Sunshine and Mangoes

Wolof word of the day: fecc = to dance. (pronounced like "fetch") The command form is "feccal". We were forced to dance in front of very entertained Senegalese people about every 5 minutes during our trip to Toubacouta.



Toubacouta is a "city" about 6 hours south of Dakar, just north of the border with the Gambia. It's on the coast but also in a river delta, so it's really green and humid. I never really saw any part of Toubacouta proper that looked like what I would call a city, but this is Senegal. You kind of have to forget everything you know and expect.

Our trip was full of surprises, and much nudity or near-nudity. For example, on Saturday we went on a boat trip through mangrove forests. We piled into two pirogues (fishing boats) and went out into the river. We kept running into trees or getting smacked in the face by them, as it was quite narrow. Once we got out into open water again, Waly, one of the program directors, took off his clothes except shorts and a tank top and jumped into the water. By this point, I still thought this was not something I would do. Even when other girls started stripping down to various levels of nakedness, I was still surprised to find myself doing the same thing and jumping in. It was so freeing to feel comfortable enough with my body that I would strip to my underwear in front of strangers just to splash around in the water with a bunch of friends.

Another surprisingly cool thing we did was going to a traditional wrestling match. We have been to a really commercial wresting match in a huge stadium in Dakar, but this was totally different. We went at around 10:30 or 11 at night, so it was already dark. The only lights were two fluorescent lights on either side of the ring, which was basically a circle of people. They were sitting on the ground or standing, shouting and banging on things while the wrestlers fought in the middle. On one side of the ring, there was an announcer and some drummers and griots, who provided the music. I don't know if I have ever explained this, but a griot is basically a person in traditional West African society whose job was to sing about the royal families. They were a casted group of people, which means they were born into griot families and weren't really supposed to marry outside their caste. The castes still exist, but people are trying to get rid of them. Anyway, each griot family was tied to a royal family, so if the king and his griot both died, the griot's son would become the griot of the king's successor. Also, apparently Youssou N'dour is a griot.

Probably the most important part of the trip was the rural visit. We spent a whole day in a village, each with a different family, then we had the option to spend the night in the village, which all of us did except three girls. This village was really, actually in the middle of nowhere. From this small town near the Gambian border, we drove inland about an hour, getting further and further from "civilization". The people there were really nice though, and they welcomed us by making us dance in front of them, which gets less humiliating every time we do it. At the beginning of the trip, we were mortified when we had to dance "senegalese" because we look so ridiculous doing it, but it's actually starting to be kind of fun. I spent the whole day doing almost nothing. We cooked lunch then ate it, relaxed and chatted under a mango tree for a couple hours (by "chatting" I mean I listened to people chatting in Wolof. Mine is getting better but it's still not THAT good.), then made dinner. Also, no running water = lot's of water-fetching from the well. I even carried my shower in a bucket on my head! The night was almost as peaceful as the day, except for the zoo under my bed and the fire ant that kept crawling all over me and biting me. I never knew what they were like, but it's weird because it kind of itches but also feels like you were burned.

It was really relaxing being in the village for a day, but I don't think I could live in a place like that for any extended period of time, because I was getting really antsy to get back to Dakar. Much as I love doing nothing, having nothing to do is quite a different thing. I don't like being that far away from any people or things, although I suppose I might have felt more lonely because of my very limited interactions with people. They spoke no french at all, but as the region we were in is mostly Sereer, we were, ironically, relieved to be in a Wolof village where no one spoke french. We left the village dirty, hungry, and laden with delicious mangoes.