So what’s new in my new playground? Many different things.
With regards to the fauna, well, I see goats and cows go past. As there are often fishermen, there is occasional interference, though pacific, with the lines. Even if they are being guided, they don’t deviate too much from their path.
Last Friday, I had a good laugh when one of the cows decided to sprint off – did she want to show off or did was she just very hungry? In any case, one of the two young men went off after her. It was hilarious as she would always remain 5 or 6 metres in front of him so accelerated and slowed down accordingly. At one point, the tired young man stopped and the cow did the same, with the cheek to turn around and wait as if she were taunting him… We have fun with what we have LOL!
From the avian point of view, we see the “fishers” of course, but there are also vultures on the right side always on the lookout for a carcass which is very common, there are plenty littering the beaches. On that day, they were having a feast; one of their own had met a dire end. Those creatures really don’t look too nice!
The water, despite being the wrong colour for my bath, seems abundant with fish, and fishermen don’t catch small fries as they did in Mauritius’ lagoons, but real big ones that can feed a large family.
At all hours, there’s some activity and people on the beach. I go out either in the mornings or after 17h. I stay in the shade when it’s hot!
The day where "♬ I walk alone...♪" will be the day I see flying pigs.
It’s hard to go for a stroll without being “latched onto” by a, no doubt amiable, individual. From my 1st outing, Lalo (bottom-right photo) came to see me and started talking. I just wanted to walk but hey, we’ll do what we can. As he was asking a good few questions, rest assured harmless ones, I, who am not inquisitive of nature, forced myself to ask many in turn. Two advantages, this stops him from asking too many questions, and it allows me to learn about the local customs. The next day was no different, he must have been looking out for me and immediately locked in. At the beginning, I wasn’t much a fan of this but in the end I realised that when you’re with someone, others leave you well alone, without which you wouldn’t be able to go more than 100m without being stopped. Be it Lalo, Spiderman, Jo or Aliu, all is done in kindness but don’t kid yourself, there’s always some reason behind these actions: "come to my juice bar. It’s the best and now you know me", "I’m looking for a job, could you talk to your husband for me?", "if you’re in need of a guide", "we could go on a romantic walk..." woah woah woah, stop right there. "To run or walk in my company is one thing, but it’s not called romantic ok?" On that note, I saw Jo on Friday again, the romantic walk guy. He takes part in the coconut tree planting project on the beach (bottom-left photo). ‘No harm done’ as they say. To counter erosion and the decline of coastal vegetation, the government (whose President is the minister of agriculture) has plantation projects and on the beach, these brave coconut trees are for the most part under three years old. Right, some work and a lot of watering and they’ll grow nicely.
The navy also comes to the beach to do drills (top-right). They have Spanish instructors who teach them how to swim and survive. They do 15-day courses with tests at the end. That day was a test day and seeing the instructor, in the water, jump at every movement of the water trying to keep his papers dry was funny (top-left).
I chatted for a while and the next day even joined one of them who wanted to teach me how to do knee press-ups. You know, with the knees touching the ground. For me, it’s proper press-ups or nothing, so I showed him. Very nice as a contact.
Every afternoon, the beach darkens… with people who come to relax and play football, but all day people do their outside gym and their favourite exercise is, you guessed it… press-ups (middle-right). I decided ‘why not?’ and joined in. If there are many people doing it, you don’t look too silly! Normally I wait to be far away or isolated to burst out the press-ups (20 for the time being is not bad!), stretching and other yoga-like exercises. This is all very fun!
To vary the pleasures, sometimes I go out, on my own or with Pascal, by the road and cut through the cemetery to join the beach. It’s at most a kilometre. They should bring their goats here as the grass is tall and fresh! It’s a catholic cemetery – with an equal dosage of stone and magnificent black-marble headstones – that must be quite old. Near the end, there is a nice alley of baobabs.
So there you have it, this is my surrounding environment. Now it’s time to cross the road out of the hotel and to go off and discover the heart of Banjul.
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