Weekending 12th September 2010

On Monday I woke up with a cold no wonder after getting so wet on Saturday. We called at the police station to fill out a statement for my lost phone. Once that was done it was passed over to the CID division and we were taken into another room. All we wanted was a crime number so that Africel can give us a printout of used calls which then can be traced and may help to catch the culprit. Whilst there we were asked some questions and then one of the officers asked us for a fare we were surprised at this thinking it was another word for a bribe. Paul stood up and went to find the superintendent and queried the remark he explained that it was money for transport to Banjul as they need to obtain the crime number from there so if we want it quicker then they can take it today otherwise it will take a few days. We left without paying the so called fare and walked to Africel. Once there I cancelled my sim and obtained a new phone and sim card. We then called in Kariba Centre for a bit of shopping. It was raining on and off throughout the day which didn’t please Lynn as none of her washing was dried or ironed by Awa. This brought out some creepy crawley’s in our compound as we found a scorpion spider these are like scorpions but have large antenna instead of pinchers and don’t have a stinging tail so harmless.

I got a bit of a shock on Wednesday as when I went to buy my vegetables from the market I was told by Aunty Jenny’s son that Maria his sister had died on Sunday in childbirth. This explains why on Monday all the stalls were closed except one and the young lad told me they were at a funeral. The baby boy was okay and being looked after by Jenny however Maria had haemorrhaged and by the time they had gotten her any blood she had died. This was quite a blow to me and I was very upset, I have always gone to Aunty Jenny’s stall and her daughter quite often serves me and chats to us and gives the kids a banana. I know this could have still happened in the UK but it does bring home how undeveloped a country they are as it does happen quite often that the baby or mother will die.

On Thursday we decided to take a trip to the Tanji Nature Reserve. We jumped in a taxi to the turntable and then a gelleh to Tanji. Not quite sure of where we had to get off Paul kept checking the road he eventually asked them to stop and we got out. We walked down an overgrown path nothing much in the way of a sign to say we were at the right place. We ended up in an area which was reasonably open with trees and overgrown grass in places. Paul tried to make a path through the trees heading towards the beach my thoughts of snakes were in my mind all the way. Eventually we came out near a lagoon and managed to follow it before eventually getting onto the beach. Whilst doing so we heard a little noise of something crying and there in amongst some leaves and twigs was a baby otter no bigger than my hand. It quickly started moving off for cover Paul had thought he had seen something move into the bush earlier we thought maybe its mother. We carried on walking along the beach towards the fishing village of Ghana Town stopping on route to take a look at the site where Maurice is building some more lodges. They look very much like Sandele lodges only there are two apartments to each lodge. As we neared the village a pirogue was just coming in so we decided to see what fish they had for sale. They were a friendly bunch of locals and we were soon chatting to a couple of them. I finally ended up buying a large lady fish bartering (I am quite enjoying the bartering) the fisherman down to a good price with the help of one young local lad. He then said he would clean it for us so we followed him to one of the fishing huts where he gutted and scaled it. We followed him to the village stopping off to look at the huts where they smoke the fish. A group of lady’s were in one of the huts one of which started to talk to us in Mandinka, she was pleased when Paul could answer her questions. They were busy washing, boiling and smoking cat fish this has become one of Bradley’s much liked fish. We continued on to get a carrier bag for the fish from the local bitiko. The young lad then took us to the road side where he safely put us onto a gelleh and guess what didn’t ask for any money, we were very pleased that not all Gambians are on the hustle. Another couple with a young baby also got onto the gelleh with lots of buckets full of fish and produce which were placed onto the roof of the gelleh. They were on their way to Serrekunda market to sell their goods. When we arrived back home Paul set about filleting the fish some of which we put in the freezer for another meal luckily we seem to have had a couple of days with no power cuts.

Friday was Coroteh for the local Muslims the end of their month of fasting (Ramadan). We took Lynn off to Cape Point, getting on a gelleh to Bakau and then walking along past the British Commissioner’s residence. We made our way onto the beach it had changed quite a lot from just three weeks ago. There was a large pool of water on the beach cutting us off from the sea. We walked to the Calypso Bar and then it started to rain so we took shelter under one of the parasols until it was a light drizzle which eventually stopped. As we passed the pool at Calypso we spotted a small crocodile just on the surface of the water however as we got closer it moved further under with only its eyes visible. We decided to continue onto the Sand plover, this proved to be a wet experience as the tide was in up to the start of the mangroves. At one point we rolled our trousers up and waded through knee deep in murky water. I had decided to take off my shoes bad idea as I stood on leaves and grass and god knows what else. At the Sand plover we ordered some drinks and went upstairs to sit and look at the view. In the distance we could see some rather black clouds heading our way. The Sand plover looked very battered from the recent storms which we have had. The rain came and went so we decided to walk over the rickety bridge to the road and back up to Bakau where we jumped on a gelleh for home. On the afternoon we stayed in as it rained on and off most of the day.

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MANDY!

On Saturday it was another bleak day, dark sky’s and rain Paul did manage to take the children for an afternoon stroll bringing Adama back from the market for a cup of tea.

A BIG HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY TO MUM!

Today is mums birthday so we were up early to go to Le Palais, the connection was very good so managed to have a good conversation. Mum had received my presents bought via the internet however my letter and other present was still in the post. She was getting ready to go to my brother Alan’s house for an afternoon party with all the family I only wish we could be there to celebrate with her.

A Big Happy Birthday to Hayley!

Butchers Shop Restaurant

Today we met up with Cathy, James, Felix, Sam, Emily and Rob for a meal at the Butchers Shop restaurant. On a Sunday from 10 o’clock until 4 o’clock they do a buffet breakfast and lunch eat as much as you like. We arrived just after 10.30am to find Cathy, James, Felix and Sam already there and tucking into their second plate of food. We ate a variety of dishes not necessarily in the correct order, bacon sandwiches, chicken, beef, quiche, Spanish omelette, pasta, stuffed peppers, coleslaw, potato salad, cake and pancakes covered with a lovely rich chocolate sauce yum yum. We needed a break between courses, so out came the games we had brought to play uno, pass the pigs and Nintendo to keep the children amused and ourselves. The restaurant was very busy probably due to later finding out that it was mother’s day for the Gambians. We left just before 3 o’clock feeling very full and tired having over indulged we won’t need to eat for the rest of the day.

Farefeni Lumo

We were up bright and early unable to sleep as the room was too hot. We dressed and went out for an early morning walk making our way to the river passing some British colonial buildings and seeing some bird life on route. As we were walking back we met up with Marielle and her sister so walked back to Liz and Peter’s compound with them. We ate a breakfast off omelette and tapalapa cooked by Peter which was very good, it made a change from tapalapa and jam. With the accommodation and evening meal finally much more agreeable we settled up and were back in the jeep at 10 o’clock to cross the river and head back to Farafeni.

The journey took about two hours arriving just before midday. Asking directions to the lumo market we were directed to the outskirts of Farafeni close to the Senegalese border. We followed donkey carts either taking the locals to the lumo or piled high with merchandise. The lumo was very busy with people buying or selling their wares and was much bigger than I expected. A lot of the merchants are a mixture of Gambian, Senegalese, Guineans or Mauritanians. The stalls are laid out in the sandy ground under tarpaulins to give shade from the sun. There were household goods, fabric, jewellery, shoes, clothing, live chickens, vegetables and sacks of food sold by the canful. There were also women sat over pans frying sweet dumplings which are very similar to doughnuts. We spent an hour looking around before heading back to the ferry port. On arrival at the port we had just missed a ferry so had a short wait of thirty minutes which was just enough time to drink a much needed cool lager. Once off the ferry we were picked up by a taxi driver who plays rugby with Paul and were home just before 5 o’clock very dusty and very, very tired. Not having much food in the house or much money Paul called at Omar’s for a takeout meal of chicken stew.

Boboi Beach Lodge

Our plan today was to drive down to Boboi Beach Lodge and Sandale which Mike and Jenny were keen to see. Unfortunately the car wouldn’t start so we had to change plans so we headed off down to the beach. Paul had phoned the mechanic about the car and was pleased when thirty minutes later he received a phone call to say the car was working. He decided to set off back home with the plan of meeting us at the hotel to then set off to Boboi. We arrived at Boboi Lodge at 2 o’clock and quickly ordered a late lunch of fish and chips. We then decided to explore, the resort is just a little further along from sandale and is situated next to the beach. They have a number of small round lodges close to the beach of which I decided to make enquires off and ended up getting a tour around. One lodge was a twin bedroom and the other a double they were not really catered for family’s however there was space to put down an extra mattress in the rooms. They also have a number of tree houses where you can stay the night sleeping on the floor looking up at the stars which I must say are pretty amazing out here. One of their restaurants was perched in the tree tops on stilts looking out across Sandel bay, and was climbed by way of a ladder, no good once you have had a few too many. After a tasty lunch we headed to Sandale. On arriving Maurice was there with a group who were also waiting to be shown around. As they had just ordered drinks Maurice gave us the guided tour first around the resort and lodges. When we arrived back at the restaurant area Felix had just arrived so he joined us for a drink. Felix was waiting for Georgia to arrive from up country. Her parents had arrived so they had gone on a trip and were returning to stay the night at Sandale. We decided to head for home dropping Jenny and Mike off at the Hotel on route for an early night.

Holi Festival Of Colour

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JONAH!

This afternoon we have been invited to Holi, the Indian festival of colour which is to be held at Sundowners Hotel in Kotu. It has been organised by the Jewel of India Restaurant in Senegambia where we went for the Divali evening. We decided to walk the short distance to Kotu, we finally found the hotel with some help from locals who were expecting the usual tip. Once greeted by the host we found a couple of sun beds in the shade and then ordered some drinks and waited to see what would happen. As guests arrived the hostess was painting their faces with food colouring mixed with a little water. Then all of a sudden a water bomb was thrown landing at my feet missing me but wetting Bradley he got a bit upset about it and went in a sulk. Abigail and I decided to join in the fun so we made our way to the water barrel which held the water bombs and grabbed a handful. Paul and Bradley became our target however we did miss with most of them. However Paul had a better plan and had managed to find a jug so he was busy splashing us with coloured water from one of the barrels we definitely came off worse. By now most of the guests were very wet and covered in paint it didn’t take long before we became the target of attention with orange and green colouring. Bradley finally started to enjoy himself and decided to throw jugs of painted water at Max and Mariella as well as other peace corp. volunteers. Within a couple of hours everyone was brightly painted and wet having been pushed fully clothed into the pool which had now turned a disgusting green colour. We were constantly getting served free drinks by the waiters as well as platters of Indian snacks, Abigail and Bradley found these a bit too spicy. With the music playing some young Indian men started dancing bollywood style I was surprised at how much they let their hair down. They were then joined by some of the peace corp. girls, Mariella and Max. Meanwhile Paul and I started talking to a South African girl who was living here with her son and husband who is working for the shipping company Maersk. Bradley ended up playing in the pool with her son. By late afternoon and a few too many drinks a buffet dinner was served of rice and a variety of curry dishes which were very tasty. At around 5 o’clock with the party drawing to a close myself and the children quickly changed before setting off to walk home. Paul having not changed looked like the jolly green giant as his face and hair were painted green. The trip home was full of laughs and stumbles along the way as we had indulged in a few too many but what a hoot of an afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed by us all.

Pruning

On the morning Paul set about cutting out an orange tree which was growing in the middle of a plum tree for Aunty Lucy. When he had finished Abigail and Bradley were keen to climb the tree as it had some good branches and foot holds for them. After lunch (Domada supplied by Lucy) Paul took himself off to watch the rugby game England v Italy at Churchill’s whilst I took the children for an afternoon on the beach.

Recipe

For those who would like to try a Gambian local dish.

Beef Domada

Beef (or Chicken)
¼ Onion chopped
1 Garlic Clove crushed
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste (Puree)
Fist size of Groundnuts (Jar Smooth Peanut Butter)
¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper
Pinch Salt
Beef Stock cube
Rice

1. Fry the beef, onions and garlic until slightly browned.
2. Add the tomato paste, groundnuts and fry.

3. Add water, salt and pepper leave to boil.
4. Add the stock cube and simmer for about 1 hour until the meat is tender.
5. Serve with rice.

Kotu Stream

We did our usual Sunday morning walk to Kotu Stream Abigail with bird book in hand keen to see some different birds so she could log them down. We weren’t disappointed the first bird we saw was a Squacco Egret just in the fields at the side of the Senegambia highway. We crossed over the rice fields heading towards the stream stopping to chat to some bird spotters from UK on route. Abigail was very excited when we saw a Little Bee-eater these are lovely little green birds with a yellow stripe across the eyes and when against a green background it offers an excellent camouflage, see if you can find it in the photo I have posted. We arrived at Koto stream where we had a good view of a Whimbrel and then we spotted a Blue-breasted Kingfisher on the far bank. We headed towards the tourist area and whilst Paul checked on the exchange rates my self and Abigail took a look around the craft market at the pretty dresses and jewellery on display. Within the craft market there was an area which had been draped in material to imitate vines and flowers which to me had a very Indian feel. With a quick stop off to see Adam we headed back home.

Intermediate Egret

Squacco Egret

Little Bee-eater

Whimbrel

Blue-breasted Kingfisher

Kotu Craft Market

Angela's Leaving Party

Today we spent the afternoon at Kinza’s beach bar as Angela will be leaving for Australia on Thursday as she has come to the end of her VSO term within The Gambia. We set off walking to Kinza’s with John, Bradley however was lagging behind and not very happy to walk. When we arrived there were already a few of the volunteers there so we found some shade as the sun was very hot. Bradley was not feeling well and decided to lay down in the shade he eventually fell a sleep. When he woke up he decided to take a dip in the sea which he enjoyed he seemed much better. Whilst some volunteers had a bite to eat others chatted in between taking dips in the sea to cool off. Abigail and Angela persuaded Sam to plait their hair as they were impressed with her self made plait. We packed up to leave at around 6.30pm once Paul had finished playing his touch rugby and saying our goodbye’s to Angela whom we will all miss. I did ask her to try to call around for tea before she leaves. Once home we quickly ate a late dinner and put the children to bed.

After a late breakfast we headed out for our usual Sunday stroll we decided to try to walk to Bakau along the beach. On making our way passed Leybatos and starting to walk down the steps towards the beach I slipped and ended up tripping and falling flat on my side, winded and a bit shook up I got my breath and managed to sit up whilst Paul went off to get some sea water for the cut to my knee. I was fine just pleased that I had not knocked over Abigail and Bradley as the last step was quite a drop to the beach through the erosion of the sand so could have been a nasty fall for one of them onto the rocks. We continued on along the beach collecting shells and picking our way between the rocks and ebbing tide. We even saw what looked like small Portuguese man of war jelly fish washed up on the beach. Finally we arrived at Bakau fish market with many of the brightly painted fishing pirogues out at sea and moored up on the beach and a lady squatting down between the rocks I can only guess what she was doing ur yuk. We took the road to the fruit market and had a quick look around buying some vegetables and a couple of bags of groundnut paste for Domada. We set off back home by now I was feeling a bit battered and bruised from my fall. We finally arrived home just after 1 o‘clock with two very tired and hungry children, I quickly made a chicken and squash stew for dinner. The rest of the afternoon was spent at home with Paul cutting some of the tree branches for Aunty Lucy and Abigail and Bradley playing with some of their Christmas toys whilst I made a chocolate cake for tea.

Tiny Bird

This morning we were up early to go to La Parisienne for the usual skype and internet. When we arrived home there was a hive of activity in the compound, Lucy’s nephew is getting married so she has organised a small event at her home. There were quite a few women busily preparing food and they had a huge pot cooking over a fire outside which is the traditional way of cooking here. The children amused themselves playing outside on the swing whilst we prepared our lunch. Abigail suddenly ran in to tell us there was a tiny little bird in some trees, we went outside to take a look it must have been a very young bird as Paul got so close he touched its claw. When we had finished lunch Lucy arrived with a plate of chicken legs in an onion sauce for us, this is the second time she has done this in the last fortnight she is definitely warming to us.

Wishes Christmas Celebrations

This afternoon we took the children to Wishes Christmas Party the car park at the front of the store had been cordoned off by barriers and a member of staff was collecting 175 dalasi as payment for visiting Santa and also entry into a raffle to win a bike. On entry into the car park they had various things for the children to play on a bouncy castle, slide and trampoline as well as prizes to win on the lucky duck and lucky straw and a lady who was painting the children’s faces all of which was free. All the staff were dressed up as elves and there were a couple of staff dressed up as Barney and Batman who were greeting the children. As we walked around Batman decided to grab my arm and took me and Bradley off around the car park skipping and flapping his arms very embarrassing. Whilst Bradley made for the trampoline Abigail and I stood in the queue for the face painting. We then tried to win a prize on the lucky duck both children came a way with a little present. We then tried our luck with the lucky straw Abigail picked a winner the second time around which upset Bradley, however we did eventually pick a winner and he was pleased with his prize of Lego. We decided to get some drinks as it was a very hot day so we made our way to the entrance to Wishes, they had set up tables of nibbles, mini pizza, brochettes, pies, biscuits, cakes, popcorn, prawn crackers and to top it off marshmallows and a chocolate fountain. We ate some of the nibbles Abigail and Bradley enjoyed dipping marshmallows into the chocolate fountain and Bradley ended up with more on his face. There was then a big announcement that Santa was coming, we looked down the road and Santa was in a cart being pulled by a white horse. He was then ushered upstairs to his grotto as children and parents formed a queue to visit him. Whilst I stood in the queue Abigail and Bradley went off to make a crown and angel on the craft stall, when they returned we had a short wait before we were ushered upstairs to the grotto. By this time it was nearing 7.00pm so when we entered the grotto to see Santa a quick photo was taken and a present was handed to Abigail and Bradley, I think Santa was very tired. Abigail and Bradley finished off the evening by a ride around the car park in Santa’s cart. Santa then left his grotto for home and handed out balloons to the children as he went, Bradley was desperately trying to hand Santa a picture of Rudolf but to no avail. We then left for home before the raffle was drawn as it was now 8.00pm the evening was a big hit with the children and was a credit to the store for a very well organised event.

Santa

Christmas Crafts

We all had a lie in bed this morning after last nights party celebrations and decided to spend the day at home. Abigail and myself made a few of the Christmas crafts Auntie Lynne had sent over for her, the 3D paper Christmas tree seemed straight forward but I am not sure about the Reindeer and Santa Claus they look a bit more tricky I will leave them for another day. We then made and stuck up some paper chains which Emma had given us last night the lounge is looking a bit more festive.

Rainbow Beach Resort

We had quite a lie in this morning as the children didn’t wake up until gone 7.00am, we changed and decided to go for a walk. Within the resort in a tree we saw three Gonolek birds, a bright red breasted bird with black wings and a yellow patch on the top of its head as well as loads of chattering Weaver birds. We took the road to the lagoon and walked along a track which was slightly overgrown in areas. After seeing quite a few birds we made our way towards the beach, Abigail and Bradley collecting shells on the way. As we passed the fishing boats we spotted a cloth with some fish heads poking out from underneath it on closer inspection the fish were small three foot long sharks.

On arriving back at the resort we ate breakfast then spent the rest of the day on the beach. On the afternoon Jenny, Mick, Teo and Mia arrived with some of the children from their village in tow so I introduced them to Paul and we stood chatting in the sea cooling off. Bradley played with Teo for a couple of hours before we packed up for home. On the way back we called at Jackie's as we are borrowing her Christmas tree as she will be spending Christmas at home this year. As we loaded the tree in the car Jackie said to Abigail you are in charge of the decorating of it not Mummy, Abigail was pleased with this remark. We dropped Sam and Jackie of at Atlantic road, Jackie also plays touch rugby with Paul on a Sunday.

This morning we put the roast in the oven and went out for a short walk planning to call at the shops on the way back. We walked towards the rice fields and crossed over the road and continued on down a sandy track, which lead us to some local streets and compounds. We decided to follow a couple of guy’s only to find that we had to cross a small stream by the way of standing on tyres and rocks. Across the first part without any problems we came to another deeper stream, Paul first took Bradley then came back for Abigail helping them to balance on the rocks whilst he waded up to his knee’s in the stream. I followed just behind, the stream was very cold and clear safely at the other side Paul pointed to a couple of leeches swimming about, we had a quick check to make sure none were attached to us. Passing Emily’s house we came out at Kariba Avenue and quickly called at the shops before heading back for our roast lunch.

On the afternoon Paul joined all the lads to watch the Liverpool game at one of the local pubs dropping us off at Dunes so I could do some emails and Abigail and Bradley could play in the Pool. When we arrived the other girls had had the same idea as Amy, Cathy and Sukey were already there and Emily joined us not long after, she had just got back from visiting Emma up country at Kerewan. Abigail and Bradley played in the pool I decided not to join them as the sky has been very overcast for a couple of days so the pool was very cold. At 5.00pm we walked to the pub with Cathy and Sukey, Paul was just finishing a pint and the football had finished so we left for home.

Xmas Party Planning

This morning Paul took Abigail and Bradley off for a walk around the golf course and onto the beach hoping to see Adam to accept his offer of Tabasky. I stayed at home and washed some clothes, then managed to get a bit of sun whilst reading in the compound.

This afternoon we have been invited to a bring your own food barbeque at Sokey and Greg’s to discuss the office xmas party. We left early as we wanted to have a look around Serekunda Market for blankets. Parking the car in our usual spot we headed into the main market area, we noticed a stall selling quilt covers so asked for blankets. They didn’t sell them but a young lad ended up taking us past various stalls to one which sold blankets on asking the price we were told 400 dalasi after a lot of bartering I managed to get three blankets for 200 dalasi each half what they were asking. We then asked about groundnut paste and we were taken to another stall which sold it in small fist size food bags. We made for the exit passing chickens in small cages awaiting their fate. Paul noticed some string vests in the Gambian flag colours which he likes so we agreed a price then we were ushered to another stall to be shown more vests which they were hoping to also sell to us. Finally spent up we made our way to the car and started driving away from the market the road went on for ages. The road didn’t end up where Paul thought so we had to turn back on ourselves down another long road. We made it to the main Serrekunda road only to have one side of the carriage way blocked off as is the norm when the president is travelling. So we then had to sit behind Gelleh’s and Taxis at a snails pace waiting for them to drop and pick up passengers before we finally saw the side street we needed for Greg and Sokey’s very frustrating.

We arrived at Sokey’s, Bradley changed into his trunks as they had the paddling pool out so he spent the next two hours splashing about. With the barbeque ready for the meat Paul set about putting on our burgers and sausages as Abigail and Bradley were getting hungry, then others took over cooking their own meat. During this time the girls got together to discuss the xmas party writing down a list of volunteer’s, what food to cook and working out costings. We are looking at hosting it around the 12th December so those volunteer’s who are going home for xmas will be able to attend. With everything sorted as who would be making what we left for home dropping off Emma and Emily on route.