It's been a while...

Hi everyone!!  Sorry for the extreme delay in posting, it’s been busy here.  Over the past month I’ve done the following;

-Visited Tendaba camp, which is upcountry Gambia.  We stayed at an outdoorsy little place where we had the opportunity to take a boat tour of the Gambia River.  By boat tour, I mean a very leaky big canoe with a motor.  We hopped in and our tour guide showed us a variety of birds, reptiles and all sorts of other life in the river.   It was beautiful.  My favorite part of the trip was a hike we took through the marshes.  We encountered a bunch of women and girls from a local village who were harvesting salt.  They were friendly, and really enjoyed having their photos taken.  One of the pictures is even on the Susquehanna website!

- David came to visit me!  It was so wonderful to be able to share this experience with him.  We explored the Bijillo Forest Park which is a great little walk/hike parallel to the beach.  Its main attraction is the friendly Green Monkey, which David and I spent quite a while with.  We also did the entire hike around the park which was a blast- the ocean breeze and the sand dunes were to our let and the forest on our right.  We also visited the Katchikally crocodile pool, where we petted Charlie the crocodile, and looked at (from a considerable distance) some of Charlie’s not so friendly relatives. 

We went to Serrekunda Market, where David tried his luck at haggling with the locals.  He was surprisingly successful!  Serrekunda Market is so much fun (at least I think so) but can be overwhelming.  David didn’t seem to mind, and he picked up a couple of Wolof phrases and sure enough, he made some great purchases.    Throughout the week he accompanied me to school, and of course, the beach.  We even made it out to the club/bar so we could show off our dance moves.

-          Mom and Dad also came to visit!!  We spent considerably more time on the beach and catching up, but it was really nice to have them with me.  We visited Abuko Nature Reserve where we saw all sorts of wild life ranging from monkeys, to birds to hyenas.  We also visited the monkeys at Bijillo and ventured into Serrekunda and Albert markets.  And with Mom and Dad around, we went to all the area hotspots for meals!  Lastly, we visited Kim Kombo, a local distillery where we sampled the liquors (which are fantastic).  I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with them, and I am glad they will understand what I am talking about when I tell stories at home.

-          I’ve been running around attempting to do my schoolwork while having a lot of fun.   I’ve been spending my days at the beach or the pool, running around the greater Serrekunda area, and going out to the tourist district to kick back at night.  I am leaving for Senegal on Friday, so I will be speaking French and visiting a couple of folks from high school and SU.  Looking forward to it!  Enjoy the photos!