Blogs from Africa - page 2986

I did not get to paraglide off Lion's Head! It was the one thing that I was really looking forward to, and it just was not a happening thing. I did get to walk up most of it yesterday, but didn't see all that much - it was cloudy, and I was in the cloud for most of the time. I then hit the turnaround time that I had set for myself, and was short of the peak. Today wasn't that much better. All looked fine for a great walk up onto Table Mountain, but I got about 30 minutes into the walk up Platakloof Gorge and it was back in the cloud. This was serious rain, helped along by the run-off from the top of the gorge walls. Did this in about 67 minutes, which ... read more

So believe it or not...i choose not because it makes me too sad...i have exactly 5 weeks left in Senegal starting today. I can't believe the semester flew by so fast, I feel like I've hardly been here at all. I finally feel like I've found a place in the routine of life here -- everyday i speak more and more wolof and I explore a little more of the city and come to know it a little bit better. there's still a lot of things that i want to do -- will do -- before i leave, namely travel up to St. Louis in the northern part of the country. I think we might be trying to plan it for not this coming weekend but next weekend. We'll see. So I have yet to start ... read more

Can ‘Ya Say Kenya? I have broken through my writer’s block. My apologies for taking so long to report home. I hope the “time lag” does not take away from the “telling of the story”. Also please note, when you get to the end of the blog there is a second page of pictures that does not show unless you hit page 2. Thanks for all the support from home. We miss you! Arriving in Nairobi, Kenya in the middle of the night, our first task was to apply for our visas in a large room on the second floor of the airport. As I reached for the health form on the counter, where others were busily writing, I noticed a nice size cockroach walking across the stack. “Hmmm,” I thought, “this is going to be ... read more

img=http://static.flickr.com/105/314778235... read more

Farewell Foundiougne I have one full day left in Foundiougne. It’s been nearly seven weeks since I rolled into town full of enthusiasm and energy. There have been times where the weeks have felt like months as I’ve struggled to understand conversations. But there have been times when I’ve felt a real fondness for the town and I will be sad to say goodbye to some of the friends I have made here. I’ve been invited into many aspects of the town’s life that most of the visiting tourists would never see. Just the other morning, I found myself at the baptism ceremony for the nephew of WAAME’s Director, eating “Lakh” (A kind of warm millet porridge with cinnamon, raisins and soured milk), watching the cutting of a small lock of the baby’s hair and then ... read more