Saturday afternoon we headed to the capital to spend the first part of our vacation week. We stayed just a few blocks down from a highlight of the city- Arch 22. It's the big cement arch over the road that has lit up letters that spell out "Happy Birthday Mr. President". Again, they love their president. We spent the first evening getting harassed in the market and making a few purchases just to get out alive. The craft markets are always a danger zone but somehow we always find ourselves there. Saturday night we relaxed and enjoyed our one air conditioned room. One thing I hate about Banjul- the mosquitoes are horrific! They are enormous and outnumber us! Its ridiculous!
Sunday morning we got up early and headed to Tanji to do the one thing I have been looking forward to since we got on the plane to The Gambia- camel rides! It was awesome!! My camel's name was Chencha and she was wonderful. We spent 30 minutes on what seemed like a roller coaster ride and we laughed the whole way. They took us down to the beach and we got some great pictures. I loved it!!
Afterwards, we left for Kachikally, a famous crocodile pool. They had a small museum at the beginning with memorabilia from all of the different tribes in The Gambia. They had musical instruments, traditional celebratory clothing, jujus, and a war history museum. I really enjoyed getting to read about the traditions behind some of the things we have been seeing and hearing about throughout the trip. After a short hike, we made it to the pool. We learned that they feed the crocodiles fish, so we were a little disappointed to know they aren't really wild animals, but it was still cool to be that close to them. The pool is relatively small and there are about 80 crocodiles living in it!
We spent Monday on the Gambia River. We had arranged a boat cruise that showed us the environment on the river. It was so nice! Unfortunately it rained most of the day, but the scenary was really pretty. The best part was the food! They had us set up with brandy in our coffee, homemade garlic bread, mimosas, a buffet lunch, and cookies for dessert. We were in heaven! We stopped for a short while so we could swim in the river. I chose to fish instead and caught a couple catfish. I guess that was the Texan in me...
It seemed like we couldn't wait to get back to Brikama on Monday night. Brikama is like our home here and it surprised me that I missed it so much over the few days we were gone. It's making me really dread having to say goodbye to this place and all of the people here. I can't believe the time has gone by so fast and everything is ending!
I'll try to blog about the second part of vacation week tomorrow!
Love you and miss you all-
Morgan
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