A change of scenery

It's been getting hotter and hotter in the Fouta. Yesterday it was 117 degrees. Luckily I wasn't there.

I've been in Dakar for a week now. The trip back here was kind of a pain, even though I got a quick ride from Ourossogui to Ndioum last Wednesday. The next morning I got up at 5:45, waited around until 8:00 for my sept-place (old beat down Renault station wagon that fits the driver and seven passengers) to leave. The problem was, I was still the only person in it and the driver figured he'd pick other people up along the way. It shouldn't have worked out that way, and I ended up having to switch cars in Saint-Louis, where we waited for the vehicle to fill up and then got a faster ride to Dakar. Outside of St. Louis I bought about 10 big, ripe mangos for approximately $2.20. I definitely want to spend a couple days in and around Thiès in July before I leave; it's a cool town, and a good spot to buy Senegalese baskets.

Since I got to Dakar it's been pretty chill. I've been working out of our Dakar office, which is a little different. Mainly because I look like a bum; I don't care what I look like as much out in the region, so I wear t-shirts. We went out to Ethiopian food the other night, which was overpriced, but it was cool to go out with a big group and the ambiance was awesome. One of the coolest settings for a restaurant I've ever seen, with low tables and couches and great art all over the place.

On Sunday we went to Ile de la Madeleine, which was kind of a crazy day. The island is supposedly a UNESCO sight, although there's not much to see. A couple big baobabs, a decent view, and some tidal pools to swim in. We were having a nice, relaxing day until another pirogue (long wooden boats) with some friends and friends of friends tried to beach where we were. It's this sketchy little cove with waves breaking into rocks, and you have to make a left once you get in past/during the break to beach. Their boat had way too many people in it (as did ours actually, but we got there during low tide), the piroguiers couldn't control it, and it tipped. We ran over to help pull people out of the water before they got slammed up against some rocks. Unfortunately, people from both groups ended up with sea urchin needles all over hands and feet and some nasty cuts. After we waited around for the tide to come up far enough for the break to not be dangerous, we caught rides back to shore, albeit without much confidence, and people went and got treated. We were pretty pissed off at the guys working the boats, who wanted to "negotiate" the price of the second boat, despite them all losing cameras and cell phones and having to go to the hospital. So yeah, I don't see a point in going to the island.

At least that night we ordered sushi. It's not terribly cheap (Dakar is actually very expensive if you try and eat like you do in the U.S.), but it was decent. I've been craving sushi, because it's the embodiment of fresh food that I don't get in the Fouta.

Tomorrow I'm going on vacation to the Casamance region, in the south of Senegal. It's supposed to be beautiful and the Diola culture is supposed to interesting, but tourism to the area has been limited for a while now due to separatists. There are factions of rebels hiding in the jungle in the Gambia and Guinea Bissau that occasionally attack soldiers and conduct raids on cars after dark. So I'm definitely going to be taking certain travel precautions, but I'm really excited about my trip. I'll be back at the end of next week, and will post details and pictures then.



I didn't take that picture either, but it's an example of a pirogue.

Ranérou

I just got back from Ranérou, which I really want to post about. Before I do that, though, I should post a little bit about the geography here so you know. The coordination that I've been working in consists of the administrative regions of Saint-Louis and Matam. The départements of Saint-Louis, Dagana, and Podor are in the first region, and Matam, Kanel, and Ranérou are in the second. It's an incredibly vast region to work in, over 500km end to end. And the fact that the national "highway" turns to a pothole puzzle after Saint-Louis doesn't make traveling any easier.

The French for pothole is nid-de-poule, or "chicken's nest." Here they say there are too many nests and not enough chickens…

Anyways, I have traveled through but not spent any time in Saint-Louis or Dagana yet. I have spent 90% of my time in Matam, where Ourossogui is, and the rest mainly in Podor. I've barely been to Kanel, and I just spent a night in Ranérou. Ranérou is interesting, and drastically different from Ourossogui in many ways.



For one thing, the road to Ranérou is awful. I didn't take any pictures of it, unfortunately, but there is no packed road for most of the trip. Once the rains come in July, it is largely impossible to get to Ranérou, due to seasonal rivers that pop up. But once you get out into Ranérou you realize how beautiful it is. It's dry and dusty, but there are more trees than in Matam. The grass grows taller, despite the herds of animals. Camels and bright blue birds with long tail feathers and orange patches on their chests are common sights. And baobabs! Up north you don't see many baobabs because it's so dry, but in Ranérou there are ancient, enormous baobabs with the pain de singe (monkey's bred) fruit dangling from the branches.



I didn't take that picture, but that's a baobab.

The food is a little different, but what I ate was good. For one thing, the Fulani that inhabit the region are herders so meat is cheaper in Ranérou. They eat more millet as well, because there's not enough water to grow rice. After eating a couple dishes with a big group, I laid down and looked at the stars. There's SO MANY out here. I've mentioned that to a few people, but they're laughed at me. I guess you don't appreciate what you have until you lose it, but this DC metro suburb boy can appreciate some stars. Most nights that I've stared up at the sky and not just collapsed, exhausted, and fell asleep; I've noticed shooting stars.

So after the next day of talking to people and sitting through a meeting, we were on our way back to Ourossogui. Four grown men in the back seat of a pickup's cab is too many, so I climbed into the bed after the first 25 miles. There I was, roaring through the Senegalese countryside, flying past villages of "modern" huts (concrete instead of mud) with my Arab scarf over my face. I probably looked an insane Bin Laden avenger to the other guy in the bed, laughing at how bizarre I looked and occasionally conversing in very basic Pulaar. The sun set, the wind felt amazing after a very hot day, and I felt much less restless than I do sitting around in College Park.


I sound insane, now, too. Anyways, that's it for now folks! More to come soon, probably on Islam since this is kind of a… umm…. complicated time and issue.