From the Editor (yeah that’s me, Megan): This is a momentous occasion for my modest little blog. Before your eyes we have my first-ever guest blog entry, brought to you by my favorite brother and one-time visitor to Senegal, John the Goalie. I asked him to put together some thoughts on the things he saw while on his trip, and he has kindly put together a collection of photos and commentary for your reading pleasure. I haven’t don’t much to change the content- with the exception of fixing a couple of typos. I hope you enjoy reading it as much I did….
So I guess it’s my turn to do a blog about Africa. My turn meaning John, Megan’s sister [Editor’s Note: Yes, he called himself my sister, and I’m not going to correct that because I think it is funny. He did, after grow up in a house with four sisters. It’s the Law of the Jungle that he must still abide by, I’m afraid] for those of whom who are reading that may not know. I’m not nearly the writer that Megan is, however, I will try to take you on a fun journey nonetheless. So come along for a slide show on an Ice-rink-loving brother’s fresh point of view on Senegal!
Let me just begin with saying that this country has one HUGE problem… The Ice hockey program is lacking. That is to say, non-existent. Be that as it may, this country was a lot of fun and had a lot to offer, whether it be the generous people, the sights or the “WTF???” moments.
Something I did notice while there, just because someone is white, doesn’t mean they speak English. Almost everyone speaks French. Lebanese remind me of obnoxious Americans. Day one while running seemed like no one had seen a running white person before. The Senegalese love their country, but use it as a giant trash can, but will later sweep the dirt to make it look pretty. These are just a few of the things I picked up on as I went. Also my 2 years of HS French and random lessons from Megan over the years allowed me to listen and get the gist of most things being discussed around me, however speaking the language wasn’t going to happen. I’ll stick to smiling and nodding! Though Megan did a SUPERB job of translating French to French for me on numerous occasions!
Day/Morning/Night 1 (on a red eye, they are all the same)
Megan joked with me about the idea of going for a run when she got back. I scoffed at the idea and quickly dismissed it, since I haven’t run farther than the mailbox since the Falmouth Road Race in August! She got a little rest on our 9ish hour flight. I can never seem to sleep on a plane, so I watched movies. At some point, though, I got this slap happy second wind of imaginary caffeine filled enthusiasm and said to Megan that “If you really want to go for a run , I’ll totally go!… of course nothing too long, or fast (you see she is a lot faster than me)”. I don’t think she believed me, and said “Okay, I’m going to make you do it!” With the look on her face saying, ‘yeah right, you’ll be passed out before we hit the door, but I’m going to drag you out anyways!’. Needless to say, by the time we got to her “Ivory Tower” I was still motivated to go! So off we went on a running tour of campus and the Corniche, well small parts of each, since the run lasted about 2.4 miles. In the short amount of time out I could already see traffic frogger beginning and the ‘shops’ opening up for business for the day.
We eventually make it back to her street and stopped for some fruit and some amazing TERRIBLE cafe touba. Which is like espresso/coffee made out of rocks and sticks that someone pulled out of the bottom of a pool which hasn’t been opened in a decade. But leave it to Megan and her unique tastes to enjoy a cup which gives her “Street Cred” as she puts it (no toubab in their right mind would enjoy this crap!). Meanwhile I am looking for the nearest pile of sand to kill this taste in my mouth. So we go unpack and start to sort out my ‘vacation’ … or education rather.
I am just noticing you may be expecting this to be a day-by-day account. Well you’re wrong. This is going to be a ‘follow John’s stream of conscious through the events as he remembers them entry”. I think you’ll manage.
I am going to try to give you all a view from a better-than-average traveled American.
Let’s move on with the slide show shall we??
My expectations of the country weren’t low, or high, I based what to expect on the photos and blogs that Megan has done. She paints a GREAT picture!
So lets start with the modes of transportation shall we?
Most run on diesel, some on gas, and others on hay.
After our first adventure, which STARTED with hitting a guy getting off a bus, we eventually (I say this because there are NO road signs outside of the city, you either know where you are going, or ask someone walking the OTHER way, so they don’t ask for a ride) arrived at our first destination which was Accrobaobab! As Megan’s previous post nailed it, I will only add how much fun we had. It was pretty quiet when we arrived early, and they seemed pretty well organized and safe! Our thoughts were “Well this IS Africa, who knows what we are getting into”. I was very comfortable up there, and had a lot of fun with Megan and Adama our “Aerial Guide”. Everyone that worked here seemed to love their job and just have a genuinely good time doing what they do, which makes any experience that much better!
After scaling about 14 meters into a tree, I repelled down for a victory photo! Later we decided to conquer the world’s longest zipline between two trees.
Here we have Megan with her “Holy shit this is so fun” face! All in all, favorite activity of the trip!
Afterward we went out to lunch and fought some jerk monkeys and the Reserve de Bandia. Did a little walking to take some pictures, and saw some wildlife. This place was really cool, not just the animals, but the whole construction of the buildings and such. Really well done!
This was the view from the lunch area.
Back on the road we encounter all sorts of vehicles, donkey carts, buses, cars, hummers, and dump trucks…all creatively painted to suit each driver… This one is mild compared to some (especially car rapides)!
There are a lot of beautiful things in this country, and a lot of raw talent, and smart inquisitive people… However as a country, they do miss some things. Here we see as Megan accurately described, “A shining sea of trash”. You will run into many things in your everyday goings on and say something like, “Oh that’s a great idea… wait.. why did they -put this there?/do it like that/not do this-” They ALMOST nail it in so many respects. That’s okay, baby steps!
Normal modes of transportation, another reason NOT to text and drive, because you WILL kill someone if they fall. But hey it’s the world’s most filled carpool!
Since I know most of us have the attention span of a goldfish with Alzheimer’s I am not going to make you read a War and Peace length novel here. I am going to make you wait for the second.. and third installment. Don’t worry, there are more pictures and color by numbers to be had!
