Bike Beach Trip #2

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Well, I got back from another trip to the beach. Since being in Senegal, I have gotten the chance to see the beach on many occasions, but have actually only gotten to enjoy it on two. I must say that I thought I would miss my days hanging out by the pool swimming and taunting my dog with splashes of water during this past Houston winter, but I haven’t really missed the pool. Although, I do miss Millie, my parents, and the good restaurants they frequent every night. But here, it isn’t all work and no play. My tan is coming along pretty well. In a few weeks, I hope that I won’t look like a toubab, but that of a local.

So, this weekend, about 13 trainees, including myself, biked to Popenguine after class on Saturday. It is the same beach I biked to last week. The weekend, unlike last, we spent the night and were able to unwind and relax, which we did.

Because I live kinda on the outskirts of Thies but on the road to Popenguine, another trainee and I pedaled together. It was nice to get away from the stresses of groups and just zone in on the ride and clear my head. The ride went well though. We didn’t have any mishaps or anything.

Around 4:45, Mandy and I reached Thies. The rest of the trainees were scattered behind us. Because we didn’t know where the house was, we decided to go to the restaurant I went to last weekend and started the weekend off with a Senegelese beer. After a long week of class and 22 miles of biking, it tasted pretty good. The rest of the trainees came in 20 and 40 minutes later.

Around 5:30, we met the guy who we were renting the house from and got settled it. It was absolutely amazing. I’m not going to say a word about it because I couldn’t give it justice. Ok, I’ll say a bit. It was really two houses kinda connected with a total of 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and two kitchens overlooking the ocean. It didn’t have a TV, which is the norm here, but it did have refrigerators (which we eventually fully stocked) and electricity. The view, which I have pictures of, was absolutely amazing.

We had gotten some vegetables prior to leaving Thies at the market, so some of us started cooking up dinner, while the rest of us went to the store to get some $3 bottles of Whiskey, Vodka, Beer, Wine, and mixers. You have to cater to all tastes.

Dinner ended up being amazing. It was a mixture of rice and vegetables. I wish there had been some meat, but I have learned not to be greedy. Also, we had bread. The night carried on. Nothing interesting happened other than all of us having a good time. Some people went to bed early, others stayed up till around 4:30. I was kinda in both groups. I’m not going to go into the details of this one or two hour “nap” time, primarily because according to the number of comments my mom makes on this site, I figure she reads it, but I did rebound and make it through the rest of the evening. I kinda felt like I let myself down and surprised I didn’t have marker all over my face, but I guess something good can be said about those who can pick themselves back up after. In the end, the night was a blast.

On Sunday morning, everyone woke up at different times and some feeling good, others feeling like crap. I felt great, partially due to the knowledge I gained from living at Apt 45 for a few years. I definitely learned and possibly invented a few tricks of the trade there. For breakfast, we fixed eggs, vegetables, and fruit to go along with bread. Once again, it was great.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing. It was amazing. I went out to the beach to relax. The water had a strong undertow, so I didn’t spend too much time in it, but did manage to read and listen to some tunes. Along the way, I got a few shades darker.

Around 2:00, we started to clean up everything in order to leave the house by 3:00. Another trainee and I, took the bottles back to the store to get the deposits back. In Senegal, if you take a bottle from the store, you have to pay a deposit. After getting everything straightened up, a few trainees started back to Thies, while the rest of us, caught a late lunch. This lunch took a lot longer than we were expecting. With a two and a half hour ride back to Thies, we got a little antsy. Fortunately, the food came out, but in waves.

I ended up hitting the road around 4:30 or so with another trainee. Like the previous weekend, the conditions weren’t great…a 22 mile uphill ride in the wind. With the exception of getting annoyed by some of the Allhums, in which the passengers yelled at us and the drivers didn’t give us much space on the road, I made it home around 7:30.

Overall, it was a great weekend. It was nice to hang out with a lot of other trainees, but not in a huge group. This beach trip was much more relaxing than the first. Hopefully you enjoy the pictures and maybe you will be even more convinced to come visit Africa.