Day 8 - Sand dunes
Friday 28th
Went for a short walk to appreciate the vast landscape in front of us and to try to comprehend how people ever manage to cross such an inhospitable land. Apart from the lack of any shelter or vegetation the wind whips up the sand to get in your eyes, ears and clothes - hence the need to wrap up like a Tuareg.
The tent turned out to be for a picnic lunch, a rather surreal experience of eating tinned tuna and french bread surrounded by miles of nothing.
We had a very lazy morning having the usual rounds of tea and an ever expanding game of catch as more and more children emerged from their houses.
Buses for the sand dune trip left more or less on time, give or take 30 mins and sped off with the usual escort. After several miles we veered off the tarmac and bumped across the stones and gravel towards an unknown destination. One of the buses didn't make it as it started leaking something so their passengers were redistributed among the remaining three- very crowded by now so hoped tyres didn't burst! We stopped literally in the middle of nowhere to see a huge tent being erected in front of a perfectly golden sand dune and like a bunch of school kids we leapt off the bus and ran up it!
Back in Samara we went to our host family for a second lunch of lentil soup and french bread ( we ate a lot of that over the week ) Evening spent playing cards with the kids, chatting to Howla and packing. Learnt quite a bit more about the family and the difficult situation women are left in when their husbands leave them or work abroad.