The River Valley

I took the last post to explain my living situation in Richard Toll but failed to mention anything about my reason for being there. One of our classes is titled the St. Louis River Valley and our trip was meant to give us a better idea of the agricultural conditions of the region. We spent most of our time in Richard Toll, touring different organizations and farms. We saw TONS of rice, a sugar cane plantation, fishery, tomato farm, a pump station, and the Diama Dam which we were able to cross and enter Mauritatia for a few minutes. What I understood of the tours was interesting, however because they were in French and my farming vocab is somewhat limited, I felt as though some of the tours were less effective learning tools than they could have been. I think it would have been more meaningful if our guides talked more about the larger more global issues they faced rather than the technical details of how to make fish food for example. That's not to say I didn't enjoy our visits and the travel alone was interesting enough. Even though Richard Toll has a convenient central location, the majority of our tours were 30 minutes to an hour away. This being the first time we really ventured out of Dakar I was glad to have the chance to see a little of rural Senegal and feel for the first time that I'm in Africa.

We spent two nights, three days of our trip in St. Louis, which felt more like a vacation than anything. We stayed at a ritzy French hotel with air conditioning, a mini-fridge, and our own bathroom (fully stocked with toilet paper, soap, and a real shower!) Attached to the hotel was a French restaurant were we ate two delicious dinners, my favorite dishes being a carrot bisque and a dessert of vanilla ice cream and strawberry sorbet, really just happy to have some fruits and veggies. The staff was also very accommodating. One night we were being served steak and when asked how we would like it cooked Lauren, Grace, and I all responded medium. Apparently medium in Senegal is slightly seared but still bloody and lukewarm on the inside. The cook kindly threw it back on the grill for us. Breakfast was equally impressive. Each person received their own assortment of breads and pastries, a crepe, and bowl of fruit, not to mention the REAL coffee that came with REAL steamed milk!

During out time in St. Louis we visited a park called Le Langue de Barbari which is a strip of land between the river and the ocean which is known for its birds. We were a little early in the season and only saw a few different types but the scenery boat ride were great none the less. We also visited a wildlife preserve were we saw hundred year old tortoises, a few gazelle-like animals (I'm not exactly sure what the name translates to in english) and tons of red monkeys!

Khadit and Fatou, who are from St. Louis, were wonderful guides. Not only did they show us around the city and help us bargain some great prices, they decided we needed to see what a night out was like in St. Louis. Sooo we went to a club with them, some friends, and their brothers. Yes, they go to the club with their brothers.  We had a blast and ended up getting back to our hotel around 6 am. Whoops. Everyone was a little tired the next day but after Khadit and Fatou led a walking tour of the city we hopped back in the van and returned to Richard Toll.

That pretty much takes care of all the highlights and I'm clearly falling behind on posts so I'm going to stop here and start working on my post about TABASKI!

I hope everyone's enjoying the snow and fall weather. It's still a warm and sunny 85° here.