Beaches

While much of our time here is stuck inside (though sometimes air conditioned) classrooms, this weekend provided an opportunity to get out a little. On Saturday, after a rather fruitless search for a good restaurant for lunch, my host brother Ahmed (15) showed us [ Myself, Amelia, Alejandra and Dan] the way to “La piscine de Mermoz” (the pool of mermoz). Though it is the ocean, rocks, breaking any waves and essentially providing a saltwater pool, enclose it. The beach around it is only rocks (looks like pumice) rather than sand, but once in the water the bottom is sandy. We were the only white people there, the rest of the bathers being Senegalese boys of about the age of 7. The path down to it is certainly a way you would only find if you knew the area, and is rather steep and slippery and so no surprising that there are no other foreigners. It’s about a 25 minute walk, but that doesn’t seem very long of a walk given the amount we do here, and since it is basically flat, it’s not a very taxing one. On Sunday, our desire to cool off had not yet been fulfilled and so we [Myself, Alejandra, and Amelia] headed out with Alex to the beach he had been to the day before with some other students. It’s a bit closer which is nice, though the way down to it is slightly more treacherous. It’s a typical beach, and once again we were the only foreigners there. People here are generally nice, and always want to practice their languages with you, but there are also people who are waiting to rip you off the second you turn your back. It can make it a little stressful, trying to stay kind and polite with out getting involved with weirdos. The beach was a great way to relax, kick back and cool off, and reminded us all why we had chosen Senegal rather than European study abroad (it was also free!). It was the perfect afternoon to a lunch of fresh mangoes, bananas and apples. Looking at the schedule this week makes us all cringe a little though, because we are in classes until 5 everyday, making another trip to beach before next weekend highly unlikely. But at least we have it to look forward to! And tomorrow (today by the time I post this) I willing try fasting with my family for Ramadan for one day- I’ll let you know how it goes!