Getting Settled In...

Candid on the Beach

 For our third morning in The Gambia we woke up and ate breakfast at 9am, as we normally do, but after breakfast we went back to sleep for several hours. We woke up around 1pm to get ready to go out with have money of our own to spend. After we left the bank we tried to go the US Embassy, but we could register with them online and not in person. We then went to check on getting internet service in our room. We ended up paying 7,500 Dalasis’ or $258 for internet for one month! We thought this was outrageous, but we didn’t have any choice but to pay it if we wanted to keep in touch with our loved ones. Seety was so excited to take us to a place called Quality zone to get food, which is a store that imports American goods.

Keemba, our Gambian Guide

We thought they would have real food such as bread, ham, cheese, and canned food. Instead they had a bunch of snacks, so we just bought a few of those. After Quality zone, we went to an indoor Gambian market. I didn’t see much of anything that I wanted except Pringles, but I still bought a few items such as sugar wafers and spice bread. After tasting both, I’ll just stick with the Pringles next time. After we came back from the store, I was quite tired and decided to lie down and take a nap. When I woke up, I walked outside to try to go to dinner and I had just missed it. I settled for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner and it just made my tummy hurt worse. The next day, we woke up and had breakfast, and after breakfast I didn’t fell well so I came back in

to lie down for a while. We got up and went to lunch. Keemba took us to a restaurant that was down the beach. It was my first time even stepping foot on the sand here.

At the restaurant

I ordered a steak sandwich and chips and it was pretty tasty. I was thankful for a good meal, since they are few and far between at the moment. I came back to the room to watch TV, but I saw something moving outside of the window and when I got up to look it was a loose monkey hanging out by the pool. I was a bit shocked and amazed to see a monkey just out and about freely. When I went to get my camera to get a picture of the monkey, it was nowhere to be found.

The Prayer Circle

But I did happen to capture something just as amusing. There were a circle of Gambians chanting around a tree on the beach. I want to say that they were praying, because they were on their hands and knees rocking back and forth while chanting words that I could not understand. In the middle of the circle was a goat and I thought he may have been sacrificial offering, but maybe that was wishful thinking. After watching the people praying for about 20 minutes I came in to watch a movie and fell asleep…  As for Friday… Well now that was a crazy day so stay tuned…