I'm in Africa!
We flew into Dakar, Senegal, on Friday morning, on South African Airlines-- which happens to be a really, really nice airline. Of course, then we had to drive to Bwiam, and most specifically, drive through Dakar and along the coast of Senegal.
Senegal is not pretty and it is not nice. The people try to con you, and there are dunes of trash everywhere. However, the farther away from Dakar you get, the more quickly things improve. The border, not so much. you have to check out of Senegal, then drive 50 feet and check in to The Gambia. The Senegal border, though, is a mess. There are people everywhere, mostly kids, that walk up to the windows. Their job is to ask us toubabs -- tourists -- to give them stuff. I was writing in my journal -- "pen for school?"-- and one girl just kept pointing to different things -- my bracelet, my watch, my sunglasses -- "can I have that?". When I told one little boy that he couldn have my silver bracelet, he screwed up his face to cry, decided it wasn worth it, and walked away.
The Gambia, though, is very different. Here, "It's nice to be nice," and everyone is. On the street, you greet everyone you come across, and with at least 2 exchanges of greetings.
The hospital we're staying at is very nice. We have beds and usually electricity and occasionally flushing toilets.
The worst part so far, for me, is the malaria medication. It makes me feel really sick, and this morning, I threw up on the packed bush taxi, which was really disgusting. On the bright side, I now have a new african skirt, and it's very pretty.
Also, I've been using my French! Incredible, I know, but it worked.
Next time I'll write more, but you pay for time to spend on the internet and I'm out.
