Kayaking!

Saliou had never been kayaking, and was perhaps a bit suspicious of the whole thing but I promised that it would be fun.  The guide asked who was stronger;  since Saliou clearly is much bigger than me,  we put him in the back.  Bad move since he had no idea how to steer.  In a shallow section, I suggested that I go to the back so we had at least a chance of getting further than 5' down the stream.  We were in the thick of mangroves, their roots extending out from their trunks.  I had kayaked about 10 times before but never from the back;  Stephen always did that.  Even though I'm not particularly skilled, we at least headed in the right direction, mostly.  Navigating very narrow channels was super hard, though, and when I thought we must be almost done with our tour, the guide told us that we were half way there.  No.......  I completely collapsed after that.

Getting to the locale in the first place took four vehicles.  First from Kabrousse to Cap Skirring by taxi, then a sept-place (no breakdowns!!) to Ousmaye, then a taxi to Casamance VTT, then a company vehicle to close to the mangroves.  Then, a 15 min walk through rice fields (currently dry).  It's quite an excursion just to get there.

Lunch?  Fish and rice, of course.  600 cfa, about $1.00.  Prices can vary quite a bit depending on where you are eating.  This was a hole in the wall place.  A kitten mewed at me, huge eyes, while I ate.

As if it weren't obvious, Senegal is really different in all ways from the U.S.  One topic, the relative roles of women and men, was an interesting example of that.  I'd say that Senegal's culture with regard to women's place in life is about where we were in the 1950's, where women were relegated to household tasks, and Dad was boss.  Glad those days are over (mostly).

On a more tragic note, Saliou shared with me the hardship of being black in this world.
  That made me sad, this reality.