Sabrina finds herself in the oasis village of Terjit as her trek through Mauritania concludes

Editor’s Note: Sabrina Swenson, a 1986 graduate of Postville High School, is the daughter of Erma Swenson and the late Marlin Swenson. A world traveler, Sabrina is sharing her experiences in Mauritania, located in western, North Africa. Printed below is the third of a three-part series.

The next time I woke, it was daylight. I cleaned the thick, chunky sleep and goo from my eyes and lashes. It took quite a while as the iron ore had constantly irritated my eyes. Once clear-eyed I stood to watch a brilliant sunrise. The only difference was now I, and all the other occupants of the car, were filthy dirty. Iron ore dust was everywhere. Not only my clothes, hair and eyes, but also my backpack, which I think will never be the same!

We eventually rolled into Zouerat which was evidenced by the large iron ore extracting equipment. The train was moving at a snails pace at this point and took forever to come to it’s final resting spot exactly seventeen hours after it had begun. Once halted, we began gathering our things and crawled out of the car, filthy dirty from head to toe. The locals were used to it and we three tourists didn’t care as it was a trip to remember forever. I said goodbye to the iron ore train, the locals and the two other tourists, sad that the epic voyage had ended.

Read the full article in the January 18, 2017 edition of the Postville Herald.