TIA Days 4 and 5

The original plan for the second day at Toubakouta was to visit the nearby national park, but our host advised us that it was not the season. Rain spurs vegetative growth and evidently none of the animals would be visible. Plus, the guidebook made getting to the park seem like another adventure entirely. Instead, we took a short pirogue tour to a delta island where the village had a female chief and played in the saltwater for a bit. While the ladies had hamburgers again for lunch, I decided to try charwma, whose closest Western equivalent is probably the gyro. Tuesday afternoon was spent either reading on the porch or sleeping in the bungalow. We had picked up supplies for the return home at a boutique and had a nice picnic dinner. Colette is quite the nuturing provider: not only did she contribute most of the snacks like oranges, a Senegalese woman trusted her to carry her baby on the pirogue ride back from the island! After having asked the hotel staff earlier if the djembes would be playing a receiving an answer of 9 pm, we dutifully headed over in order to be informed by another hotel employee that of course there were no djembes that night! Naturally, upon waking on Wednesday morning, the power and water were again working. We ate a quick breakfast and got on the road by 7:30, returning to school by 2:30 pm. The most interesting part of this stage was being stuck in a bush taxi with seven seats and nine people (one woman was traveling with her very young children) in a traffic jam with no breeze for what seemed like the longest 20 minutes of my young life.This vacation has taught me a variety of things. For instance, Africa does not have acne. Or freckles, as Molly added. Everyone here has perfect skin – hypotheses include the humidity or something actually in the water. Thus, when my maid saw me with a few pimples upon my return, she tried to spread itching salve on them. Interesting side note: I have yet to see many Senegalese people sweat up close, though this may have more to do with Ramadan dehydration than anything else. But it was nice to experience genuine teranga and get away from the hustle and bustle of Dakar for a few days. Now for some sleeping, reading, and writing…