The Boys Are Back in Town

As some of you may know, my good friend John came here to visit me in Senegal a few weeks ago. As a volunteer in Lesotho, John is experiencing a wildly different aspect of Africa than I am here. Thus, with a short 2 weeks to show him the country, we made the most of it, seeing quite a few of the major spots in Senegal, including Cap Skirring (nicest beach in Senegal, and also the closest point in Africa to Brazil), Popenguine, Ziguinshore, Kedougou, Ngaye Mekhe, and of course, Dakar. Moving at a breakneck pace, we barely spent more than one or two nights in one place. The most memorable part of our trip (I can guarantee that John will agree with me on this...) came down in Kedougou region, where we took the challenge to visit a beautiful waterfall that was reputed to be a "quick 4 hour bike ride" away.
23 hours later, exhausted, dehydrated and underfed, we arrived at these mystical waterfalls. With a group of 8 people, we had horrible luck in terms of bikes breaking down, and having to ford a 4 foot deep river with all of our stuff didn't help (there was a bridge to cross, but upon seeing this bridge, it was clear that fording this river was BY FAR a better option, since most of us were interested in staying alive). When it got dark around 6:30 p.m the first night, we had to ask a random Pulaar village if we could spend the night, which caused great excitement among the villagers. After a usual nighttime rainstorm from hell that almost blew our tent over, we were eager to get going the next morning. So, having left at noon the previous day, we finally arrived at around 11 a.m. Thankfully, the waterfalls were truly beautiful, or we would have been seriously pissed off. Other than that little overly intense adventure, the trip couldn't have gone any better, and it was a blast to say the least. See bottom for pictures. I am putting up all the pictures from the trip on a Picasa album, so go there for more pictures!

Now I'm back in Ngaye and bearing down with work. Coordinating the latest basket order, as well as filling out funding applications for both my leather workers and the basket association will be taking up most of my time for the next few weeks. Soccer season has started here, so I'll be going to a few games a week with my host family to watch local kids play (see pic at bottom). On November 1st, I will be continuing my tradition of stupidity when I attempt to swim from Dakar to Goree island. As an annual event, this organized swim is one of the top 5 longest open ocean swims on the continent. I've heard about this event ever since coming to this country, and have been determined to complete it when given the chance. Obviously, there are no swimming opportunities here in Ngaye (the country club is closed right now, so no tennis or golf either!), but I am doing my best by running a lot and working out a ton. I'm off to bed now so I can be competent for an early Sunday morning run, but hope all is well back home and that everyone is enjoying playoff baseball as much as I am! I'll try to be more frequent with updates so stay tuned. Ba ci kanaam!


On the boat to Zinguinshore



Popenguine




Night in a Pulaar village



Ready to roll the next morning...spirits still high




Post river crossing...notice how deep the mud is



John, being a badass



Victory! At last!



Kicking it with cows in Cap Skirring



Local soccer game in Ngaye