Well! So sorry for my lack of updates. Life has been crazy and busy and great. I have so much to write about: my most recent month at site, improvements at school, and my Christmas vacation. I'm going to focus on the past week for this post; next time I write I'll be doing a big update about life au village. This was my first Christmas away from family, which I wasn’t really excited about. However, I’d say we (me and my new Peace Corps family) made great surrogates for one another.
I’ve spent the past week in Senegal, which is just north of Guinea. It has definitely been the break that I needed, although getting here was quite an ordeal.
I’ll start from day one: I left my village on Thursday, December 20th. Knowing that I’d have to hitchhike to my next destination, I wanted to make it to the paved road bright and early, but getting out of my village was not at easy as I expected: upon hearing that I was leaving for two whole weeks, all of my neighbors insisted that I come over and say my farewells. After making the rounds (which took several hours), I finally biked over to my principal’s house (he lives at the paved road), dropped my bike off with him, and headed to the gas station where I normally sit for the hours upon hours waiting for a car with an empty seat. Much to my surprise, before I had even reached the gas station, a car drove up and the driver asked me where I was going. It was a man and his three young sons heading to the capital for vacation; upon hearing that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer he told me that he works for UNICEF, welcomed me into his car, and gave me a ride to Mamou (a city about 5 hours west of Cissela) free of charge (he even bought me a free lunch to share with his sons). After spending the night in Mamou, I was able to meet up with a group of volunteers that I hadn’t seen in three months who were passing through which was lovely. That evening I headed to Labe, the regional capital of the Fouta region of Guinea, where our travel group of four convened.
The next
morning, Saturday, we woke up bright and early, as our taxi driver was to pick
us up from the Peace Corps house at 7AM… yet being a Guinean he didn’t show up
until 10AM, and that was with us repeatedly calling him. Regardless, we finally
piled into the taxi and started the journey to the border. It was long and
exhausting but beautiful. The road is unpaved until you reach Senegal (about 7
hours from Labe), and the entire ride weaves through the mountains, which is
terrifying but spectacular. We knew that the border closed at 6PM, and as the
hours went on we were more and more nervous that we wouldn’t make it in time
and we’d have to sleep on the side of the road. Luckily for us, we arrived at
5:50, with just enough time to make it through the seven checkpoints (yes,
seven) where different officials insist upon entering your passport information
into big, handwritten books that I doubt anyone checks. At the final checkpoint
the gendarme nearly didn’t let us through, mostly because he wanted to hear us
beg. Lovely, huh?
After crossing
the border our giddiness and adrenaline quickly changed to hunger as we hadn’t
eaten all day. We finally arrived at the Peace Corps house in Tambacounda,
Senegal, where we had a quick dinner of rice on the side of the road and slept
on the roof. Fortunately there was a group of extremely helpful Senegal
volunteers staying in the house, so we had a nice time chatting with them and
comparing our experiences.
At last, our
final day of travel began on Sunday morning. The drive from Tambacounda to
Dakar was long but so much easier than traveling in Guinea. For one thing, here
they put seven people in a car, where in Guinea they put nine in a car of the
same size (not including kids or people on the roof). Also, the roads here are
much nicer (they are actually paved and have signs and they’re painted). The
joys of working infrastructure! I will say, however, that Guinea wins hands
down on physical beauty. Senegal is flat, flat, flat, although they do have
some adorable picturesque villages.
Coming into Dakar was crazy; being in real traffic was a change! There
is just so MUCH in Dakar: tons of businesses, way more variety of fruit and
vegetables, and a denser population than basically anywhere in Guinea.
We spent four
nights in Dakar, staying in a pretty nice, cheap hotel right downtown. We were
happy to just walk around looking around the city, only taking breaks to eat
delicious meals of Italian, Thai, Lebanese, French, etc., and exploring the
incredibly stocked grocery stores. Christmas was definitely special: that
morning we had stockings that Santa had stuffed for us (I’m not sure how he
figured out we were in Senegal), presents under our mini Christmas tree, and
Christmas music blasting. We spent the day on Ile de Gorée, an island a few
kilometers off of Dakar, filled with cobble-stoned roads and colonial homes.
It’s a bit of a tragic setting, actually; the island’s largest building acted
as a slave house before they were sent across the Atlantic. The island honors its
history with monuments scattered about. The weather was perfect that day:
breezy and sunny. Perhaps not the most traditional Christmas, but festive
nonetheless. The next day, Tess and I gave ourselves Christmas gifts: manicures
and pedicures from the SPA! Yes, you heard me, there is a spa in Dakar, inside
of a ridiculously nice shopping mall. Maybe we were insane for getting them
done, but it was totally worth it. Overall, Dakar was great. One night we went
out with a group of Peace Corps Senegal Volunteers, and they definitely showed
us a good time. It’s nice to see that the Peace Corps community stretches
beyond borders.
After our time
in Dakar, we headed to Mbour, a town 80 kilometers south of Dakar, right on the
ocean. We spent three nights at a ridiculously relaxing B and B on the ocean,
and spent most of our days lounging either on the beach or by the pool,
reading, sleeping, and drinking beers. Yes… I am still a Peace Corps Volunteer,
despite how this may sound.
Speaking of
which, my vacation has now come to an end, and school starts again on the 3rd.
As I write this, I am sitting in the Peace Corps Volunteer house in
Tambacounda, and tomorrow I’ll be crossing the border back into Guinea. This
may sound surprising, but I am really excited. Granted, I’m not looking forward
to entering back into the world of crumbling roads, impossible transportation,
and limited food options, but things are going so well in Cissela and I want to
get back! Unfortunately, being in Senegal has made me realize how behind Guinea
is in terms of infrastructure, but it’s also made me appreciate just how kind
Guineans are and how beautiful the country is. In the end, I really can’t
complain.
Next time I’m in
Kankan I’ll be sure to post a big update about my time at site. The short and
sweet of it all is that teaching is still hard but getting easier, and I love
my village more and more everyday. To everyone I wish a very happy new year!
Sending my love from this side of the Atlantic.
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