Saint Louis: Turning students into tourists since...well, for me, Monday.

Okay, continuing. Thanks for letting me sleep a little.

Monday: We departed in the morning towards Saint Louis, a touristy island in the North of Senegal. On the way though we stopped in Touba to visit the Grande Mosque, where the Mourides visit every year for their pilgrimage (in early March I probably mentioned the Magal de Touba, where most of Dakar left—this is where they were going). All the women had to cover their whole bodies: we wore headscarves, pagnes to our ankles, and long sleeves. It was warm but I felt very appropriate for this culture. (Oh, one student didn’t go in the mosque: Avery’s foot had swelled to a surprising size and was bright red and shiny, so he stayed on the bus; he later found out it was a staph (thanks for the spelling correction, Mama) infection and got treatment.) The mosque was gorgeous, I was surprised by the many colors since in Dakar and in other places I’ve been the mosques are always teal and white—this one had purple and a lot of yellow/orange inside. I absolutely loved the walls inside—they were cement that had been carved and painted, look at my pictures to see what I mean. So we walked around there for a while and had a nice tour guide, and then we continued our journey to Saint Louis. We stopped for a picnic in a field and had wonderful sandwiches made by a Belgian woman, and then I read a lot on the bus and talked to Abby a bit (one of the new students) so it was a very pleasant bus ride.
Upon arrival in Saint Louis we crossed the Pont Faidherbe to the island (Bouna of course had to make the joke that the bridge was made of grass: pont (bridge) fait (made) d’herbe (of grass)…but now, let me tell you, I know way too much about that bridge and it is NOT made of grass. (Yesterday were our group projects, I was with Erin, Elena and Kenna and we studied the bridge.)) and saw our hotel, a beautiful red building on the water with a gorgeous dock and fancy dinner tables. It was shocking! We have hot water and wireless internet and toilets with toilet paper and vegetables…it’s a luxurious place and it seems like SIT spring break.
We went straight to the beach to watch the sun set, and I walked around and looked at shells, my new favorite calming pastime. We missed the gorgeous African sun by about a minute, so we looked at it from the bus…and then we returned to the hotel to eat the most I’ve eaten in one sitting in a VERY long time. And, as a wonderful surprise, there was ICE CREAM for dessert!!!

Tuesday: In the morning we had a lecture on how Saint Louis fits into Senegal’s history and then were assigned our projects and set free to explore the town. I walked around with Erin, Elena, Kenna and Megan, and we saw almost the whole island—we walked and explored little touristy shops, went to a couple art galleries and a museum of the air post service (which was surprisingly very interesting), ate some yummy cheap Senegalese food, and just enjoyed the feeling of a touristy cute town vs. Dakar. After hanging out with other students for a while in the evening I went to dinner with Kenna and got a really disappointing dinner (we ordered the same meal at the same restaurant as lunch because it was so good, but apparently the meal changes drastically for dinner) and came back to the hotel. We talked to Bouna for a long time about April Fools Day and made some plans on that subject…then went to bed.

Wednesday: We started the day with Bouna’s April Fools joke: he told the group that we would be getting 3 more students from Madagascar and because of it would have to go back to Dakar early…nobody fell for it because everyone had April Fools on their mind, but I thought it was very convincing (even though he, Kenna and I had made it up). We then had a lecture by a Senegalese author (Louis Camara) about literature in Saint Louis/Senegal followed by 2 museum visits and then research for our projects. The second museum was really huge and had a whole floor dedicated to Louis Armstrong, which I found a little strange.
I then had lunch and walked around with Kenna and Bethany. We bought picnic food and then returned to the hotel, where I was planning on staying in and writing my blog and taking a nap while some others went to the beach, but was talked into going to the beach. I was very happy about this because I got to take a beautiful, long walk all alone and it was just what I needed.
We came back to the hotel to hop on the bus and go to Mauritania, the country bordering Senegal to the North. Bethany, Kenna and I packed up our picnic food and set out on the beach—it was just a beautiful Senegalese beach where, off in the distance, Bouna pointed out a row of trees that marked the natural border of Mauritania. We walked along the shore and arrived at the trees to eat our baguettes, cheese, fruit and wine, and then spent a very long time with Kenna, Bethany and Erin taking beach silhouette sunset photos. I had a wonderful time in Mauritania, I highly recommend it! Later we got sandwiches and brought Avery a pastry.

Thursday: Bouna’s birthday: Happy Birthday Bouna!!!!! I went touristy shopping in the morning with friends because Saint Louis turns students into tourists. Later we all went on a pirogue ride (those pretty painted fishing boats you’ve been seeing in my pictures) at la Langue de Barbarie, a national park, and saw hundreds of pelicans and hung out at a beach. It was a nice relaxing excursion, just reinforcing my idea that this is NOT school, it is a vacation. After dinner some of my friends and I brought Bouna a little cake and the hotel people helped us find a candle, so we brought that to him and he was very appreciative. We then worked a lot on our group project (everyone else in my group loves to procrastinate so we waited until the night before).

Friday: I spent most of the morning with my group finishing our project on the Pont Faidherbe. For lunch we finally got maffé!!! I had been searching for this one meal in all the restaurants I’ve eaten in all week, but of the whole menu each restaurant makes only a couple of the meals each day (and it’s usually the same meals in all the restaurant, which is not handy if I want something else!) so Thursday, after asking this one restaurant for the 4th day in a row if they had maffé, they said, no, not today, but we’ll make it especially for you tomorrow! So they did and on Friday a huge group of us showed up to eat maffé, and it was delicious. So that was a relief.
We then presented our projects in French, I actually had a weird moment in the middle of my part where I started feeling lightheaded and legitimately could NOT remember ANY words, in French OR English! So that was interesting, it almost felt like my whole brain was blank…but other than that it went alright. And it was nice to have that over with!
Afterwards the plan was to go to the beach (but I was going to take a nap and write my blog) but that didn’t end up happening…so I hung out with Kenna for a while and then we walked with Bethany to try to find an early dinner. We found this gorgeous little Moroccan place that we’d heard was excellent but after we sat down they told us there was a party of 30 coming later so they couldn’t serve us ☹ so maybe we’ll try again for lunch today. After spending the whole evening looking for a new place to eat on the North end of the island (we’re staying in the South) we went back to the maffé place we ate at for lunch and got EXCELLENT meals (I got three side dishes: a plate of white rice, eggplant, and a green salad). It was very different from what I’m used to, which is ordering a Senegalese prepared meal that’s very oily and filling, and I’m surprised I haven’t gotten creative with my orders before this! The three of us then hung out and listened to music and showed each other our friends back home through pictures online, and then, instead of going out (which I have almost no desire to do anyway) I wrote you that lovely blog entry last night.

And now it is Saturday, April 4, Independence Day in Senegal! There’s a big party thing going on in the downtown of Saint Louis, when Bethany and I were on our walk around the island this morning we saw it but had little desire to join. Now I’m hoping for a nap, a good lunch, and a relaxing afternoon, possibly involving renting a bike, but we’ll see.
I hope all is well in the U.S. and hope to hear from you soon!!!

<3 Emily