Toubacouta!

Note: I planned to get this post up as soon as we got back (3 weeks ago, darnit), but once again, things happened. I'll post this today, then a little more about the events of the last few weeks tonight or tomorrow.

Wow! Toubacouta sure was something!
We left Dakar bright and early Thursday morning via tour bus,

The total drive took a little over five hours, with some stops in between to take the ferry to the other side of the Saloum (we got there just as it was leaving, so had to wait about a half hour for it to come back), and to have a delicious lunch of ceebu-jen and ataaya in Sokone with the family of the WARC director.

Ceebu-jen - the national dish of fish, rice, and vegetables!

It's not even lunch here if you don't have ataaya after!

We arrived at our hotel around mid-afternoon. We stayed at the lovely Club de Vacances Kairaba, a very cute hotel just outside of Soucouta, the twin town of Toubacouta. It had a pool, great food, and these terribly cute little cabins which we stayed in:

Our activities over the course of our four-day stay included:

• A visit to a local health center
• A boat tour of the mangroves

• Class in the forest on the agricultural economy of Senegal, followed by a visit to the village of Keur Aliou Gueye to talk to the villagers about farming
• A lively evening performance by a local dance troupe
• A visit to the community radio station

• A visit to a women's microfinance and farming collective

A plant from their peanut fields

• A visit to a daara, a traditional Qu'ranic school

• A lutte match, the traditional wrestling of Senegal. Lutte competitors are sports heroes here.

We also walked around Toubacouta a fair amount, and saw some beautiful sunsets.

I plan to go back during my break this December, when my parents and brother come to visit me. It'll probably be more crowded then, as December and January are the peak of tourist season here.

You can see the full photo album of my pictures from our trip here.