A Familiar Face is Always Nice to See

The Music By the Pool

The past week was pretty chill. I didn’t do too much of anything which is why I haven’t blogged in a few days. On Wednesday I was lying around and I heard some music coming from outside at the pool. After

Enjoying the Beats

a while I went down there to check it out and there were a lot of Gambians surrounding the pool. I watched as the children danced, but I didn’t get too close because I didn’t see any other tourist enjoying the music. There was a woman walking around with her breast out and it was a bit shocking. I was trying to figure out exactly what she was doing because

Lactation room Please!

I hadn’t seen any other women walking around in the nude. Then I saw that she had been breast feeding her toddler, but her toddler kept taking breaks so she just kept her breast out. I was walking around snapping pictures and I could tell that some of the natives didn't like it, so I drifted back so that they couldn't see me while I was taking pictures. While the drummers were playing their music the rain began to fall. I ran inside quickly but I could still hear the music coming from the side of the pool. The musicians ran underneath the shed and were continuing to play their music. On Thursday I spent the day trying to get a flight home. I received news that my grandfather wasn’t doing too well and I just wanted to go home. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a seat on one my connecting flights, so I was stuck until Monday. Friday morning my Aunt Betty from my mom’s side of the family came to visit.

Girls walking from school

Aunt Betty is truly a Gambian, she has done missionary work here for over 15 years and comes back nearly every summer.  She came by our hotel and she offered to take us to the Banjul Market in the capital city. First we stopped by her hotel to grab lunch. I ordered spaghetti and to my surprise it was quite tasty. After lunch we headed over to the market.  On the way to the market we got into a taxi with an African woman. She was excited to see Americans, she said her

The Taxi Driver had to kill a wasp

husband was living in Ohio and he had been there for 8 years already. Unfortunately, she was sad because he hasn’t come back to visit her and he told her he can’t get her a visa to join him, but she is hopeful that he will return in 2012. I felt sorry for the woman because she was waiting on her husband who will probably never return. This man probably has a new life with a new family, but he continues to string along his Gambian wife. I just know if I were her I would threaten to have him deported and I bet he would find a way to get her a visa then. I didn’t feel as if it was my place to tell the woman her husband was full of crap so I just listened to her story.

She was just adorable

Banjul’s market was a little different from the Sarakunda market. There were a lot more flies, pollution, and trash build-up. I didn’t buy too many things at this market, I just wanted to leave. My Aunt Betty was like a

Notice the Dead Hen Please

superstar at the market. Gambians were coming out of the woodworks saying Mama, or Sister Betty has returned. Nearly everyone knew her and that was pretty cool. I laughed at Aunt Betty a lot while we were out. She was handling Gambians left and right; I never knew she could be so feisty. They would try to get over on us with a price and she

Pure Balancing Talent

would tell them, “No, you’re crazy!” After the market it was beginning to get late, so we found our way back to our room. I was a little sad that I forgot to take a picture with my Aunt Betty before we departed. On the way back Keyachtta lost her camera’s pouch and we did a little backtracking to try to find it. We ran into a bumpster on the way and I just had to get really rude with him. Bumpsters are African men who try to

Taxi Bus.. whew they're an experience

seduce women because they are looking for a passport into the woman’s native country. The man followed us out of our taxi and he insisted on following us everywhere we went. We never found the wallet, but we got rid of him so we decided to go back to the room. Friday was an early night because Saturday we had a full day planned. We were going to  the isand in Juffereh, also known as Kunta Kinteh Island.