La Troiseme Partie

So this vacation story has gone on far to long so I will end it today.

 

Our return back to Senegal was definitely an eventful one. We left the Gambia with a few days left of our vacation so we could see some of the Sine Saloum Delta, which is supposedly one of the most beautiful parts of Senegal. We drove from Tendaba to the Gambia River crossing with no problems except that we drove mostly next to the road because the road itself was so bad, but that’s very standard. However after a very uncomfortably smoky ferry ride, and a surprisingly easy trip across the border, we had to take a very eventful Ndiaga Ndiaye ride. First after much confusion we found a Ndiaga Ndiaye that we thought was going to Joal, the town we were planning on spending the night. However a couple minutes into our journey, as we were handing our money to the appranti , the boy hanging off the back of the bus who collects money, people start asking us where we are going the costs so much money. Apparently the Ndiaga Ndiaye only went about half of the way we were expecting and when people in the bus found out that we were being ripped off so badly they all started yelling and demanding that the appranti give us our money back. Once that was all sorted out and we were on our way, at a surprisingly slow pace I might add, one of the windows of the bus fell off, oops. Then our driver had to keep stopping the bus and unscrew and reattach one of the petals because apparently it was not working properly, hopefully not the break. Then we had to forge a river that had completely flooded the road for about half a mile. Finally we heard an explosion followed by a bump and the sound of a flat tire dragging along the road. Yes on top of it all we had a flat tire. But did that stop us? No. We continued driving. After about an hour we stopped and switched vehicles, however the new bus was about half the size and we still had the same amount of people to squish in. We finally made it to Koalack, where we got a sept-place (seven places), into which we squeezed eight people and arrived in Joal safely.

 

Next to Joal is a peaceful island called Fadiout. We took a nice tour of the island with one of its residents.
 

That night we happened to eat dinner at a restaurant where the Peace Corps were having a summit for all health and environment volunteers in Senegal. We meet some really cool people and I learned a lot about how Peace Corps functions in Senegal and on the ground in general, which was really interesting to compare to my time working at head quarters.

Unfortunately a bunch of us got food poisoning so we were unable to see the rest of the Sine Saloum Delta, which was a huge disappointment.

So that was my vacation, I have a lot more to catch up on but I don't have school for the rest of the week because of a holiday called Tabaski so I will have plenty of time to write.

Ba Beneen Yoon.

En Vacance: Parti Deux

So, about the palm wine. We ended up sitting in the middle of a rice patty field, under palm trees, on buckets and rusted car parts, drinking palm wine out of old gasoline containers with a group of random men. Not exactly what we were expecting… But they turned out to be very nice and none of us got sick! We also learned that palm wine is made like maple syrup, by digging a hole in the trunk near the top of the palm tree and sticking a bottle inside to collect the palm juice. Then you can either drink the juice or wait for a while for the wine to ferment. Who knew?

Ants!



Molly

After the Serekunda we took a geeli geeli to a camp in Tendaba, further east in the Gambia. It was actually a really fun ride. I loved being able to see rural areas and since the rainy season has just ended, all the plants are really green which creates a really amazing contrast with the red dirt roads and red ant hills. However, by the end of the drive we all had rather impressive dirt spray tans.



Temple Tree

Tendaba Camp

Tendaba was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Tendaba  camp  was a very peaceful place, right on the edge of the Gambian river, with plenty of places to sit and relax. Including a bench under a tree with a sign that said "Temple Tree: Relax, Find Your Soul." 

We took two excursions while we were at Tendaba. The first trip we took started with a pirogue (colorfully painted fishing boats kind of like big canoes) trip down the mangrove lined river to a nature reserve. 

The reserve was so beautiful. After walking for a walk through a field of tall green grass, we came upon a marshy area, but since it was low tide it was a vast expanse of sand. We walked across the sand, past mangrove trees standing gangly roots. We eventually came upon water, which our guide said was the biggest watering hole in the area so all the animals in the area go there for water in the dry season. But since it was the rainy season, animals can find water elsewhere in the bush so all we saw were footprints. But the landscape was strikingly beautiful and I did catch a glimpse of a crocodile!

The second excursion we took was a pirogue trip on a small river that runs through a marsh along the Gambia River. While we did not see any crocodiles like I was hoping, we saw many different kinds of birds. I loved gliding through the mangrove lined water, past green marshes, baobabs and egrets just as the sun was setting.

Next on our trip, we headed back to Senegal, but I am on my way to Fatick to do a survey with children about malaria for my public health class and then I am going east to a village called Manda for a rural stay so I will have to finish this another day...

Ba ci kanam, Inshallah (See you soon, God willing)