Day 17 - Toubabs in Toubab Dialo

Can’t decide how I felt about today.  It was really interesting, and we learned a lot.  However, I think that our professors tried to pack too much into one day.  We were constantly on the move, and this was by far the hottest day we’ve had so far.  We were all ready to collapse by the end of the day.  We started off the day at a preserve, a small haven within a very polluted country.  The preserve was entirely run by women.  We listened to a lecture on the history of the preserve, and the efforts that they make, and then took a tour of part of the preserve as well as a small garden that they keep.  The garden seemed to be made almost entirely from recycled materials.  Smaller plants were grown in halves of plastic bottles, and peanut shells were used as soil.  Recycling seemed to be a big theme with the preserve.  The women make necklaces using recycled newspaper, and bags out of plastic.  Half of their profits go towards the preserve.  It’s pretty refreshing to see people actually caring about the environment for a change.  People here are terrible about dealing with trash, and what trash is collected is usually burned.  No one seems to understand that this is bad for the environment.  Our professor was surprised when we told him.  After the preserve, we drove to Joal to have lunch at Thiam’s parents’ house, and then walked down the street to a museum which was the house of Diogoye Senghor, the father of the first president of Senegal.  He was a fairly interesting man, although he seemed to be quite the womanizer.  He was a Christian, but he was also a polygamist.  We then went on a tour which led us across a couple of islands, both by foot and by boat.  The population on the main island was mostly Christian, which is the opposite of what is typical in Senegal, a country which is around 90% Muslim.  We visited a church there, and the other islands held a cemetery and a series of small huts which were used to store couscous after it had been prepared.  It was a good day for spotting wildlife.  Pigs run rampant on the island, and many of them had piglets.  There are also very colorful lizards, and roosters.  There was a pelican hanging out off the coast, and I tried to get a picture of it, but I’m afraid it didn’t come out very well.  Same for the little sand crabs that were scuttling about.  I also spotted a wild boar among the trees on our way back to Toubab Dialo.  That trip back was terrifying, by the way.  Buses simply do not belong on dirt roads.  They react much too harshly to potholes to be going over uneven ground all the time.  We didn’t do too much after we got back.  The Sengalese boys (four of our partners decided to accompany us this week) spent a decent amount of time trying to teach the American boys how to make a special kind of tea that is often drunk after meals here.  It was actually kind of cold here for the first time tonight.  The wind was coming in pretty strong.  I almost regretted not having a jacket.  Almost.