Day 10 - On the Move

We are now on the island of Saint Louis.  It took us most of the day to get here.  I think it was really only a 4-5 hour drive, but we stopped in Thiès for lunch, and for a tour of a sort of tapestry-factory.  We got to see each stage of tapestry-making, from the initial design and color-selection to the artisans working at the loom to design the masterpieces which have been dreamt up.  It was really cool.  Once we reached Saint Louis, we went for a short tour of the island, and we stumbled across a house which had been converted into an art gallery, where one of the professors that has been accompanying us ran into some people that he knew.  The art was really cool, and we enjoyed talking to the artists and other professionals that were there.  One of the women works in several offices around the world as a political supporter of some sort (it sounded like she dealt a lot with human rights?) and despite the fact that she lives in Germany, she spoke flawless French and spends a lot of the year traveling between Senegal and South Africa.  Some of the people we meet here are really fascinating.  I also caught a glimpse of a bat flying at the art museum.  They are huge here!  After dinner, the students decided to all go out together to see what the night-life is like.  Although we were unable to find any clubs which were open, we did stumble across a bunch of locals with a sort of drum circle going. A large crowd had gathered to watch them, and some people were dancing off to the side.  It was pretty awesome.  I guess that’s all for now, hopefully I’ll be able to tell you more about the island tomorrow.