We brought a drum back from The Gambia. She likes it. Drumming is fun. Also, apparently, it’s very useful as a bucket when turned on its head. Multipurpose is good, I suppose.
43/365
NMWL Annual Meeting. Followed by a round Islay with a map tasting, rather a lot of whisky, that is.
42/365
The little things are what make up life. I’ve missed this. Being on holiday in exotic places is all well and good, but the walk home from daycare with the lass? Yes, I missed it.
41/365
We come home, the husband buys me tulips.
40/365
This is Sera. What with being a group of five quite tall people, we had specific requirements regarding the sort of taxi we could use, and day 1 was a disaster in that respect. Day 2 we asked the hotel taxi organiser to get us one with plenty of headroom, which he did. Sera, the driver, drove us all round the area for the next sx days, with patience, sound advice and – as far as I could tell – faultless driving. He claimed to have never been in an accident, and I’m inclined to believe him.
So if you’re ever in the area and in need of a driver, look him up. Get in touch with me and I’ll give you his phone number, or check with the taxi organiser at the African Village Hotel in Bakau.
39/365
Before we went to The Gambia I got in touch with a British charity called the Gambian Schools Trust, because I figured I’d bring some school supplies down and wanted to make sure they were put to good use. We met up with Hillary and Steve from the trust on Thursday to hand over the goods, and they offered to show us one of the schools. So on Sunday (the only day we could make it, unfortunately, it would have been interesting to visit when school was in, but that’s how it goes, also, I suppose, visits like that must be quite disruptive to teaching) they took us first to Nemasu and then decided to pop by Naata as well. Hillary had told me that at Naata they had a school kitchen so the kids could have a solid meal every day. I must admit this is not quite what I imagined when I heard the phrase “school kitchen” (mind you, in my own defense, I wasn’t picturing shining countertops and a fancy cooking island with a brushed steel hood, either). It does the job, though.
38/365
Big catch for the fisherman. The boat trip was great, but I tired quickly of the fishing. All anyone got were these tiny fishes, and most were so small they just had to be released again. Call me difficult, but though I rather enjoy fishing with a purpose (like catching today’s dinner), I don’t particularly enjoy torturing fish just for fun.
I love this picture, though.
37/365
My father wanted to go to Gunjur and our driver, Sera (probably the best driver in The Gambia, if you’re ever going get in touch and I’ll give you his phone number), insisted on stopping off at the Gambian Reptile Farm (not that he had to insist much, “Would you like to see some reptiles?” “Yes, please!”).
The farm is run by a “mad dutchman”, and entrance is free for Gambians, and as good as free for tourists, though we pay for the upkeep apparently. Most Gambians are afraid of all reptiles and can’t tell the harmless ones from the dangerous ones. This is a problem in several ways, partly it means the poor reptiles are killed in droves, quite uneccessarily, but another consequence is that local “medicine men” can exploit people’s ignorance. Their website – www.gambianreptiles.bizhosting.com/ – will tell you more if you’re interested.
We were shown round by a young chap named Bakary Camara, who was very informative. The other people in our group were from one of the Baltic states and seemed to be as wary of snakes as the average Gambian. I’m sure they must have thought us all hopping mad. We were fawning over the snakes – as you do – telling them (in Norwegian, but I imagine the tone of voice was expressive enough) what pretty things they were. And when, at the end, we were allowed to hold two pythons, we were falling over each other to get at them.
But I mean, look at it? Isn’t it just the most gorgeous thing? (The Husband is good looking, too, obviously, but you don’t need to admire him too much, in fact, it’s better if you don’t, he’s taken.)
36/365
We’ve got a good system going with the haggling, I think. I pick out the stuff I want, ask “How much?”, the salesperson replies and I hand over to the husband. I HATE haggling (especially when the prices are so ridiculously low in the first place, and I know how much more the money is woth to them). He revels in it. I should have filmed the woman’s reaction to his first counteroffer, btw, though I realise it’s all part of the game, she seriously looked like he’d asked for her oldest son as a hostage or something.
When they were done and we’d paid up, I picked out one of the pictures in the background with a babywearing woman and paid what the lady first asked for it. I’m quite sure they made good money on us in any case.