A Long Overdue Update

I am currently stuck at home in bed with bronchitis, so I figured this would be a perfect time to update about the past 3 weekends of madness here in Dakar. I can't quite remember the order of what happened when, so I am just going to go through some highlights. A couple weekends ago was my friend Ana's 20th birthday. We celebrated pretty much the entire weekend. On Saturday afternoon, a bunch of CIEE girls that live in Sacre Coeur 3 came over to Ana's house for crepes, bissap (hibiscus juice), fruit, and homemade chocolate chip cookies! It was great. There is no such thing as brown sugar in Senegal, so Ana and her sister had to make due without it when making the cookies. Also, the heat in Ana's oven is on the top, so some of the cookies got a bit burnt, but they were still delicious.

That night, Ana and I took our younger siblings to Magic Land! Magic Land is, essentially, a permanent carnival in Dakar. There are a bunch of rides, mostly for small children. We had my two little brothers, who are 8 and 9, her little brother, who is 8, and her little sister, who is 15. Getting out of the house proved to be really difficult. My little brothers and I headed over to Ana's house around 8:30 for dinner. While Ana and I were in the kitchen helping cook, her brother spilled roughly 5 liters of bissap on the floor. Naturally, this being Senegal, his parents were so angry. Initially, they told him that he could no longer go with us to Magic Land and I'm pretty sure he was beaten with a belt. Corporal punishment is still really common here, even in schools. It's baffling. Then, my brothers started crying because we told them that we weren't going to Magic Land without Ana's brother. Eventually, Ana's mom convinced her dad to let her brother come with us, since his friends were already at the house. One would think that that would be the end of it and we would just eat dinner and go, but then Ana's sister, Aida, declared that she was pissed off at us and was no longer coming. So, we had to sit down and have a chat with Aida about why she was mad. She was upset that we were originally not going to go "just because an 8 year old boy couldn't go." The whole thing was ridiculous and she was being completely unreasonable. Magic Land is for kids! Obviously we wanted to take the kids.

Eventually, we convinced Aida to suck it up and come with us, ate dinner, and were out the door around 10:45 pm. We hopped in a cab and arrived at Magic Land ready to start having some fun. First, we had to buy tickets. Then, the little boys went on a ride on the train. It was so cute! Then we headed over to the haunted house ride, but everyone was too scared to go on that, so we decided to come back to it. We took the boys over to a game where they could shoot at eachother with foam balls, and the three of us went over to the pirate ship ride! It was so much fun. There were a bunch of young Moroccan kids on the ride who we started yelling matches with, and Aida was so scared. It was hillarious. Then, we went back to the haunted house. This was probably the cutest part of the night. Each little boy paired up with one of the girls. Ana and her brother went first. As soon as he was on the ride, he put his head down under the front of the car and didn't move it until the ride was over. I went on with my youngest brother, Bebecheikh, who hid his face in my side the whole time. I don't think either of them saw a thing the entire time. My brother Mohammed was supposed to go on with Aida, but when we got out we found out that he chickened out and she went on the ride with the owner's son. The whole thing was adorable.

By midnight, we decided it was time to get the kids home and put them to bed. Plus, there was a birthday party for Ana and a couple other people at Jenna's house in Ouakam that we needed to get to. So, we dropped the kids of in Sacre Coeur 3, got ready, and headed over to Ouakam. We got to Jenna's house and were greeted by delicious kebabs, chocolate cake, and gin. The night was really fun. We hung out with Jenna's brothers and a few other CIEE kids, dancing and drinking until around 4am.

We have also made somewhat of a CIEE tradition out of heading to this little hole-in-the-wall bar every Thursday night for what we like to call "j'ai soif jeudi." La Manguiline is literally a liquor store with tables, and they have the cheapest beer we've found yet in Dakar. It is in Mermoz and is within walking distance from my house. This is always lots of fun, and usually ends with us walking down to the hookah bar for a few hours.

This past weekend, the group Magic System was playing at this club called "Nirvana" on Friday night. Most of us knew their music, and those that didn't had at least heard it in the clubs, so we made a night of it. We started off at this guy named Harris's house. He lives in, by far, the nicest house I have seen in Dakar. It is absolutely amazing. His family has their own guard posted outside the house! Ana and I didn't arrive until around midnight, at which point everyone had already been seriously partying for a couple of hours. At around 1:30 we walked over to Nirvana. This club was amazing! It was beautiful and so nice. We had to pay 10,000 CFA to get in (roughly $20), which is crazy expensive, but I think it was worth it. We danced until 4:15 am, when the band finally went on. I love living in a city where it is perfectly acceptable that the band doesn't go on until after 4:00. They played all their hits (or about 5 songs) and then they were done. Even though they weren't on for long, the whole night was tons of fun and totally worth the money.

This update definitely makes it sound like all I do here is party, but that's not necessarily true. Yes, Dakar night life is crazy and I really enjoy it. But! I am also spending a lot of time hanging out with my family and in the neighborhood, meeting people and learning what is it like to live in Senegal. This weekend, on Easter, is Independence Day. It's the 50th anniversary of Senegalese independence! There is a big wrestling match that CIEE is taking us to and the whole city should just be one big celebration. I'm really excited.

In two weeks we head out into the villages for our "Rural Visits." This is where we get to spend a week with non-profits or Peace Corps volunteers living in villages and helping them with their work. I am really excited. Hopefully, I will get placed with a Peace Corps volunteer doing agroforestry work. I can't wait to get to explore rural Senegal! I'm also really hoping that I get to do something evironmentally related. I am working on getting a summer internship with a think-tank/consulting firm called EcoAgriculture Partners. They are based out of DC and run by a Wellesley alumna. Basically, they work to improve rural lifestyles through sustainable agricultural practices. It looks really interesting and I'm really hoping that this works out!

Dealing with loss in Senegal

As many people who read this blog know, yesterday my neighborhood received some really sad news. After years of fighting cancer, Dave Pratt passed away yesterday morning at 4:55 am. My younger brother answered the phone when I got the call from my dad, since I was up on the roof, and brought me my phone. Both of my brothers were there watching me while I cried as I heard the news and decided how to proceed with my day. Dealing with emotion is really different in Senegal. Crying is really only acceptable in the case of death. If people see you crying, they will assume that something really terrible has happened.

Explaining what happened to my brothers was really difficult. Mostly, it was hard to define my relationship with Dave for them, since I speak French with them. I still haven't told anyone else in my family here. Bebecheikh and Mohammed have been consistently asking me if I am still sad and trying to understand what I am going through. It's all very sweet and it's so interesting to see how 8 and 9 year olds process the idea of death.

If there was ever a time when I wished I was home with the neighborhood, this is it. I love you guys and I'm thinking of all of you, especially the Silverman-Pratts, constantly.

The Gambia Part Two- Tendaba Camp

The morning after our epic wild boar roast, we woke up and got ready to head to Tendaba Camp. Tendaba is located farther west along The Gambia River. It is close to two national parks- Kiang West National Park and Baobolong Wetland Reserve. It is also the only place to stay in the area and is, therefore really expensive. Bass drove us from Jangjangbureh to Tendaba and all we had to pay for was fuel. The trip was long and really dusty. In The Gambia, there are police and military checkpoints roughly every 10 minutes. We didn't have any problems at most of them, since there were 3 white American girls in the car for the armed officers to flirt with. The one time that there was a problem was when we encountered a female cop. Eventually, Bass gave her a bribe and we continued on our way.

Finally, we arrived at the camp and Bass helped us get settled. We could tell as soon as we got there that there was going to be a problem with money. We had started running out of money at this point, and this was a really nice camp. It had a big restaurant, two bars, and a swimming pool! Eventually, Bass convinced them to give us a 10% discount, since we are students, and we started to get settled in. We were all exhausted from traveling all day, and I crashed pretty early.

The next day, Wednesday, the plan was to explore the village. However, it's a tiny town with not a whole lot to see, so we ended up spending a good portion of our day figuring out our budget. Then, we went for a dip in the pool. This was the day we met Faye, who offers cheaper tours than the hotel and cheap(er) food. We made a pretty good deal with him for lunch Wednesday and Thursday and two boat tours on Thursday. We also decided to head home one day early, on Friday morning, because of our lack of funds.

The people in Tendaba were so different from everyone we met in Jangjangbureh. In Jangjangbureh, we made friends with tons of young kids. In Tendaba it was impossible to be friendly with the kids. As soon as they saw white people they started yelling "Hello! Minty!" Minty is how they say candy. Even the adults would immediately start asking you for money. The men were absolutely intolerable, although this was common in both towns. We are used to encountering sexual and romantic advances in Dakar, but the men in The Gambia were much more physical and persistent. It was really frustrating to be seen only as a sex object for a week.

Thursday was, by far, our most exciting day in Tendaba. We woke up at 6 am, while it was still dark, to meet Faye for a 7 am boat trip. We watched the sunrise from the boat on our way to Kiang West National Park. Once we arrived at the park, we got out of our boat and spent the next few hours walking. The landscape was beautiful. We walked through salt flats, forests, and fields. Eventually, we came across an entire herd of baboons. There must have been 40 or 50 of them, and they crossed the path right in front of us. A few of them started menacingly walking towards us, but we held our ground and they moved on. We also saw lots of bird. Birds were definitely the theme in The Gambia. It's a huge bird-watching destination, and there were lots of fat, European bird-watchers around, especially at Tendaba.

In the afternoon, after a nap and a dip in the pool, we met Faye again for a boat tour through Baobolong Wetland Reserve. On our way out to the reserve, we saw a whole bunch of dolphins! They were so cool. They follow the sound of the motor, so we got to watch them through most of the ride out there. One we got to the reserve, we spend the next couple of hours driving through the mangroves, looking for crocodiles. Unfortunately, we didn't see any. It's, apparently, a bad time of year to see crocodiles since it's so hot out. We did, however, so a whole ton of birds. We also had a lovely argument with Faye about whether or not all Americans are rich. It's really hard to convince people here that just because your are American, it does not mean that you have an endless supply of money. This argument was especially frustrating this time, as we were pretty broke at the moment.

After watching the sunset from the boat on the way back to Tendaba, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. We had heard that Jaliba Kuyateh, the most famous mbalax musician in The Gambia, was playing in a village 2 kilometers away from the camp. We decided that this would be an excellent way to spend our last night in The Gambia, especially since admission was only 100 Dalasi (less than $4). Lamin, a guy we had met at the hotel, offered to drive us to and from the concert for free. After Ana and Jenna argued with the Tendaba Camp management about how much our bill was, we headed out to the village in Lamin's lime green jeep. We got to drive right into the venue, instead of waiting outside, since Lamin thought we would get hassled, being the only toubabs there. We got to sit right up front, and Jaliba was awesome. However, the concert didn't start until around 11:30, and we had been up since 6 am, so we were thoroughly exhausted. By 1:30, we decided it was time to call it a night.

In the morning, we woke up at 6 am so that we could leave Tendaba by 7. It took us way longer than it should have to get back to Dakar thanks to full buses, problems with the ferry, and a miscommunication with our sept-place driver. We didn't get back until about 7:30. By the time we got home, we were all so dirty. I can honestly say that this was the first time I enjoyed my cold shower. As much fun as The Gambia was, I am really happy to be back in Dakar, sleeping in my own bed, and hanging out with my brothers.

The Gambia Part One- Jangjangbureh

We left for The Gambia at 8 am on Friday. Ana and I took a cab to school where we met John, our sept-place driver, and Jenna and Matt. We had been a few minutes late, but we figured that wouldn't be a problem as everything here runs on "West Africa Time." Boy were we wrong. John was really mad that we were late, and he kept reminding us about it all through the 6-plus hour drive. There was also a ton of traffic because of the celebration for Mohammed's birthday, which happens to take place in Kaolack, a city we had to drive through to get to the Senegal/Gambia border.

Despite John's complaining and the intolerable heat inside the car, we made it to Farafenni (the border city inside The Gambia) without any real problems. Then, we had to find a car to take us to Jangjangbureh, a small island out in Eastern Gambia. Because of the holiday, we were charged double by the sept-place driver, but there was really nothing we could do about it since we couldn't spend the night in Farafenni and the ferries stop running to Jangjangbureh at 8pm. Eventually, we made it to the ferry, where we were met by Banna, the proprietor of Talamanca Lodge. He took us across the river in his boat and we got settled into the hotel. It was small, with a little bar and restaurant, but it was comfortable and Banna was really helpful. After we put our things away, we got dinner and crashed for the night.

The next day, we got up on the early side to go for a boat tour with Banna. We went out to Six Junctions, which is a part of The Gambia River where you can see a lot of wildlife. While we were out we saw a ton of different birds, some monkeys, lizards, and three hippos!! It was so exciting. Hippos are super cool... and dangerous. We spent a few hours on the boat and then came back to the lodge.

One of the coolest things we did in Jangjangbureh was go see a traditional wrestling match in a small village called Jamally Babou. We arrived and were taken into one of Banna's friend's compounds. There, we drank ataya (absolutely delicious tea that people drink in Senegal and The Gambia) and talked with some of the people that live in the village. Then, it was time to move to the wrestling arena. This was an outdoor ring, enclosed by a large solid fence. We sat down with a bunch of the village kids and watched as the women ran in with each wrestlers yelling and dancing and playing music. It was very exciting! Then, the wrestlers did a bunch of dancing and not too much wrestling. However, it was really fun to watch. The wrestlers all had great names, such as "Mint Fress" and "Passport" and these guys were HUGE. Passport was the best wrestler by far. He kicked a whole bunch of ass that night. Once it started to get dark things started to get a little bit scary. I am pretty uncomfortable with guns in general, and there were at least 10 armed military and police security personnel in the arena. Apparently, wrestling can turn really violent. Fights often break out amongst the crowd and the wrestlers, so the armed guards are there to scare people from misbehaving. People started getting a lot more intense once they could no longer really see anything, but we left before any real fights started.

On our last night in Jangjangbureh, we were sitting in the bar at Talamanca Lodge when our friend Bass showed up. He had come over to our side of the island to find some palm wine, which he drinks like water, when he had heard about a huge wild boar that some hunter had killed. Naturally, he thought of us and invited us to come over and grill up some bush pig. Of course, we jumped on the chance, and Jenna, Ana, and I got into Bass's car and headed over to the hunter's compound. There, we found an entire, enormous wild boar cut in two on the ground. We picked out our leg, watched the woman hack it off of the pig, and then threw it into the back of the car.

Then, it was off to get the rest of the pig-roasting supplies. First, we went by Bass's compound. Here, we met his mother, who we affectionately call "Mama." She was the sweetest woman I have ever met and immediately welcomed us into her home. After getting a brief tour and picking up the grill plate, we went to one of the boutiques to pick up onions, black pepper, Jumbo (a little brick of spices), mustard, and mayonnaise. We also met up with Matt here, and all of us went over to Maxé's compound together.

When we arrived at Maxé's compound, all I could hear was reggae music. We walked in and Maxé, apparently, had no idea we were coming. But it was fine. He and Matt immediately got to work butchering the giant leg, while Ana and I prepared the onions with Bass. Then, Jenna and I helped light the fire, and we all got cooking. It took an impressively long time to cook half of the meat, as there was so much of it, so I took this time to get to know everyone better.

First, there is Maxé. He is a 44 year old man who owns an amazing compound, where he is in the process of building a lodge, bar, restaurant, and stage. He is also an artist and performer, although his art isn't that great. Basically, it appears that he spends his days getting high, making art, working on his compound, and drinking palm wine. He was a really cool guy and he was lots of fun to talk to.

Then there was Keba. He is a musician who had just returned from playing at one of the camps in the area. When he arrived, he was clearly already drunk. He didn't stop drinking until he promptly passed out half-way through cooking. He was hilarious and, once he woke up again, was super fun to dance with.

Fodé was there as well. We had met him a few times, and he really, really liked me. But he turned out to be an okay guy. Although he was nowhere near as interesting as the other guys we were with, he REALLY wanted to be remembered. Every time I saw him, he would yell "Abbey! It's me! Fodé! From the other day! Remember?" to which I would reply "Yes Fodé, I remember you." He's also an entertainer. He dances and drums.

Lastly, there was Bass. Bassman was our best friend in Jangjangbureh. He was absolutely hilarious, constantly drinking palm wine and smoking joints, and is really one of the best guys I have met in West Africa. Most men we encountered in The Gambia were immediately interested in us as sex objects since we were white women. Bass, on the other hand, was interested in being our friend, protecting us from unwanted attention, and having fun.

So, after we had finished cooking, we all sat down to eat together. The meat tasted delicious, but it was so tough to chew. I discovered that the key to eating wild boar is to eat the smaller pieces. They are way easier to chew and your jaw wont hurt nearly as much. After dinner, it was time to "digest" as Bass called it. That meant we all had to get up and dance to mbalax music. Mbalax is really fun. Everyone should look up Youssou Ndour and Jaliba Kuyateh. After a while of fun dancing, the very drunk men we were with started getting a little too handsy, so we decided it was time to leave.

I absolutely loved Jangjangbureh. It was so much fun and we really met some amazing people. Plus, we got to eat wild boar and see hippos!