Goodbye, Civilization!

Alright. This is going to be a very short post, because I'm craving salami and cheese so badly it's almost physically painful.

Here are some photos from L'Ecole de la Rue, and from a concert that some of us went to at L'Institut Fracais downtown last night! The band was really great- they sang in Wolof and had a tam tam player, but mainly used Western instruments. The lead singer also played acoustic guitar, there was a guy playing electric guitar, a man on a drumset, and an albino woman with dreads playing the bass! She seemed extremely cool. The music was lively and though the venue was chairs arranged in an ampitheater, nearly everyone at the sold out show was up and dancing in the small space available by the end of the concert.

L'Ecole de la Rue:

Some of the blackboards used for adult classes outdoors-

M. Mbaye, the founder of L'Ecole de la Rue, demonstrating some of the very first lessons adults learn when they come to class- the alphabet!

Walking through winding mazes of shacks to the childrens' classrooms

Boys in the 3rd level of L'Ecole de la Rue


The concert at L'Institut Francais!

That's about all I can muster at the moment. Except maybe this short list of things in Dakar I will miss come Monday:

1. salami and cheese
2. internet
3. Maman Binta's fatayas
4. my host family
5. fruit and vegetables

Those aren't in order of how much I'll miss them, I swear. Don't know when I'll make it to the cybercafe for the first time, but you guys will here from me pretty soon!

Youssou N'dour, and (a little) more

This weekend's highlight: seeing Youssou N'dour live at his nightclub, Thiossane! I went with Rachel, her sister Aicha, (who refers to herself as "Queen Aicha,") and Aicha's friend Emily, who is a model for the phone company Orange. The entire club was packed with people dancing, and the music was FANTASTIC. I've been trying to find a good YouTube clip of Youssou N'dour, but none really do justice- it seems that the videos that are posted on YouTube are a lot of his more Westernized stuff- less crazy drums and wild danceability. Here's the best one I found, which at least gives you a taste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raDRLnu7AH8
That clip was filmed live at Thiossane, where we were on Saturday!
Here's one other longer song-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Q4bc86yiI

Other than the concert, my weekend was pretty uneventful. I went to the beach one day, and also visited Le Village des Arts in Northern Dakar, a small community of live-in Senegalese artists. The community is paid for by the Senegalese government, and as artists move out and spaces open up, new people can apply to live in the compound and use the studios there. Foreign artists and students can also come stay in the village to study and work with the live-in Senegalese artists. There is a gallery with works by all of the village's artists, and we were also able to walk around and check out the artists' studios and talk some with them. It was interesting to see some real contemporary African art- the African art exhibits that I've seen in the U.S. are usually traditional masks and whatnot dating back to the stone age, so it was really neat to see some paintings and sculptures by modern artists. I will post pictures before the end of the week, but I left my camera at home today.

This week has also been pretty laid back. Yesterday my Education class went on a field trip to one of Dakar's poorer districts to visit L'Ecole de la Rue. (Literally, the School of the Street.) We met with the school's founder, M. Mbaye, who explained to us that the school holds English, French, and elementary math classes for children and adults alike, free of charge. The children who attend L'Ecole de la Rue are those who are barred from public Senegalese schools for various reasons- some don't have birth certificates, others can't afford the uniforms and school supplies they must pay for at public school, and still others failed out of public school and were not allowed to continue their education. The children take classes during the day, and are divided into groups not by age, but by level of comprehension. Public adult classes are held at night from 5-7PM, literally in the street! The mechanics that surround L'Ecole de la Rue clear the road of cars, and around 200 people come to crowd around a couple of blackboards M. Mbaye has used since he opened the school in 1979 to learn to read and write French and English. Most are street vendors, mechanics, maids, or taxi drivers who come to class after they finish their day's work, and most are completely illiterate. It was wonderful to speak with M. Mbaye, who is a wonderful man dedicated to his work and his students. Such noble work!

In other news, I have some bug bites on my feet that have gotten really disgusting. I showed them to Awa and Adji this morning, who were both extremely grossed out and insisted I go to the doctor. The doctor told me they were definitely infected, and gave me some special foot soak and some antibiotics. He was also kind enough to point out that I have foot fungus, a cracked toe nail, and dry skin on my heels. How kind! Anyhow, I think my gross foot infection might also be the cause of the mild fever and fatigue I've had for the past few days- I'm going to take good care of myself and my feet and hopefully this will all be cleared up by Monday, when I head to the village.

New news on the village- I tried to send an email to Agrecol/Afrique asking for more details about my job, but of course the email address they have on their website doesn't exist. Typical Senegal! I'm going to be the very first person dropped off at my internship site, which means I'm expected to start work that same day. So, come Monday, I'll hop off the bus in Sessene, meet my supervisor, meet my new host family, and then scoot right on over to my job, whatever that might be. Oh boy. I also found out from Waly that there is NO internet access in my village, and I'll have to take a 20 minute bus ride to the nearest cyber cafe. Never fear, I'm planning on making the trek once a week to update my blog!

A couple other funny things this week-
1. Yesterday I watched a show called "Khar Bii" with my host family. "Khar Bii" means "The Sheep," and the show is a competition between sheep from all around Dakar! It is hosted by a well dressed guy in sunglasses who reminds me of a Senegalese Carson Daily. Each sheep is escorted into the ring by its owner and given marks by a panel of judges. Each sheep also has its own cheering section. The best part of the show last night was that there was a sheep named Obama. (He got last place.) HA.
2. Today in Wolof class, our teacher Aissatou had us practicing for our oral exam on Friday. Aissatou asked my friend Olivia to describe her family, and Olivia accidentally told Aissatou that her family named their dog after the astronomer Copernicus, then ate him. Aissatou was laughing so hard she let us out of class before two others had a chance to do their prompts.

Anyhow, that's about all I can think of to write at the moment! Sorry if this post hasn't been as action packed as previous ones, but I'm very tired, I think due to my infected feet. I'll post once more on Friday before I head off into no-internet land.

Les Iles des Serpents and my 21st Birfday!

OK fasten your seatbelts, this is a long 'un! I really need to post more often so I don't have to write such epic posts. Anyway.

Last Saturday our Environment class took a field trip to Les Iles des Madeleines, better known as Les Iles des Serpents, just a pirogue's ride away from a beach near WARC. Les Iles des Serpents are a national park here in Senegal. Ironically, there are no snakes on the islands- they are called Les Iles des Serpents because (as the story goes) a French criminal by the name of Monsieur Sarpan was exiled there many years ago during the colonial period. When he had served his time, though, Sarpan decided that he wanted to stay on the island rather than return to Dakar! After our visit I could definitely see why. Les Iles were by far the most beautiful place I've seen in Dakar.

(Dad- here is a picture of a Senegalese cell phone tree! They're palm trees here, instead of pine trees. Thought you might enjoy the photo. This one was near the beach where we took our pirogue to the islands.)

Here's a view of Dakar from our pirogue.

The boat ride out to Les Iles took about 20 minutes. As we motored closer to the largest island, we got a closer look at the jagged cliffs that form its plateau. The white streaks on the rocks (see photo below) are bird poop- Les Iles are a resting point/nesting spot for many migratory birds, many of which fly all the way from South America! (Just to poop on the cliffs!) Wish I could tell you some specific species, but our tour guide was speaking in French and gave us the scientific names for all of the plants and animals we saw, so you'll have to forgive me for not remembering them all.

The pirogue putted around to the far side of the island, where Le Capitaine navigated a narrow passage into a small cove where we could hop out with our guide and climb a steep trail to the plateau. The cove was incredibly peaceful- the water was clear straight to the bottom, and all was calm, though we could hear the waves crashing against the cliffs around the corner.

The tour was fascinating! We learned that there are 110 species of plant on the tiny island, (we walked around the whole thing in half an hour) including one unique to Les Iles des Serpents! Many of the plants on the island have antibiotic properties, including, I learned, the fruit of the baobab tree. We saw a plant that causes blindness, as well an a huge sprawling baobab that is 800 years old!

We were lucky enough to make our visit during the mating season of cormorants, who had taken over the cliffs on the North side of the island with their nests. Cormorants are large birds, jet-black save for a patch of white on their throats. We learned that this white patch only appears when the birds, male and female alike, are ready to mate, and fades to black again when the mating season is over. There were hundreds and hundreds of them sitting on their nests up and down the cliff face, swimming in the ocean, and flying back and forth from the trees with grass to build their nests. Incredible!

Les Iles des Serpents have a mythical history. Every city and region in Senegal has patron "génies," or spirits, who protect the place and its inhabitants. Les Iles des Serpents are believed to be the home of les génies who guard the entire city of Dakar. Before the islands became a national park, they were uninhabited by Senegalese because they are believed to be sacred. The only buildings on the island are the foundations and walls of two small houses. In the 1940s, a Christian missionary decided he wanted to build a home on the largest of the islands- it seemed, however, that Dakar's génies had other ideas. Each time that the missionary finished his buildings, a huge storm would knock them down- he rebuilt 4 times before finally giving up!

After our tour, we headed back to the cove to wait for our pirogue to arrive and take us back to the mainland. We got to swim, and snorkel and little bit- Jon had the foresight to bring a mask with him. It was an absolutely beautiful spot- we were the only people there, and the cove was clean and quiet. Such a nice change from the typical Dakar beach experience! We were all sad when Le Capitaine arrived and we piled back into the boat to head back to the big city.

A view of the island and Dakar in the distance through the window of the missionary's house

The cove where we were dropped off and swam after our tour!

My environment class, minus a few slackers- Professor Diouf is on the right, our Program Assistant Adji on the left, and our guide between toubabs Jon and Eben.


Several cormorants perched on the cliff face!

The 800 year old baobab tree- it was HUGE!

Our guide with the tree

Saturday night, Jasper and his host brother Moustafa threw a party for all of us MSID kids and our families. The boys asked Maman Binta to make approximately one billion delicious fatayas (meat and onions wrapped in dough and fried) and donuts for the occasion. This was lucky, because I had a minor food-related break down on Saturday night before the party. As most of you probably know, I am not a picky eater. I love food, of all kinds, and eat a lot of it! I'm not afraid to try new things, (which sometimes gets me into trouble- see post entitled "Encounter with a Senegalese Death Pepper") and have no problem eating some Senegalese foods that freak other toubabs out, like copious amounts of Nescafe, paté, and whole, bony, googly-eyed fish. Given my willingness to eat, or at least try, most anything, I think I'm allowed one particularity about food, which is this: I'm not fond of eating plain eggs. I like scrambled eggs on toast, with veggies, or bacon, but I'm just not the biggest fan of eggs by themselves. Unfortunately for me, plain eggs on bread or noodles are a dinnertime staple chez Binta, Anicet, Raissa et Pascal. Doubly unfortunate, Raissa fried some eggs for dinner for the fourth time in a week. I'm ashamed to say that the moment I smelled the eggs frying, I went into my room, shut the door, and cried. Anyway, the point of the story is that I was very happy that Maman Binta made goodies for the party! I pretended I wasn't hungry at dinner, then gorged myself on meat pockets and donuts. Yum.

The party itself was really fun. Moustafa's friend Papis is a DJ, and he made some great mixed CDs and we all danced. (Twice to "Soulja Boy" and "All the Single Ladies". We are such Americans.) Emma and I also mini-celebrated 10/10, the biggest party at Grinnell during the fall semester. Below is a picture of us trying to spell out 10/10. Fail!

Sunday a friend of Raissa's braided my hair for my birthday! Other bday preparations included attempting to superglue diamonds to my teeth on Monday night. This seems to be a trend with the younger crowd here and it looks pretty snazzy, so I thought I'd give it a try. Raissa took me to the neighborhood boutique to buy glue- I was expecting some kind of special dental glue, but she went straight for the tube of industrial strength super glue. I told myself I'd be sure not to swallow any. Next we went back to the house, where Raissa said she had some extra diamonds. I was expecting her to pull out a small bag of gems- wrong again! She rooted around in the armoire and pulled out a small black purse with the shape of a skull and cross bones in rhinestones across the front. I noticed that about half of the stones were missing, and the pieces of the puzzle fell together. Raissa started gnawing them off the bag and we got started. Papa Anicet cracked up when he walked by our room and saw Raissa wearing my head lamp, superglueing rhinestones to my teeth. Unfortunately they all fell off while I was sleeping, but I'll try again! I don't think my teeth were dry enough for the glue to really stick.

Tuesday was my 21st birthday! I got a bunch of happy birthday texts from my fellow toubabs, as well as a wonderful card and many hugs. Rachel brought me a bag of candy and delicious delicious Biskrem, (yummy Senegalese chocolate filled cookies,) and Rebecca gifted me a $4 bottle of gin (haha). Professor Sene also bought me a cake, which I saved to eat with the family the next night. I had made a plan to go out to dinner after classes got out at 7PM, and was pleasantly surprised when around 10 or 12 of my toubabs wanted to join! We went to this nice Spanish place in les Almadies called El Toro, where we ate delicious tapas and drank sangria.

Although I was overwhelmed by my friends' kindness, I also got to feeling really homesick on Tuesday. I was happy to talk to my parents, skype with Molly, and IM with Betsy and Davis for a few minutes, but I felt very far away and disconnected from the people I usually spend my birthday with. I left the restaurant feeling a little down.

I was expecting the whole family to be asleep when I got home, but Papa Anicet and Maman Binta were sitting up watching TV. I sat up with them and chatted for a short while, and got to feeling much better. Maman Binta and I made plans to have a family celebration and eat Professor Sene's cake the next night, and I asked Papa Anicet if I could go with him to work at the University on Thursday morning. (He was so happy about it- he smiled so big I could see every one of his teeth!) It seems obvious now, but going home (sort of) and hanging out with my family (sort of) helped me feel less homesick. The situation reminded me of a line from the Talking Heads song "This Must Be The Place": "Home is where I want to be, but I guess I already am..."

We had a wonderful little party the next evening, thanks to Professor Sene's cake AND to the amazing birthday package of decorations, party poppers, and sparklers my mom sent from the States! Pascal helped me blow up balloons and hang streamers, and my neighbors Elke, Keren, Jasper, and Moustafa came over to help us eat. We popped all the poppers, tooted all the tooters, and sparkled all the sparklers. Pascal especially had a great time- he got all sugared up on soda and cake, thoroughly enjoyed playing with the balloons, poppers, and sparklers, announced that it had been a great party, and then promptly passed out at 10PM. It was a great party, short but sweet!

Here's our first family photo-

My cake, with all the candles my mom sent

Fun with sparklers!



Pascal, Moustafa, Elke, Keren, Jasper, and I

Pascal and I

Thursday morning, Papa Anicet took me to work! He works in La Laboratoire de Rayonnements Naturel et Artificiel (LRNA), where he and others are doing research on the composition of plastics. Their goal is to identify properties of plastics that shorten their lifespan, so that they might biodegrade more quickly. So cool! The physics professor in charge of the lab also uses the space to write and compile articles for the Senegalese Environmental magazine VIE, (Verte Information Environmentalle) which Papa Anicet helps edit.

Papa Anicet's Grande Laboratoire. The lady in the blue is Coumba, the assistant of the physics professor who directs the research and compiles the magazine VIE. You go, girl!

Me and Papa Anicet next to a machine called a SEPAP. Don't ask more.

After visiting the lab, Papa Anicet walked me around the rest of campus. Below is the library, which is actually quite massive and beautiful.

Inside the library-

Another stop on the tour was the IFAN museum, (Institut fondamental d'Afrique Noire,) where a friend of Papa Anicet's gave us a tour of the library there- they have a treasure trove of colonial government journals and Senegalese newspapers dating back to 1858! I wish I could go back and lock myself in til I read them all.

Our last stop was the Cheikh Anta Diop laboratory. It was here that the renowned Senegalese scientist discovered carbon 14!!!!! Carbon 14 is the isotope used in carbon dating. Big freaking deal!! Below is the equipment Cheikh Anta used to make his discovery. The lab is still used to do carbon dating, though his outdated equipment is kept only for show.

That about sums up the last week... My fingers and so tired right now. Can't believe I've only got one week left in Dakar!

Some Other Random Things I Did This Week, In No Particular Order

1. On Wednesday morning, I took a ride to school on one of Senegal's famous car rapides! I've only ever almost been run over by these clunkers before, so this was a psychologically healing experience for me. Car rapides are most often painted in bright yellow and blue, with the phrase "Alhamdulilah!" (Praise God!) scrawled across the front. They are often so crowded that riders stand on the rear bumper and cling to whatever they can. Here's a picture from google:

2. I went to my fourth soccer game at le stade near my house- but this time I brought my camera! Each neighborhood (cartier) within Dakar has a team, and Tuesday night's match was Mermoz vs. Baobab. The games are always lively and loud.


3. I splurged and bought myself salami and REAL cheese, (actually, Laughing Cow plastic wrapped singles, but that's about as real as you can get here without shelling out 10 bucks,) and ate salami sandwiches for two days straight. It was BEAUTIFUL.

4. Last night I saw one of the most incredible twilight skies ever. Don't know if the photo does it justice.

5. I finally started investigating Agrecol/Afrique, the NGO I'll be working for for six weeks starting October 26. I'll be moving in with a new host family in Sessene, a tiny village of 500 to the South of Dakar. I'm not sure exactly what my job will entail, but the NGO focuses on organic farming and sustainable agriculture, and the fair trade of the goods produced. Sounds right up my alley! The site is in French, but here's the link anyhow-
http://www.agrecol-afrique.org/oneHOME/
I'll let you guys know when I have more details on my internship.

Signing off here at the end of week six-

A Camel Named Franklin

Another action packed weekend, come and gone!

Unfortunately I left my camera locked away at the WARC so I don't have any pictures of my own from this weekend, but I will certainly steal some from my buddies and post them ASAP.

Before I get into tales of wonder and enchantment, I'll share some not so fun news- last week I did some sleuthing, and am now 96% sure that my host sister Raissa stole some money from me. Last Wednesday after I visited my favorite sweat shop I stopped by the ATM and took out some money. I went straight home and didn't do much the rest of the day, and the next morning I found my backpack unzipped and 10,000 CFA (around $25) missing from my wallet. Not a huge blow in the grand scheme of things, but that amount of money has a lot of buying power here- I could pay for lunch at the WARC for two weeks with 10,000 CFA, or two half-hour long camel rides. (More on that later.) Anyhow, the only two people who had been in the bedroom Raissa and I share since the previous night were Raissa and Binta, the maid. Given Raissa's history of mooching, I had a hunch that she dunnit. I hid the rest of my money in a secret place and went to school pretty irked. When I got home that night, I left my backpack on my bed and made sure to zip the front pocket where I keep my wallet closed. At one point Papa Anicet and Maman Binta left to do errands, and Raissa told me to stay in the salon "just in case someone knocks on the door." A little suspicious, considering our house only has 3 rooms and you can hear someone banging on the metal door even if you're taking a shower in the back yard. I got more suspicious still when she then went into our bedroom and shut the door behind her. I followed her in a few minutes later, and found her on her hands and knees by my bed. She claimed to be looking for something, but I noticed that my backpack was open again. Caught! She stood up hurriedly and said she had to "go buy something at the boutique." She snatched 11,000 CFA off the bedside table (she NEVER has money,) and left the house.

The first day of our program, the MSID directors told us that money issues are particularly sensitive topics here in Senegal. To accuse someone, particularly a member of your host family, of stealing money is a very serious thing- if you're right about it, the entire family is shamed. If you're wrong, you create tension and distrust within the household that probably won't go away in the short time you stay with them. I love 3/4 of my host family and I'm not ready to make a fuss over $25, so I took the time that Raissa was gone to hide the rest of money and plant a little surprise in my wallet- a note that says "Raissa, il faut me demander," as well as the receipt from my ATM withdrawl with the amount I withdrew circled in red. I'm really not angry at her, I just hope she sees the note and understands that I'm not as dumb as she might think. And I certainly won't let this happen again!

At any rate, that's the bad news. On the sunny side of the porch, I had an amazing weekend! Friday afternoon I skipped Wolof and went to Dakar's Olympic sized pool with Rachel, Rebecca, Elke, Jon, and Sean. It's a beautiful pool, and wonderful to swim in the hot afternoon. The best part was the 20 minutes that they opened the diving pool to the public- at least 50 boys and a couple girls rushed up the stairs to two diving boards and four concrete platforms of various heights, the tallest standing at ten meters. No one really took turns or waited for people to swim out of the way before hurling themselves off the platforms, so the air and the water were full of bodies. It was pretty nervewracking to watch, but I definitely want to go back with my camera. Jon even jumped off the 10 meter platform!

Saturday I had a relaxing morning at the house, and in the afternoon I took the bus downtown with Pascal and Raissa and treated them to N'ice Cream. They both started school today, Monday, so it was kind of a last summer hurrah. Sean and Jon met us at N'ice Cream and we all walked around the marché Sandaga for a bit. I bought a dress I had been eyeing the last few times I'd been downtown, and then we all took a cab back to the basketball court near my house to play a little. Jasper came with his older brother Moustafa and we played against some of the neighborhood kids. Though it was hot, it was wonderful to get some exercise and really fun to play. We let Pascal play on our team and a group of his younger friends gathered to watch the game, cheering for him every time he touched the ball. Fun stuff!

Saturday night Moustafa and a couple of his friends took us out to a club called Nbalam, where his friend used to DJ. The place was pretty much empty the whole night, but we had a great time nonetheless. The walls of the club were nearly entirely covered in mirrors, and what wasn't was pasted with sheets of blue glittery confetti strips. There were about 36 disco balls and music playing the whole night. Our band of toubabs took over the dance floor for a couple hours, and then around 3 AM started to head home. Other club highlights included a woman who was clearly a prostitute who walked in completely covered in glitter to match the gaudy walls, and the creepy guy sitting in the bathroom who's only job was to hand out toilet paper.

Unfortunately I didn't get much rest Saturday night- Sunday morning I woke up around 9AM to head to Lac Rose, a lake outside of Dakar. Lac Rose is 10x saltier than the ocean, and some sort of visual effect of bright Senegalese sunlight on the salty water makes the lake look pink! Sometimes, anyway. Unfortunately we picked one of the non-pink days- apparently during the rainy season the large amounts of fresh water that fall into Lac Rose repress its pinkclinations and keep it blue. It was still a beautiful sight though, and we had plenty to do there! Our group of 16 hired cabs to drive us the two hours there, wait around for a few hours, then drive us back, all for an obscenely low price. The drive itself was really interesting- we drove past some of the shanty towns that have cropped up haphazardly just outside of Dakar's limits, and got a look at how the poorest of the city's inhabitants live.

Once we arrived at Lac Rose, we took a short walk around one side of the lake to see some of the salt mounds on the shore. We didn't spend the money to hire a guide so I'm not sure exactly how the salt is harvested, but we did see a few men hard at work, neck deep in the lake with shovels. We strolled back toward the stand of shops and hotels and relaxed under a cabana to have a drink, and then a few of us headed toward the edge of town, and CAMELS!

In true Senegalese spirit we tried to bargain for the price of the camel ride until Le Chef des Chamaux, as I called him, laughed at us and told us that the price was fixed. That was a first! The price was $12 for a 20 minute camel ride across the sand dunes to the ocean and back- well worth it! Getting onto the camel was a bit intimidating, as they were all drooling and making the most terrible gargling scream noises I have ever heard, but once I was shoved into my saddle by Le Chef it was alright. We had two guides leading our caravan of 5 girls: myself, Rachel, Rebecca, Britta, and Claire. We set off galloping across the dunes, all tethered together in a line- a scene straight out of Arabian Nights or something! Unbelievable. We all named our camels- mine was Franklin, the biggest and baddest of the lot. Rachel's was Babacar, Claire's was Lawrence (of Arabia,) Britta's was Shaharazad (sp.?), and Rebecca's was Aissatou, which is also (coincidentally, I'm sure) the name of our Wolof teacher. Aissatou was kind of gross- she seemed to have asthma and kept slobbering all over Rachel's leg. We made it to the ocean and rode in the waves for a few minutes, then headed back toward town. The beach we rode along is also the ending point of the famous Paris-Dakar rally, an annual off road vehicle race. Sweet. 20 minutes ended up being the perfect amount of time for the ride. Anyone who's ever ridden a camel before can tell you that while the experience gives you a lot of street cred, it's not very comfortable. At all. They're not very graceful creatures, and after bouncing up and down for the whole ride, I stumbled out of the saddle bruised and sore. I was glad to have met Franklin, though, and I wouldn't trade my ride for anything!

After waddling away from the camels, I took a short dip in Lac Rose. The water was strangely warm, and the lake floor hot. It was really easy to float because of all the salt in the water. The best part of going for a swim, though, was the rinse off afterwards. After clambering out of the lake, a small herd of hotel staff rushed over and escorted us over to "Le Source Frais," a small pool of clean cool water and a bucket where we could rinse ourselves off. I stepped forward to grab the bucket, but a short old man rushed over, snatched it out of my hands and told us that he would splash us down, for a small fee. We asked if we could rinse ourselves off for free, but he shook his head and just stood there, refusing to hand over the bucket. So I found myself standing in my bikini in Le Source Frais, surrounded by a crowd of toubabs and Senegalese hotel employees, being splashed with freezing cold water in the face by a strange old man with a bucket. He would motion when he wanted me to turn so he could hit me from all angles, and gave me one last abrupt little splash on the bum to send me scurrying out of the pool. Best 20 cents I've ever spent.

After drying off we went off to find our taxi drivers and made the trek back to Dakar. I made it home in time to take in my favorite Indian soap opera here in Senegal- VAIDEHI. It was an action packed episode, chock full of betrayal, jungle pursuits, and daring escapes. I also managed to smash Papa Anicet's top score in Tetris, which my family has on the TV. Pascal yelled from the living room to tell him in Wolof that "the toubab was beating his score," and Maman Binta just about died laughing when I said in response, "My name is Marianne, not toubab!" Now whenever anyone calls me toubab she makes sure to correct them.

And that was my weekend! I've been having a pretty good week thus far as well, but need to head home at this point. Here are a couple pictures from facebook-

This one's from Toubacouta- me just after I won my lutte against Britta! She's pounding her fists on the ground in shame.

Me, (in the blue) Rachel, and Rebecca behind our guide riding Franklin, Babacar, and Aissatou!

Lots of love to you all!

TOUBACOUTS '09, continued

Day 3.

The night after the lutte, it rained buckets. We were confined to the hotel Friday morning due to the poor condition of the road, with nothing to do but swim in the pool, eat donuts and lounge in our air conditioned bungalows. Oh, the horror!

Around 4 PM, Waly told us it was time to go plant mangroves with the women's group we had met in Soukouta. We set off on a back road from the hotel, surrounded by tall baobabs and thick grass 6' high. The road soon became so muddy Waly said we might as well ditch our shoes, and we continued along, slipping and sliding, til the road opened up onto a dry, flat sandy expanse dotted with random shrubs. See first photo after the series from la lutte. We walked towards the river, which was invisible but marked by thicker and taller trees- mangroves! Mangroves are pretty funky- they look sort of like overgrown oleander bushes with thick tangled roots that start a couple feet above the river mud. There we met with the women of Soukouta, who had already begun replanting. See next photo. The mangrove sprouts looked like really skinny zucchinis, and to plant them one just stuck them about an inch into the mud.

The toubabs split up into smaller groups accompanied by one or two of our student guides from Toubacouta and several women. We headed closer to the river, where the mud got really deep, and started our dirty work. We were shlepping through mud thigh deep that smelled exactly like egg salad for around an hour- certainly a funtresting experience! Also pictured- myself and Allie, muddy; Leila about to plant baby mangroves; and Lisa D. and Rachel Rudy making their slow way through the egg salad swamp.

After we had planted all the mangroves the women had brought along, we congregated on dry land and had an impromptu lutte, which featured Jon vs. Waly, Olivia vs. Cate/James, Elke vs. Lisa T., and Me vs. Britta. I won my match! (See dad, height isn't everything.) The women's group thought we were a riot. After our wrestling matches, we bid adieu to the women of Soukouta and made the trek back to the hotel.

After dinner we walked into Toubacouta to see a dance performance. The entire village came out to watch, and we sat and took in the crazy moves of a traveling dance troupe originally from Toubacouta. I've never seen such wild dancing in my life, except possibly at the lutte. There was even a fire swallower! It was quite a performance- see the two photos after mangrove planting.

Day 4.

After breakfast on Saturday, we headed into Toubacouta again with our Senegalese student friends, walking through the village to the riverside, where there was a dock and three pirogues waiting to take us on a BOAT RIDE in the Saloum Delta! First picture after the dance performance are some pirogues on the riverbank, then our first pirogue taking off on the river. It was an incredibly beautiful day- a little hot, (What am I saying. Extremely hot,) but calm and sunny, with fluffy cotton ball clouds in the sky. Being out on the water was glorious.

The banks of the river were thick with mangroves- the 6 species of mangrove are some of the few that can survive in the delta, as their roots can filter the salt out of the river water. Our pirogue guide really knew his way around the delta, and he lead our boat train into winding narrow inlets. At one point he cut the motor and our boat drifted into a passageway that was so overgrown with mangroves that the pirogue was held back by the tangled roots. We sat in silence for a few moments and heard a strange sound, like people snapping their fingers off in the trees. Our guide told us that it was the sound of oysters, which grow on the roots of mangroves, snapping closed! See photo of mangrove roots- the weird grey knobby things are oysters. (Below that is a shot of myself and two of the students from Toubacouta, Babacar on the right and Iti (sp?) on the left.)

After we checked out some inlets we headed back to the main river channel, and eventually let the pirogues run ashore on a peninsula made entirely of shells- see photo of unbelievably beautiful paradise island. From the peninsula we hiked inland through tall grass and baobabs, then eventually around to the shore again and back to our pirogues. On our hike, we passed a huge baobab that in the past had been used to bury griots. Traditional Senegalese society operated under a caste system. Griots were the storytellers and singers in Senegal, a caste near the bottom rungs of society. The Senegalese didn't want griots to be buried in the earth, from which food is grown, so their bodies were hung from the biggest baobab trees. Though the caste system is much less important in contemporary Senegal, certain last names are still associated with certain castes, and marriage between members of different castes is sometimes frowned upon. After our hike, we pirogued back to Toubacouta and walked back to the hotel.

In the late afternoon, we drove to a remote village to speak to representatives of a coalition of 48 women's groups from neighboring villages. The coalition leant 125,000 CFA (around $275) to individual groups every 4 months, which the individual groups can spend or loan out as they see fit. Groups usually use the loan to fund projects that yield profit, such as purchasing a goat or chickens, or buying seeds to plant crops. The groups must pay back the loan within 6 months. With this system, the 48 women's groups that make up the coalition have accumulated a collective savings of 11 million CFA. Woo hoo!

After our meeting with the reps from the groupements de femmes, we had a few minutes to wander around the village. I wandered off with Rebecca, Rachel, Emma, Trina, and a couple others. Rebecca started chasing a duck, who lead us to another duck with babies, who lead us to a grey cement house and a small group of women and children. We exchanged pleasantries, and then one of the women who spoke French told us that the cement house was actually where the chief of the village lived! She invited us in to meet him, so we took off our shoes and filed in one by one and shook hands with the ancient blind chief, who greeted us in Wolof and told us he was glad we had visited his village. Funtresting indeed! See photo of women and children with ducks- the house on the right is the chief's. From now on I will always follow ducks.

We left the village soon after our meeting with le chef du village and headed back to the hotel. After dinner, a small group of us headed to the village "discotheque"- an outdoor cabana and bar in the middle of a field behind a tall iron gate, guarded by a guy in head to toe camo with a conspicuous 8" butcher knife held in the belt loop of his pants. It was certainly interesting to see, but not really my scene, so after several songs Rachel and I walked back to the hotel.

Day 5.

Pretty much just a loooooong day of driving. We left the hotel at 9:30 AM and didn't arrive in Dakar til 8:30 PM. We stopped in Sokone for lunch, and in Kaolack because James was really ill- he actually had malaria, but now he's fine, don't worry- a very long day.

All in all, a wonderful trip, minus the malaria. The last two pictures from the first Toubacouts post are the bathroom after walking home through the mud from the discotheque, and Rachel, myself, and Rebecca in our bungalow. More later!