Relaxing Vacances

Hello everyone, I am back at school after spending fall break in south-eastern Senegal. Let's just say, I am definitely looking at Dakar in a new light. As my friend Grant put it- before we left for fall break, I judged Dakar based on all the things it didn't have. Now, I am appreciating it for everything it does have. like toilets.

Last Friday, I left my house at 530 am to meet up with 3 girls and 3 guys from my program to take a sept-place (old beat-up station wagon that has seen better days with one seat in front, 3 in the middle, and another 3-seater stuffed in the trunk) to Tambacounda- the "hub" of Southern Senegal. 12 hours and miserably bumpy roads later, we arrived. For about 6 of those hours our driver swirved in and out of potholes as we drove through vast very green landscape and passed increasingly smaller villages with thatched huts, goats, pigs, and kids jumping up and down as we passed. By day two we had reached our "base camp"- the southern most "city" in Southeastern Senegal, Kedougou. It began to dawn on me just how far into rural Africa we had gone when the options for lunch at a local food store were canned lentils, tuna, or ravoli. That was when the game began: what do you wish is around the next corner? At the moment, it was a super Stop & Shop. By the end of our biking adventure, it was a spa.

By the third morning, we had run into a guide who said he charged 15 dollars a day and would bring us around to the local villages. My group proposed the idea of renting bikes to get around; our guide said we had to be "tres fort" (very strong) to bike the 75 km or so to get around over the next few days. We confidentely said yes, we are tres tres fort. It turns out it was not the distance, but the boulders we were biking across on one-speed easy-rider bicycles with occassional chains breaking and questionable gears that was the issue. That day, we biked for a while, stopped, climbed a mountain with stunning views across to Guinea (wasn't really planning on doing this but all of a sudden our guide was leading us up a steep incline and there you go), and then continued on to the town of Ibel. About 3 km away from Ibel, my chain snapped. So, we did the most logical thing: tied a string to the back of Grant's bike and had me hold on to the other end. Great video clip of that.

That night, we had climbed a second small mountain to the town of Iwol where we stayed for the night. Even when you know in advance, it comes as a surprise when there is no electricity or running water. I took a bucket shower behind a hatched fence next to what seemed to be the entire town sitting around, cooking. The next morning (post sleeping on wood bed = did awesome things for my back) I expierenced a little culture shock. We spent the morning walking around the village and any one- ranging from old grandmothers to small children- would just walk up to us, stick their hand out, and say "cadeau" (gift). We handed out tons of candy and kola nuts that our guide had instructed us to buy, but people kept asking for more and given this isn't the first time this had happened, it was overwhelming and disheartening that we were just seen as rich people who should give them stuff. Our guide sometimes had the same attitude- sticking out his hand during every meal we had, expecting to be shared with. Later on that day, part of our group got lost (to explained in a minute) and when we tried to recruit some people for help, their first question was - what will you give us? In some ways, sharing is part of Senegalese society- it is a communal society. Just today, a guard on the street offered to share his lunch with me. But, in other ways it is shocking, as I wonder how someone would react if I invited them over my house and immediately said "what did you bring me?".

We left the town around midday, climbed down the mountain, and jumped back on our bikes. We were feeling "fort" and ready to roll. Within 15 minutes we turned off the main road. Little did we know, we would be riding over what seemed to be a dried up river bed for the rest of the day. Trying to be good spirited, jokes were made like- good thing we are wearing helmets, glad my chain just fell off my bike again, gears would be awesome right about now. A few hours in, our guide said we were 30 minutes from a village where we could get much-needed water. A few minutes after, our group ended up on two different roads and being out in hot rural Africa suddenly got less funny. One group ended up forging 3 rivers and tramping through people's corn fields, going without seeing human beings for an hour at a time. Another guy ended up by himself for a while until our guide found him and had him bike through a stream to get to the village. Me and Grant- the only two people who had water-purifying sticks- managed to stay on the path the whole time and just thought the rest of the group was being really slow as we sat and waited at the village (in the meantime, we both got shit on by a bird- Amy, Paris take 2?). By the end of the day we all managed to meet up, looking quite rough and really shaken up, but fine. The next few days we saw a beautiful waterfall, met some peace core workers, biked on more ridiculous roads, played a lot of cards at various campements (little huts where we stayed), and trecking our way back to Dakar.

Driving home yesterday, I actually looked like a different person because there was so much red dust all over my face. My host family looked at me in horror and directed me towards the shower. The final stretch home had been scary because there had been a soccer game in dakar between Senegal and the Gambia. After the game, people were flooding the streets and one man actually reached into our car and snatched a friend's money purse right off of him. People were banging on the windows, starting fires, and throwing rocks. I have never expierenced any kind of riot and am happy to never be in one again. Needless to say, great week- what an adventure. So many more thoughts on everything, but this is enough for now. Back to school tomorrow morning and then three more weeks until "Rural visits". I think I am going to tell the director I already did mine and should probably sit by the beach instead. xoxo miss you all.