The one where I go to Kartung

---

I spent my long holiday weekend in Kartung, a village about one hour from where I live. Every year, around this time, there is a brilliant arts festival in this village. It’s four days long, and performers and spectators come from all over to be apart of the event. The art community isn’t very large in Gambia, so it’s great to be apart of a festival that is trying to promote it. Last year I went as a “performer” with the other people I went with. It was some kind of sick joke, because they dressed me up in tinfoil and made me throw plastic bags at the audience to promote environmental protection. Our group was not completely successful in completing this mission, but we had a kick ass time anyway. This year I went with a groups of performers, the Zimba dancers. I have had the pleasure of traveling with them to an event before this, and let me just say WOW. Zimba dancers are a very important tradition in West Africa. The basic story is that a man goes into a forest, and is attacked and tempted by these lions. The Zimbas do all sorts of crazy stuff, like eating razor blades, swallowing fire and rubbing it on themselves, rolling around in broken glass, and building a fire and cooking an egg on the main lion’s chest. It’s intense. And let me just say for the record, the Zimbas, when in full costume and make-up, are scary as hell. I may have shed a tear out of fright at their first show I went to. The great thing about it is that they steal kids out of the audience, sometimes “torture” them (it’s semi-harmless, no worries) and wait until an adult pays their pardon. Fantastic. Maybe I should start wondering the streets in full lion attire, chanting and taunting little children as a way to make a living.

Anyway, I came back from the weekend feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. I ended the weekend at the beach in a hammock, just watching the wheels go round and round.

Quote of the post:
"If God dwells inside us, like some people say, I sure hope He like enchiladas, because that's what He's getting!" -A deep thought by Jack Handey

---