Its my last morning in Mbour. There are so many things I haven't done. I'm traveling a lot differently than I used to. Once upon a time, even on a work trip, I would spend a good deal of time in a new place wandering alone, seeing the sites, trying to understand what the people are like. This was a very limited and limiting process... the problem was ...
As my last week in Senegal commences, I find that I'm exhibiting outward signs of homesickness that I'm not necessarily conscious of -- I'm petting the cats a lot more, for one. There are cats everywhere in Senegal. Everywhere we have traveled, there have been cats around. I have two cats at home so I'm naturally drawn to them, but if you're not a cat person ...
This last weekend Nate and I went to Goree Island. Goree Island was the western most embarkation point for slaves being transported to the Americas. According to Wikipedia:
Gorée is a small island 900 metres (3,000 ft) in length and 350 metres (1,150 ft) in width sheltered by the Cap-Vert Peninsula. Now part of the city of Dakar, it was a minor port and site of European settlement ...
OK, sort of pseudo-safari, and most of these animals aren't native to Senegal, but still pretty cool...
Mbour is a musical place. The Muslim call to prayer happens 6 times a day, the last one of the day is between 9 and 9:30, but unlike other Muslim countries I’ve been in, the Adhan seems to just keep going here. Its as if the muezzin doesn’t want to drop the mic after his normal routine. The call to prayer moves on and blends into other ...