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October 18th 2008

Published: October 18th 2008

It's been quite awhile! Normally I can't wait to update my blog but its been difficult with my broken key board. The reflective mood will strike me when I'm bored at home which would be the perfect opportunity to write in my blog to update later when I have internet... except that the t, i, and o keys aren't working. Those are three very important letters and it would take far too long to add them in manually... so I've been slacking on my updates. Sorry!

Anyways... TONS has happened since I last posted. Rereading, I think there was a lot I wanted to say before I even left, but I think its better for me to pick up from my vacation in Casamance, or I'll never get back into the swing of updating as things happen! The week away was amazing... the southern region is so lush and green, very different from Dakar, and the people were extremely friendly and welcoming.

I left for Casamance with three other girls, Atlee, Golsa, and Erica. We went with another group of four girls but did most of our traveling in two separate groups of four, and then would meet up for dinner at our various stopping points or do certain outing together. It was definitely the perfect group dynamic... four people worked great for getting places and agreeing on outings, but it was so much fun to spend time with all 8 girls too. Anywho... we left on the ferry on Friday night (2 weeks ago) and arrived in Ziguinchor Saturday morning. The ferry itself was really nice but I experienced sea sickness for the first time in my life, so the 15 sleepless hours weren't too much fun... especially cramped in the cheap basement section with blasting movies all night and the sound and smell of others throwing up. But we made it safe and sound! The trip began with two nights in Ziguinchor, the capital of the Casamance region. After being guided to Case Afrique by some overly eager young men, the four of us wandered into the sleepy "city" to explore and get a feel for the region. Although the city was dirty as most places here, the colonial architecture and wide avenues with huge trees were a very welcome change to the dry, industrial style of Dakar.

As we got acclimated to the town, we also met several people extremely eager to share various "spectacles" with us--we were invited to four different drumming circles. We also ran into this guy Patrick from the ferry who sailed by himself from Bermuda to Portugal and now to Africa, and then back to Brazil. He also knows carpentry, has a college degree in political science, AND spent his summers growing up with this guy that I went to elementary school with in Brookline. TINY world. We made plans to meet up with Patrick and his Senegalese friend and then walked through the town to the Alliance Francaise, this really cool building covered in South African art and built in a really interesting traditional style.

After trekking to the outskirts of Ziguinchor to visit the alliance, we realized we were running late for our first scheduled spectacle... low and behold we ran into another guy we met on the boat who then tried to help us get a taxi to the neighborhood we were looking for... our taxi driver didn't know where he was going, so he pulled over and asked this guy for directions. Of course this man starts describing Patrick's friend (blond dread locks) when we say we're looking for a spectacle, and then he personally guides us to this home (tin roof shack style) where 5 guys are drumming with an entire community dancing to the beat. Patrick is there filming the ceremony and we're getting into the music when this... person/creature comes out dressed in a furry monster outfit (don't know how else to describe it) and starts breaking it down in the circle. We later found out this was the rehearsal for the circumcision ceremony taking place the next day. As we're witnessing this pretty crazy display of Senegalese animist culture, it starts PORING rain and thirty of us cram into this one room house where the party continues... needless to say, all four of us got harangued into dancing in the circle, some more willing than others. I tried to evade the insistent drummers but they basically thrust me into the center... thank god Atlee came to my rescue and joined me in my pretty pathetic attempt at African dance. That was probably the farthest I've been out of my comfort zone this whole time in Senegal, but it was well worth it! At this point the rain is still coming down in buckets and these boys show up in the yard with rain sticks so the party moves back outside in the rain, everyone getting soaked and dancing without a care in the world. The entire thing was absolutely amazing and so special... really hard to find the words to describe it. Perhaps my pictures and videos will do the experience more justice.

We realized it was getting dark and that we should probably make it back out to the main road before its so dark we can't find our way. The drummers were nice enough to accompany us to find a taxi. Walking through the mud roads in the dark getting soaked and lightning all around us was quite the experience... and lots of fun (perhaps not so much fun for Atlee who face planted in a mud puddle haha). Every single taxi that passed us for half an hour was full and I was starting to think one of the drummers was getting hypothermia (this was the first time I've felt anywhere near cold since I've been here), but luckily we finally found a cab to bring us back to our hotel. After a nice shower and negotiating for a pirogue outing the next day, we were ready for dinner. Samba, our soon to be pirogue guide, brought us to his friend's house/restaurant, Chez Ima's. Chez Ima's was a dark, cement building, one room with no roof, lit by a green fluorescent light. But the food was AMAZING... shrimp, fries and cucumber salad with amazing sauces and marinade. Yummm... After dinner we were considering meeting up with our four other friends to go out but decided the rain was too much of a deterrent... so we actually got some much needed sleep instead!

Wow... can't believe all that was describing the first day, although the first day WAS particularly eventful. I can't decide if I should attempt to describe the entire trip in that much detail or if I should get more concise. We'll see what I'm capable of... and I'll let some of my pictures do the describing as well.

So the next day was our pirogue trip with all 8 girls. We set out fairly early to meet Samba for our trip to three different island through the mangroves in Casamance. Being on the water with the breeze in the sun, flying through mangroves and past beautiful wildlife was so much fun--relaxing and breathtaking. I took a lot of pictures that day, so hopefully those can give you all a sense of everything we saw. We first rode through Ile des Oiseau and then stopped at Dj... (can't remember the name of the first village), where we walked around the tiny, peaceful village and also got a tour of this bizarre house filled with clay scenes representing different morals. We then continued on to Affiniam where we had a wonderful lunch at the local Acampement (the public, traditional style "hotels" that most villages have in the region) and then walked through the gorgeous, though very buggy, town that actually has 4,000 residents. After a long day on the water, we returned to Ziguinchor for dinner and going out, which was lots of fun especially since it was our first night out post-Ramadan so it was a completely different experience from the clubbing we had done in Dakar before leaving.

After two fun-filled days in Ziguinchor, we left the main town for a tour of several villages in Casamance. I'm getting really tired of typing so I think this will be a good stopping point. Coming up: Oussouye, Elinkine, Carabane, Cap Skirring, and our last night in Ziguinchor!

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