A Tour of Senegal, for the parents

Merry Christmas and Happy 2013! (obviously I’m a little late…) :-/

Yea I know, I totally forgot to update you all on the past 6 months! It doesn’t appear that I’m so great at this blogging thing after all… so I will start from the beginning.



"Bismillah" means "welcome" or literally translated, "begin in the Name of Allah ", not exactly spelled correctly here :/

My second Christmas was spent away from my family again which is never easy, especially since it’s about 80 degrees in Senegal in December and no snow to be found. However, this Christmas was particularly sweet because I got to spend it with another wonderful family, the Pochedly’s!

They arrived at the Dakar airport along with several other excited parents and family members fresh off an 8 hour flight, only Mrs. Pochedly walked up with a box of homemade Christmas cookies in hand! Boy, did they know exactly what starving volunteers need. What a great first impression! Immediately after the beautiful reunion, they were bombarded with Senegalese men bargaining them for outrageous taxi prices, but luckily us volunteers have lived there long enough to know the real deal.

We were whisked away to our luxurious hotel, Le Djoloff, where they were able to settle in and join us on the hotel roof for some scrumptious appetizers and icy cold local beers. We babbled the evening away while soaking up the sunset ocean view of Dakar.

The next morning was Christmas Eve and we were off to our next location on the holiday adventure, Toubacouta! This was their first glimpse of the natural splendor Senegal has to offer. We reserved a spot at the hotel Paletuviers located right on the unique landscape of the delta, which is bordered by the giant town of Kaolack to the east, the Gambia river to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west.

Unfortunately, the rooms were not as nice as the hotel lead on, but the scenery was beautiful and the Christmas meals, well, a bit questionable. We gathered in the dining room designed with decor only Tim Burton himself could have created.

 

They served us warthog and sweet potatoes on a raisin toast sandwich and watermelon salad along with a few other interesting courses.

After a mystifying meal, native drum circles had people dancing until 3 in the morning for all the enthusiastic visitors to hear. We headed back early to the room only to find a lovely display of gifts awaiting us! For the first time in two years, it actually felt like Christmas to be opening presents with such a warm, wonderful family.

We went on a boat ride around the delta Christmas day, observing local exotic birds and touring the magestic shell island just before arriving back at sunset.

 

The following day was the Pochedly’s first real glimpse at shady Senegalese transportation. We found a local man who agreed to drive us in his rickety old station wagon to and from the infamous Toubacounta nature reserve.

Within thirty minutes on the safari ride, we spotted a rhino standing amongst a group of baby warthogs, two friendly zebras, skittish monkeys, and a whole bunch of peaceful antelope. Once the off-roading was over, the South African tour guide brought us around to the caged hyenas, the scariest and most aggressive of all.

a rhino and baby warthogs!

 The day’s excitement wasn’t even halfway over as we awaited our walk with the lion cubs. The guide casually handed us engraved bamboo sticks to ward off the lions if they got hostile. They were around nine months old and sleepy as ever. Once the instructor came to rev them up for a leisurely walk, they reluctantly awoke and sauntered outside the cage. The first two to volunteer were a boy and a girl whom seemed much more interested in each other than the humans walking along side them. Jumping up in the trees and wrestling around on the ground, they very much resembled Simba and Nala in their playful interactions.

After Toubacouta, we were off to our familiar stomping grounds to show the Pochedly’s a day in the life of a Tamba volunteer. We took them to the Peace Corps regional house where we cooked our favorite vegetable moussaka dinner with all the limited ingredients we could muster from the local market.



inside the Tamba Peace Corps regional house

 In the following days we gave the Pochedly's a tour around the city of Tamba, from the local fabric shopping to the close volunteer hangout spots.

donkey carts all around tamba. hop in and close your eyes, its pretty easy to pretend you're in a horse and buggy being driven around the slick streets of chicago.

Then off to Andy's village for a delightful bean sandwich breakfast, tea, and a tour of his gardens.



local bean sandwhich lady cookin' up something great

Andy's host family





Mrs. Pochedly hangin' with the locals





Mr. Pochedly in Andy's hut enjoying some attaya, popular Senegalese tea

After visiting Andy’s village, we celebrated with a few cold brews at the nearest campement and a quick boat ride along the river.

 

What’s even more terrifying than a couple lions peering down at you from a branch overhead? The answer: sitting in a small wooden boat 50 feet away from 6 giant hippos!



 

The good news is we all survived the trip after all. The heat, the food, the wild animals and the 8 hour long car rides every two days added up and definitely took a toll on everyone’s aching bodies, but it was an epic adventure nonetheless. Once we arrived back in Dakar, we checked into the fabulous Pullman hotel and treated ourselves to souvenirs, delicious pizza and a variety of ice cream flavors.

New Year’s Eve night made for an even more impressive finale when Senegal President Macky Sall spontaneously threw a blowout party at our very same hotel! All of his guests poured out of fancy cars dressed in elaborate get-ups, socializing around silk tablecloths and floating bouquets of flowers lining the ocean view poolside. We joined the roaring crowd outside on the hotel deck for Macky’s brilliant firework display, then quickly turned in for what felt like our first good night’s rest.

President Macky Sall's Palace, just up the hill from our hotel

hotel pool where the new years eve party was held

 

party hosts

In a very quick ten days, the Pochedly’s tour of Senegal was over and we were back at the airport saying our goodbyes. I’m still so grateful for all of the wonderful Christmas gifts they gave me and for allowing me to spend time with them over the holidays. Thank you, Pochedly’s! Can’t wait to see you all again!