Tuesday, September 9, 2008

We took a short van tour of Salye. Its a big resort town. Lots of hotels, beach houses and more toubobs in one place here than we have seen our entire trip. Chris, Lynn and I want to get some postcards to send to family and friends so Aaron says we’ll come back to the shopping market after lunch.

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We stopped at an artisian market (tourist trap--local crafty stuff) to look around for some souvenirs. All the “sellers” know enough English to say, “Come, my shop. I’ll make you a good deal.” We went to one shop that had some cute baby outfits. We started looking for something for Talan and Julien was negotiating a price on our behalf The guy started at 10000 Francs; about $20. Julien says we should pay no more than 4000 Francs for it and kept “arguing” the price with the guy. The guy finally said 5000 Francs. Since he wouldn’t budge from that price we finally walked away. We then went to a jewelry shop and Aaron was talking with the merchant. The guy comes up to me and puts a necklace around my neck. He tells Aaron this is a gift to me because I am his dad’s wife (he had already given Patti a couple of bracelets because she is Aaron’s mom.). I think this was his ploy to make us feel obligated to buy something else but we didn’t.

We do a little more looking around. Si finds a sandal shop and buys a pair of sandals. While he is doing that a bunch of us are standing under a tree in the shade trying to keep cool. Some guy comes up to me, admiring my white Sketchers. He then asks me how much in American dollars I paid for them and offers to buy them from me. He wants to give them to his sister. I decline his offer as what he has to offer me in place of my shoes is nothing I would like to have.

Once we get back to the beach house, Jeanne sets about making pasta and two sauces; one a vegetarian sauce and one with meat. We sit down to eat and enjoy a very tasty and filling lunch. After lunch those of us that want postcards head back to the market in the van. When we get back Aaron starts downloading to his computer everyones pictures that have been taken so far. So, we spend the rest of the afternoon listening to music and looking at the pictures.

Jerry and his new best friend!

Before the sun sets we decide to take a walk down the beach. That was really nice. We probably walked about 20 minutes down the beach and then came back. As we came back, the sun was setting on the Atlantic Ocean and it was quite a sight. Just beautiful! We picked up a couple of “friends” on our way back. A couple of different guys trying to sell us various things, like jewelry and watches. One guy kept showing us the bracelets he has and we kept saying “no” over and over again. After a few “no’s” on the bracelets, he switches tactics and asks if we want to buy a watch........flashing a bunch of watches on his other arm. Pretty funny. You had to be there! This became a source of amusement (our inside joke) the rest of the trip between Chris, Jerry, Si and I. This experience is kind of typical for Senegal. Everyone seems to be selling something and they have no qualms about approaching any and all foreigners trying to sell their stuff. They can be somewhat annoying as they don’t take NO for an answer. But you kind of have to admire their persistence.

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When we get back to the beach house Jeanne and Fatime set to work preparing dinner. We had mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and some sauces / gravy for the mashed potatoes. It was really quite good and once again, very filling.

After dinner Julien, Aaron, Si and I did some shots of Patron (tequila). We bought Aaron a bottle on our way to Dakar (duty free shop in Atlanta). We had to teach Aaron and Julien how to do the salt and lime with the tequila. Julien was so funny. He was “surprised” at how warm the tequila felt going down. Good stuff!!

We all went to bed pretty early as tomorrow we are going to the Nature Preserve. We want to get their early in the day so the animals will be awake instead of just hiding and sleeping because of the hot sun. Our plan is to be on the road by 8:00 in the morning, as we figure is it about a 45 minute drive. (You can guess......Aaron’s standard comment, “Its not far!”)

To be continued........