last pictures from Senegal

So now that I am home and have easy access to all the western technology and appliances that I'd like, I finally got a new cord for my computer charger, so now I am able to upload my pictures!

In honor of that victory, here is one final post full of picture updates from Senegal! These are all from my last week, trying to take some last-minute photos to remember all the special things about Senegal. So here we go!

Here I am with Adama, our favorite cafe touba vendor. Oh, how I miss him and cafe touba already!


And me with my favorite fruit vendor, the one who always asks me to spend the night with him and calls me his wife.

And here are the Cafe Touba Girls with Adama. He totally encouraged our caffeine addiction because we loved chatting with him so much, so it always seemed appropriate to go buy another 10-cent cup of coffee as an excuse to hang out with him.

For my last weekend at home, Maman invited Marie and Ndeye Thioune back to say goodbye to me. I heard them giggling on the roof, so I went up to say hi to them, and I found them dancing together. It was adorable!

And of course the obligatory photo of baby Khady Seck in an adorable pose. What a peaceful sleeping baby!

And again, because I am a sucker for cute baby photos.

On my last Saturday, Ryan's mother invited me over to their house for a ceeb-u-jen lunch. This is the delicious plate that we took down and finished to pretty much the last grains of rice!

And here is Ryan with her maid, Njembe, who is SO wonderful and sweet. Ryan is wearing the epic dress that she had made with the fabric that Ndjembe gave to her as a gift. Lucky!!

After lunch chez Ryan, we went to a lutte, which is a traditional Senegalese wrestling match. Before the match begins, the wrestlers all parade around the "ring" (a square of sand) for about an hour, just strutting and showing off.

That woman in the red, yellow, and green who is dressed as the Senegalese flag, is apparently a celebrity fixture in Senegal. When I was showing my pictures to Amademe, he told me that she shows up at EVERY cultural event and just hangs out, waving a flag. That is actually her job, and she is paid by the Ministry of Culture to just hang out at these events!

Here are some wrestlers.

There's Amademe playing with Baby Khady Seck. Adorable from all perspectives.

Me and my baby. And just for people's knowledge, I have been asked to be the godmother of the baby! I am thinking this decision over, but I am so honored and flattered by the request. I just love that family!

Baby's first bath! Khady looks so happy!

And speaking of new babies, one of our sheep was surprisingly pregnant! No one knew, until one day my maid woke me up and said "Want to see the new baby lamb?" I followed her upstairs and she told me it had given birth the day before. When I went downstairs and said to Maman, "Maman, now there are two babies in our house! One baby of a sheep, and one baby of Khady! Am na niarri doom ci sunu ker! Benn doom u xar, benn doom u Khady!" she started screaming in Wolof to Amademe and the maid. Apparently litterally NO ONE had known the sheep was pregnant! But this picture shows the baby lamb at just a day old, and Amademe going to check it out and make sure it is healthy. Turns out it is a male, which means it will get eaten on Tabaskie in one or two years (insha'allah) once it is grown up.

That night I was sad to leave my wonderful family, but my real family (my dad!) came to Senegal, so I went with him to Saly, which is a beautiful resort town a few hours south of Dakar. Here is the sunset at the restaurant.

The next day, my dad went on an all-day fishing excursion, so I went on my own little excursion to a bird sanctuary. I had a crazy car ride with two "taxi drivers" (used loosely, because it was really just a boy my age and his friend who flirted with me and proposed marriage the whole time) and ended up at this beautiful reserve of tropical birds. Here I am with Laura, who knows how to wave hello and goodbye. She really liked my necklace (shiny metal), and even tried to eat it!

And just a few pictures of birdies that I saw while there. How pretty!



Then, to give my readers a taste of life in Senegal, here is a picture of a typical street in Senegal. Warning: cows crossing!! Be prepared to stop the vehicule for the livestock!

The next day, my father and I went to AcroBaobab which is this tree-climbing park that is set up in this baobab [national tree/symbol of Senegal] forest. We tightroped and climbed and ziplined our way through the forest, and it was terrifying and exciting! Here we are in our Senegalese-safety-standards equipment!

After that, we went to Bandiya, which is an animal reserve. We saw lots of animals including a hyena, rynoseros, antelope, monkeys, buffalo, ostrich, but the best part of all was the giraffes!! There I am with two baby giraffes.

And there is a father-daughter-giraffe shot.

After Saly, we returned back to Dakar for a day and a half before our return to the States. We went on a great walk up to La Phare des Mamelles (the lighthouse that sits on one of the two hills in Dakar) and got a gorgeous view of the water and of the city. Here is a view from the lighthouse, looking down at Ngor and Yoff, two quartiers in the northern part of Dakar.

Here is the lighthouse. Sadly, it was locked, and the caretaker had left and the guard wasn't sure when he would return, so we couldn't go inside. "Maybe in 10 minutes, maybe in a few hours, I'm not sure." We didn't wait around to find out the real answer, because you can never really be sure in Senegal.

Father-daughter shot from the lighthouse.

The next day, we went on a walk up the Corniche (the gorgeous seaside highway that the President spent all the money on) all the way to my quartier, Ouakam, which is a long walk (about 40 minutes). On the way there, we saw what is normal to me from a Senegalese point-of-view, but so bizarre to me from an American point-of-view. You tell me if it's normal to see horse-drawn platforms going down the completely modern highway.

Another landmark on the walk is this statue, which Karim Wade, the President's son, spent an arm and a leg to construct, when really all it is, is a cresting wave and the Islam moon. And in the foreground, one of the infamous Dakar taxis that I will miss so much.

Our walk culminated at the Mosque of the Divinity, which is one of Dakar's newest and prettiest mosques. I am lucky to have it right in my neighborhood!

Then Amademe came to meet us, and here we are in front of the mosque.

Another shot of the mosque... gorgeous architecture!

Then back chez moi, I took some last pictures to remember where I lived. This is the bed that I slept in for 4 months. This is also probably why my back always hurt.

That is my bathroom, the site of so many cockroach and cold water incidents. If you notice towards the left is my purple bucket, which got me through four months' worth of showers.

And that suitcase is my "dresser" where I kept all my clothes and belongings for four months.

Here is a shot from my balcony. In my opinion, there are so many wonderful things captured in this picture... the Pamecas sign that I looked down upon every day from the balcony, a taxi, and a car rapide.

Here is a close-up of one of our sheep. I'll miss those cute little guys!

And here is Amademe wearing the Celtics shirt that I gave him, framed by his two favorite maraouts (religious leaders), Babacar Sy and Abdoul Aziz Sy. I will also miss marabouts staring/glaring at me from shop windows, taxis, and rooms in every house.

And on my last day, I ate lunch at Amademe's house. Here is my last meal of Senegalese ceeb-u-jen, prepared by his stepmother, who is quite handy in the kitchen!

And there is the Radisson Blu, a hotel that served me well throughout my time in Dakar. I feel like that is a good transition photo to "And then I flew back to the States and now I'm back in America!" so I will leave it at that.


Thank you to my readers! Have a happy new year to all. Perhaps some time in the next year, I will find myself back in Senegal, and I will have more to write. Keep tuning in... perhaps you'll find updates!