This one’s going to be short and sweet… I think, and sort of. Sweet because it’s short, not because of what happened. Because what happened was decidedly not sweet.
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My Dysenterific Dakar Recap
The Exciting (?) Conclusion of Matt the Mailman
So, this is part three of the three part series about Peace Corps Mail Run in January 2008.
Tuesday, Day 5: Tendaba to Fajara
Today, woke up in Tendaba all ready for the last real day of MR. It’s the last real day of MR because tonight we’ll be back in Kombo, and I’ll probably be crashing at the Stodge, our capital-region transit house. But before we can relax on the couches eating beans and cassava while drinking a JulBrew in front of any number of movies I’ve already seen ten times, we’ve got to handle the South Bank, a notoriously bad road – very possibly the worst in the coutry – for the better part of the day. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
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Off to Dakar!
So, tomorrow we’re heading back up to Dakar, Senegal, to take part in WAIST, the West African Invitational Softball Tournament! Early early tomorrow morning, I’ll be leaving town with some of my PC cohorts to catch the ferry across to the north bank, then up to the border on a gele, bounce into Senegal, and then spend the next six hours cramped into a sept-place. And then I’ll get to argue with the taxi driver that’s supposed to bring us to the club we’re meeting at in Dakar in Wolof about how he hasn’t brought us to the right place, and no we’re not going to pay him more to bring us to the place we originally agreed on. *sigh* it is not easy.
Mail Run, January 2008 – Part 2
This is the second post in a three-part series about Peace Corps Mail run. The first part is here.
When last we saw our courageous hero, he was going to sleep on an actual bed on McCarthy Island in The Gambia, several days into a week-long trek around the country. Let us now rejoin him and his faithful sidekick as they make their way to the Far East (no, not China folks… think smaller)…
Mail Run, January 2008 – Part 1
Last week, Doug (a buddy of mine from Gunjur) and I went on Peace Corps Mail Run (hereafter MR), an intensive six-day trek around The Gambia to deliver mail and packages to every Peace Corps Volunteer in the country, of whom there are over 100. It consisted of early starts, long days, lots of sunscreen, work, and dirt, and more than a fair share of beer. Read on for details.
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Halloween
Last week was Halloween, and a buddy of mine decided to have a party at his place in the small river-side village of Sapu near Brikama-ba. I wasn’t sure if I was going to go or not, but in the end I decided to go. I figured that my work would still be here when I got back, and I haven’t gone anywhere since August, so a few days of R&R wouldn’t make or break anything.
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Italy Trip Roundup
Alright, so this post is going to be sort of quick I hope… I haven’t written since I was in Cinque Terre, and that was about 3 weeks ago, give or take. So I’ve been neglecting my blog. Let me recap a bit so you can at least know what I’ve been up to, sans the nitty gritty details.
In Vernazza Today
Thursday August 02nd 2007, 1:46 pm
Filed under: Travel
Filed under: Travel
Just arrived in Vernazza today. Vernazza is one of the towns in the region of Italy called “Cinque Terre,” and put simply, the place is beautiful. All the five towns in this region are in a very mountainous region along the northwest coastline, and there aren’t any roads that lead in or out of this area: the only way in or out is by train. A little creepy I guess in the event of an emergency, but pretty amazing during all other times.
Just got to Italy
Monday July 30th 2007, 4:43 am
Filed under: Travel
Filed under: Travel
Just a quick post here. Flew in yesterday morning to Fiumicino airport outside Rome, after leaving Banjul International Airport the evening prior around 7:00. Lamin got me a private vehicle to go there, so all I had to pay for was gas, which still wound up being a couple hundred dalasi, but whatever. Really good flight, but the transition in Brussels was almost too close. You’ve got to go through immigration there even if you’re just connecting to another flight, and I got stuck in a slow lane. Unfortunately, it appeared that the slow lane appeared to be slow because I was in the line with all the Gambians and Senegalese folks, and the immigration officer was being extremely thorough with their checks of their papers. Had to cut to the front of the toubab line (the lines weren’t forcibly segregated, it just happened that way) so I could catch my connecting flight. As it was, I just made it to my gate as they were doing the boarding call. 15 minutes later we were pulling out onto the runway. Close.