your car brakes down.” But, no, we didn’t take notice of this flag; instead we drove 100km out of Agadez with our guide to go see some sand dunes.
On the way out we ran into this guy who was walking on the road alone. The winds were so strong we couldn’t believe someone was walking through it w/o protection. Our guide stops and talks to him in the Tuareg language, we had no idea what they were saying. Then he gives him some of our water and some money and we leave him and keep heading south. We ask later, turns out he was an escaped prisoner our guide knew, who was trying to walk the 150km to the next big town with no water and no money! The guide said we would have picked him, except… he was an escaped prisoner.

We continue on, leave the prisoner behind. The winds are so strong we can’t see anything. The guide leaves the road and starts to drive towards the sand dunes. Then he decides we shouldn’t leave the road too much b/c if the car brakes down “no one would find us for 5 days!” So we head back to the road, to turn around and head back to Agadez. As we go to turn, what happens, of course the car brakes down on the hill leading up to the road. So we push, push, push. Unfortunately it’s only Tina, Chad, and me who are trying to push a vehicle UP hill. Needless to say, we were unsuccessful. I’m thinking, “ This sux, we didn’t even get to see sand dunes.” Probably only 4 cars a day pass this road. And it’s already 3pm. Our guide tells us to get a blanket and sit on the side of the road. But, the winds are so strong, if we got stuck here all night; it would be seriously tough. Tina then goes across the road to go to the “bathroom.”. Chad and I start heading to get a blanket when we hear a car coming. Chad and me start running to it, flaring our arms everywhere, waving our hands. Thinking, “We are so friggin lucky.” Then it comes a bit closer and we look at each other and say, “Oh shit!” As it comes closer we see the silhouette of 10 guys in black turbans in the back of a pick up truck with machine guns and AK 47’s sticking out in every direction. Sort of like the Charlie’s Angels image except with turbans and a whole lot more guns and guys. Chad and me walk back to the car as fast and as casually as we possibly could. Hoping maybe they didn’t see us, yeah right! Me with my light green turban and hot pink shirt (I looked like a Care Bear Arab as Chad liked to say). Tina was still across the street, I’m sure with her white ass hanging out. So of course the car stops, our guide runs over to talk to them. We still don’t know what to think. We heard of rebels around Agadez: 3 white people stranded on the side of the road, car not working, in the middle of the desert, no one around. You really couldn’t ask for better targets. Except... we are poor Peace Corps Volunteers and we actually don’t have any money, hence our shitty car that broke down.

So Chad says to me, “Are we going to get shot?”
I start bitching, “Why did we come to the desert with a car that was braking
down in town?”
Chad tells me to “shut up.”
Tina’s still wiping her ass across the street, thinking, “Are those rebels? Or not?” Thinking she should come check, she comes back to join us. (Later we told her, next time this happens, she should stay there and wait and see before she joins us). Then low and behold a few minutes later 3 of the guys with their machine guns and all, along with the prisoner we met earlier, all get out and help us push the car to get it started. It turns out the guys in the pick up truck were military. Very very scary looking military. They probably look very similar to what rebels would look like anyway. And it turns out the military picked up the escaped prisoner (guess they didn’t know) to give him a lift. Who would’ve guessed? Strange how things work out, like one big happy story. The car started, we ran and got in as fast as we could to drive away. My adrenaline was pumping harder than it has in a long time, I had sand in my mouth and lungs and then we picked up an old Tuareg guy who carried a sword and gave him a lift back to Agadez.