Getting a glimpse of Senegal outside Dakar

Just for the Blog...
Originally uploaded by Mikey Holmes.

Stephanie and I are getting our plans and things together for fall break.

Saturday morning, the plan is to make our way to the sept-place station. These are station wagons cleverly named sept-places because of their seven-places. We'll pack our hiking packs with a bit of food and water, sleeping sacks and water filters plus a few extras. Then, around 6 or 7 in the am, score a couple seats and wait for the other 5 to fill up.

We'll take the first trip to Tamba counda, then depending on how we feel, down to Kedougou, a base town for hiking and biking in the "lush and mountainous" southeast. We'll just have to wait and see how big a misnomer that is.

There's not much to know about the area as the Lonely Planet isn't incredibly helpful and the internet isn't much better either for details. The general advice seems to be "just get down there, hike a bit, stay with some families, bring lots of cola nuts and have a good time." So, that's what we'll do. Sometimes this type of nonchalance can be tough to accept, but really - what good are plans anyway? They become more and more useless the less and less predictable limiting factors are (like roads, bike availability, etc.).

One definite about our plans is stopping by the Peace Corps house in Kedougou, where the volunteers in the area are based. We're hoping to meet some cool folks, get their take on the program and maybe find some lesser-known bits of the area.

Some other hopes for the trip are to run into the Bissai, a group that's still completely animist and a two-day hike to the border with Guinea. It's through the mountains and there's no official border post - just like the Sound of Music. I should google that line to see how many other folks have made that connection in their travel advice...

Once we're broken in from this trip, I'm hoping we'll all have a taste for domestic travel in Senegal and can make our way up to St. Louis, down to the Cassamance and maybe sneak into The Gambia.

Burning the Flesh

Burning the flesh. There are a number of reasons why muslims fast for Ramadan but the original meaning of the word, burning the flesh, suggests a sort of self-destruct. Hopefully encouraging renewal. Muslims hold true that it is through the flesh that one is tempted - thus it is through a deliberate denial of the flesh that one is cleansed. Denial of the flesh - that's one thing, but burning...

Why fast? Like any other question, it has plenty of answers. Especially here. Some say that the Prophet Muhammed spent time wandering in the desert near Medina, an Oasis town in Saudi Arabia that he called home. And it was while the Prophet himself was wandering, fasting and burning during the lunar month of Ramadan that the Qu'ran was revealed. Some fast to remember that time in the wilderness like Jesus's temptation remembered during lent.

I was talking to my brother Boga, the 30-something divorcee that has plenty of insight into islam and the life of a baay fall. I was explaining that when I've fasted in the states I haven't really gotten up for the morning meal and prayers and was wondering about his experience. He said that it depends for him since he doesn't really eat much any way, but on top of practicality, he says that Senegalese get up in the morning to fill their tummies - otherwise, it leaves too much room for jinnies, or naughty spirits, to sneak in.

Every morning I get up at 5 and go get a baguette or two from the boulangerie just down the road, making my way through the other half-asleep zombies stumbling along to the calls from the mosque megaphone. The getting up isn't hard - what is hard is the cold, peppery T-BONE STEAK that my mom here served the first morning, let me remind you, 5 am. I ate what I could and without event or complaint hoping to forget it. Little did I know the steak would be back. The next morning what I couldn't eat was back on the plate with friends - what looked like the bits that my brothers and sister couldn't eat either. I stuck to bread that day. Day three, more steak. Day four, no steak, just bread served with a bit of relief. Day five no steak, but opens the breakfast pot and there's all the bones from the days before, um... does she want me to suck the marrow? It's become my little joke - one you have to have with yourself - she offered the same bones again this morning, but bread will do me fine thanks.

In reality, I really like the fast a lot, it's my 4th year and it's become really important to me. I've never done anything that's quite as thorough a behavior check - food, drink, words etc. Plus, after noon every day the emptiness is strangely centering and compelling to prayer. It's easier to bow and pray and harder to get up and do something else.

Mommy wow, I'm a Marabout now...

Fallou Galace Mbacke
Originally uploaded by Mikey Holmes.

So when folks come to Senegal it's a habit of the locals to come up with a Senegalese name that fits you, will help you, or will honor someone like their niece. My name is Fallou Galace Mbacke, the Grandson of Cheikh Amadou Bamba Mbacke, the founder of the Mouride Islamic brotherhood. It was given by a guy I met in passing, but it's opened all sorts of doors rather unexpectedly.
For example, I was hanging out and having ataayah, the traditional tea here, with Sajo Diallo the guy that sells stuff from his cart on a main road near my 'hood. It's become a habit now, he's such a nice guy, the tea is so cheap (free), and so much goes on at this intersection that it's hard to tell what will happen next. Anyway, while we were making tea, this fellow came up and asked my name and after I told it to him, he got super excited and ran off to go get something.
After a few minutes he came back with an amulet with a picture of Fallou on it. It's got verses of the koran inside of it and special blessings to protect the wearer from harm. The one instruction that was critical to follow when using this thing was not to wear it to the bathroom because "come on he's a marabout," as the fellow pointed out.
Well, we've got another week of class and then fall break is coming up soon. I'm gonna be heading for the southeast, home to Senegal's only mountains and waterfalls. Will be taking this guy along with me.