Trade Fair & Beach

Although I can’t remember exactly what we did on what day we’ve certainly had a lot of fun so far. While we’ve spent a lot of time this first week just going from place to place visiting friends & family there has been a lot of interest moments. I found a mouse in the tub one morning just staring at me as I walked into the bathroom – Gabou proceeded to throw his shoe at it until it was stunned enough that he could get it outside. I think we laughed for like 20 minutes. 

There is a tradefair going on right now in Bakau outside of the sports arena. There are local vendors there from Gambia as well as other West African countries selling goods. Everything from spices & vegetables to mattresses, clothing, jewelry, art, electronics & even live animals. The fresh cooked meat pies were my favorite snack & while I tried the palm wine (wine made from a palm tree) I can’t say I actually liked it. There was a lot of live music with drummers & dancing with people singing & chanting in every aisle. We watched some live wrestling as well, which was a really funny site…it reminded me of a cross between sumo and regular wrestling; all you had to do to win was take the other opponent to the ground in this very large sand pit. I'll try to upload a video later.

We also had a wonderful afternoon at a local beach called Palmarima (Atlantic Ocean). The sand was really smooth between my toes and the water was chilly at first, but almost the perfect temperature. This was probably my favorite afternoon so far, just relaxing & swimming & laughing. It was a nice change from all of the running around we’d been doing. I think we’re planning on a beach trip at least once a week. There were lots of vendors typical of beach resorts selling necklaces, sarongs & the most delicious fresh squeezed orange pineapple juice!

Gabou's sisters (Mariam, Isatou & Jahou)