Bonjour-Mundo!

Hey all,

I have successfully made it to Morocco. Nothing too exciting to report as of yet, except for the ticket agent in Dakar who tried to tell me my ticket reservation wasnt vaild. Brief heartattack on my part; but after a strong talking to; he magically made it valid again; hmmm. We have been in Casablanca for a few hours and will leave for Marakesh tomorrow morning. Casablanca is one big huge city, kind of similiar to Madrid, but definitely more of a middle eastern feel. We tried to find this enormous mosque earlier, but were very unsuccessful. We got to see a little of the Moroccan countryside from the plane and taking the train into the city this morning, and it was really beautiful. I expected more of a desert, but everything was incredibly green and covered with these brilliant orange wildflowers.

I am excited to see what the rest of the country has to offer. Our route will take us from here to Marakesh, possibly in the atlas mountains, a daytrip to some waterfalls (I forget the name); essouria on the coast, up to El Jadida, and back to Casablanca.

My time in Senegal is flying by, hard to believe I will be headed to Morocco in 3 short days. Things are still going well, aside from a little upset stomach, and I have been very pleased with my trip thus far. The Senegalese continue to be an incredibly welcoming people and it has been wonderful to experience all their great hospitality.

In the past few days Emily and I took a quick boat ride to Isle de NDor spent time with her host family as well as Lamines family, and also took a trip up north to a city called Saint Louis (pronounced San Lew EE). NDor was beautiful. Its just a tiny island off the coast of Dakar and we spent the day just laying on the beach and enjoying the sunshine. We also had the most amazing shrimp of my life at this cute little restaurant on the water.

Our trip to Saint Louis was for sure a cultural one for me, as we stayed with a friend of a friend Emily knows. I had been told we might have to chance to stay in this big huge house, but instead where we ended up was more of a concrete block with a sand filled courtyard of sorts and no running water. With the exception of one particularly annoying man; the family was very sweet though and insisted on cooking us meals and sharing their home with us. They had two very cute little babies as well which kept em and I entertained. The pace of life in the village where they lived was definitely very slow, and as much as I tried, I still found myself getting a little ancy.

When we managed to get away from the house where we were staying we went into town in Saint Louis and enjoyed the sights and shops it had to offer. We took a little horse carriage ride around town and it was very interesting to see the different sides of the city. One half is paved roads with french colonial buildings, lots of little shops and not too many people on the street. If you cross one short little bridge accross the river and head into the fishermans village; the difference is night and day. Here everything is dirt and sand, people crowd the streets. The little children jumped up and down as they saw as chanting Toobab, Toobab! (White person, white person) The houses are concrete slabs not much more then a room or two, and telephone lines tangled above the roofs in disordered fashion. The people seemed to smile, but the poverty was extremely evident. We walked out to the beach and there were stacks and stacks of dried fish and fish remains, a very weird sight. Apparently some of this gets shipped all over senegal and some even to Europe.

In addition to touring the town we also went to a bird park a bit more north still of Saint Louis. Although I thought it was a bit over priced, it was fun to see. We took a boat out into this huge lake area and saw lots of pelicans, an eagle of African sorts, other assorted birds, a warthog on the shore, and quite a few crocodiles. We also a huge python curled up on the shore when we were getting out of our boat.

The trip to and from Saint Louis was in a sept place, or 7 person station wagon, an african cultural experience to be had. The way there went fine, but coming homle involved lots of traffic and a very sore back for me. But we made it; and I was glad to get some travel outside Dakar.

My time is running low, but I will try to get one more post in before we leave for Morocco. I hope you all are well; I love getting your emails from home.

Lots of love from Senegal!

The past two days have been great! The night before last we attended a concert of Senegalese music and had a great time. The band had two vocalists, two acoustic guitars, one electric, bongos and a regular drumset. Although I ... [Continue reading this entry]

Today was my first real experience with the market in downtown Dakar. It was for sure an interesting site.  Lots of people selling everything from oranges and tomatoes to irons and fake pumas (em got a really cute pink pair). ... [Continue reading this entry]

After 26 or so VERY long hours, I have finally arrived in Senegal, Dakar to be specific. So far; so good. The trip here was not the most fun and I arrived grimy and exhausted; but I made it. The flight ... [Continue reading this entry]

T-Minus 3 Days and counting! I will soon be in Senegal to join Ms Emily on our journey, I could not be more excited!! I am starting to think about packing...I made a list. But so far most stuff is ... [Continue reading this entry]

So hopefully this is where you will be able to keep up with me as I make my trip around the globe. We've got lots of fun adventures planned, from trekking in the Moroccan High Atlas, Semana Santa in ... [Continue reading this entry]

 

Emily and I out for a night on the town before our trip.