Second Week of Senegal River Valley

(internet does exist in Richard Toll.... at the USAID office.. if anyone was wondering)

Day 6 (Saturday) We are not in Senegal: We left at 9am for a wildlife reserve. We got to see huge tortoises, monkeys and gazelles. We then got two pirogues and went on an hour ride on the river to a private beach. And now I'm going to just show you pictures because words can't describe how beautiful it was. AND, Uncle Bob would kill these guys if he knew how many safety violations there were on the water. Also, a thanks goes out to my wonderful mom, again, for buying me the best camera in the world (in my opinion)! 

Eating crepes at a hotel with a pool and beach... yes, we live hard lives

Day 7 Le barrage: We left St. Louis today and headed back to Richard Toll. On the way back, we saw the dam the separates the ocean and the river. It controls the water level of the river. Very cool. We also got to walk into Mauritania for a short period of time. Can you imagine coming from Mexico or Canada and simply asking the US police: “Hey, can my students just hang out for a little bit and buy something in the US, just so they can say they’ve been there?” Hah! I think not. So I bought some beautiful purple (of course) fabric with Meredith from Mauritania. Awesome, right? So then we headed back to our home in Richard Toll. We had planned to just tell the family we ate already, but of course the family waited for us (it was 10pm). So our stomachs exploded, once again.

Day 8- la cremerie: Yes, we visited a creamery and a Pular village. The creamery was really interesting because they actually get milk from locals who follow free-roaming cows. Then the locals bring in the milk and they’re paid accordingly. Doesn’t this sound better than the US creameries? HECK YES!! The only problem right now is that it is hardly sustainable because the transportation costs of bringing the milk to the creamery outweigh the payment for the milk itself. So, they’re working on it. Then we went to a Pular village (My family is Pular!) in BFE. When most Americans think of Africa… this is what they imagine. Everyone was so excited to see us. The people were sooo hospitable… Teranga to the max. We had someone translate while we asked questions about village life. Really interesting. The most interesting thing for me was that the women normally collect the water and it takes two days to go to the water source and back. Such a fascinating way to live. When we got back to our house at 4pm, our papa saved, of course, a TON of food for us. Aya and I then went to the market in the evening. I went on a shopping-spree and spent about $15!! The prices here are just unfair. I got 7 scarves for $2 and three types of fabric for $13.50…. lord did I splurge. 

Quintessential Africa picture... They were still really cute.

3 days old!

Still more adventures to come from Richard Toll....

Peace and Love,

Alyssa