Neptune Day

Neptune Day, 25^th Wedding Anniversary & At Sea Musings

The day after we departed from Ghana, we were to cross the equator! To mark this special occasion, they hold Neptune Day for all the pollywogs ( those who have not crossed the equator before).  The day started at 7:30am with a motley crew banging on doors for people to get up and meet on the 7^th deck at poolside. (It’s a very small pool). George had me so worried the night before, that I slept in my bathing suit!  He made it sound like they were going to yank you out of bed and throw you into the pool. I was up and ready by 7am! 

The King & Queen were flanked by their assistants who helped in the ceremony. A pledge was made to the King and then the baptisms began.  Each pollywog had to have blue liquid poured over them (George had told us it was fish guts), then they had to jump in the larger pool, climb the ladder to kiss the fish (yes, it’s real), bow to the Queen and finally kiss the ring of King Neptune.  If you forgot that part, you were kicked into the water to do it all again.

A few brave souls started the process and then seeing how much fun it really was, we all joined in. Yes, even yours truly!  How bad could it be to kiss a fish??
I’ve had worse experiences before, in my youth.  That’s me on the extreme right side getting the blue water baptism.

 

After everyone was knighted as a “shell-back”, it got really interesting.  For those who wanted to show King Neptune how dedicated they really were, they had their heads shaved; boys & girls and some adults as well.  For those of you who read my friend Maggie’s blog last year, you will find a picture of Liz Inman (80) who did it! Way to go Liz!  I on the other hand, was not so inclined.  I am happy to report that I still have all my hair. 

In the Dean’s Memo the next day there was this report from the Medical Team:  “Sunburned head alert!  The shaved head has taken over as the fashion statement on Semester at Sea. This new hairstyle is ideal for keeping cool in tropical ports, preventing head lice, and getting out quickly in the morning. However, newly shaved heads are highly susceptible to sunburn, especially considering that the equatorial sun is directly overhead. Please use sunscreen or wear a hat whenever you are outdoors for more than 5 minutes, even if it’s cloudy.” Hilarious!  Also, the hair collected went to “Wigs for Kids” for young cancer patients.

Another celebration took place the next day; George & Maggie Thomas’ 25^th Wedding Anniversary. We had a special 6 course dinner in a private room with 16 close friends.  It was also Professor Alfred Hunt’s birthday the day before and his party merged with ours.  The food was delicious and the guests enjoyed themselves wholeheartedly.  We went to the lounge afterward for some late night dancing.

Unfortunately, the sea has decided to turn a bit nasty.  The swells are 10-12ft high and it’s very difficult to walk along the corridors and even sit still in the classrooms. Keeping food down is another issue. Some of the passengers, me included, have caught a cold/flu bug that has been going around. This added to the rolling ship does not make for a pleasant crossing.  I have plied myself with Tylenol, Vitamin C and Gravol for the last two days and am happy to report that I feel myself again.  And not a moment too soon!  We get to Cape Town on Friday morning and I want to be well.

I will sign off for now.  The next stop: Cape Town.

Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana

William wanted to leave at 7am the next morning. He was going to take us to Boti Falls, that we didn't have time for the first day, and also a huge bead market in Koforidua. We told him no problem and wrote a note about what time we wanted breakfast and also what we wanted for breakfast (it was the same as we had before). We gave it to our waitress when she delivered our dinner. No problem we thought! We were up and packed and ready for breakfast at 6:20am. We waited in the restaurant and then saw our waitress walking toward the front doors. Maggie leapt up and asked if our breakfast was ready. She said just a minute and we saw her dash toward one of the rooms in the resort. We think she had to wake up the cook because we saw Samuel a few minutes later run to the front desk and our breakfast was brought to us 15 minutes later!! What an ordeal!! We wanted to be on time for William because we had a lot to cram in that day and a lot of driving too. We were on the road by 7:15 and William was happy.

The bead market proved to be one of the best and the prices were fantastic.  At least 100 vendors were selling all types of beads and jewellery. Temptation reared its ugly head and we had a difficult time restraining ourselves.

After several purchases, we drove another hour to the falls. They were very beautiful. There were two falls side by side. We had to walk down 250 steps to get to the bottom, but it was worth it. The mist from the falls felt quite refreshing and a welcome reprieve from the humidity. Maggie bought each of us a bag of plantain chips. Delicious!

We then drove on to Akosombo and to the dam. We got to go on a private tour of the dam with a university student as our guide. He was very excited that we were from Canada because Canadians helped with the building of it. It’s the 50^th anniversary this year. We just toured the outside and took lots of pictures. We then went to our next resort. On our itinerary, it showed Afrikiko Resort. I had read in the travel book here in the library that it was "Upscale". So we were very happy to be going there. William said that Mimi (the travel agent) had booked us into Ayslon Bay Resort. William said we could check out Afrikiko and if we liked it, we would just stay there and forget the other. Ok great! The grounds were beautiful. It really looked nice and had a small swimming pool. We took a look in the small room that had 2 twin beds, and basic bathroom facilities. We had been a bit spoiled by the lake view, balcony and really large room from Lake Bosomtwe. This room was located at the entrance to the resort and we would have had to walk down a long covered pathway to the water to sit.

We drove to Ayslon Bay Resort just down the road. It was not as beautiful as Afrikiko, however the cottage was right on the water and we had a private covered porch looking out at the river plus a large covered dock area with a table and four chairs to use. (Unfortunately, when we arrived, there was already a family of three using it and then they had the nerve to stay and have dinner on it!!!) The only problem was that there was only a Queen sized bed and Maggie said that she specifically told Mimi that we wanted twin beds (or 2 beds) for each booking. There was a bit of a stand off and then the clerk said "I could bring you another mattress" I told Maggie that I was fine to sleep on the floor, but she was still disappointed that none of the rooms had 2 beds. Anyway, he came back with a mattress and then told Maggie that there would be a 10 cedis charge! “NO WAY” she said, “it was your idea to bring the mattress! Take it away!” So off he went with the mattress. We were now comparing the two places to determine which one would suffice. The latter one won out and we started to unpack a bit and get organized. We discovered that the toilet needed a bit of priming, Maggie's bedside lamp flickered and the people on the dock were annoying because WE wanted to be there! Never mind!

William went out to scout for a store that sold wine, per my request, and after 1/2 hr he came to get me to take me there. I bought 2 bottles of red South African wine. I was a bit sceptical that we had made the right choice; however, the location was so much nicer with being right on the water. My mind was totally changed when we ordered dinner. We had asked if it could be brought to our deck outside of the cabin. No problem! We had boiled yams with palava sauce. It's wonderful.

It's made with spinach, tomatoes, onion, palm oil (which is red) and is a bit spicy. The yams here are enormous; so different than our sweet potatoes. They are white inside, not orange and are very dense. A really great meal!

We ate dinner and then went inside to read in bed. The bugs were starting to get a bit thick, but they really weren’t as bad as I had thought. The lights were out by 9:30pm, we were pooped.

Again, William wanted to meet us at 8am so that we could have time for our boat ride on the river to the dam. We had a wonderful breakfast (the kitchen opened at 6:30 and we were there before the staff again!!) eggs, baked beans, toast (with butter and jam), sausage and fresh pineapple boats. My sausage turned out to be a hotdog!

We then went on our personal boat ride, with a cute, little old man, up the river to the dam and back. Again the scenery was beautiful and we got great pictures. The whole trip took about 45 mins.

We then took off for Tema and breathed a sigh of relief when there was no heavy traffic like the first day. We pulled into the meeting place just in time to catch the shuttle back to the ship. We gave William a quick hug goodbye and a good tip. He was so awesome!

It's going to feel very weird to get back to sailing again. I didn't get wobbly legs this time. I guess we were in the car so much the first day that I didn't notice. I have mixed emotions leaving Ghana. The scenery is beautiful and the people very friendly, however, it's very difficult to see all the poverty. The people live in appalling conditions. It really makes me so thankful for what I have

Ghana have a good time!

Our ship docked at 7:30am and the air was filled with excitment.  It had been one week since we had seen land. We were greeted on shore by a group of Ghanaians who were chanting and drumming.  What a great welcome!

Maggie & I waited patiently to be called to pick up our passports.  They are all held at the purser’s office until we reach a port. The SAS trips took first priority; finally it was our turn.  George offered to take us ashore and wait for our car & driver that we had hired.  There was no sign of him at the ship so we decided to take the free shuttle bus to the port gate and wait for him there.  There were hundreds of people waiting for a bus to Accra and many merchants trying to sell their wares.

We were getting a bit panicky as time went on and George asked a man, who looked like he was in charge of the taxis, if we could use his cell phone.  He was kind enough to lend it to Maggie who then called our tour operator.  She quickly told the driver where we were waiting and in 10 mins he was there.  Phew!  By now the poor guy had been waiting for us since we had docked at 7:30am even though Maggie had told them that we would not be off the ship until at least 10:30am.  It was now just passed 11am and we still needed to get our cash from an ATM machine to pay for this trip.  They do not take credit cards since there has been so much credit card theft recently. Our kind driver William took us to get our cash; the machine worked for me but unfortunately not for Maggie. We then spent the next hour trying to get a cash machine that would work for her. In the end, William told us that we needed to get going since we were so late in getting started. He was afraid it would be dark by the time we got to our resort.  He said not to worry about the money and that tomorrow would be fine to pay him. So after some terrible traffic jams, we were finally on the road to Kumasi.

We stopped for a quick lunch break at 3pm at a very nice restaurant that is situated at the crossroads; therefore it gets a lot of bus traffic. We thought we were being very clever in ordering soup and garlic bread because it would be really fast. Well, after 40 mins, Maggie went over to one of the wait staff and asked what the hold up was. William had wanted to leave at 4pm and here is was already 3:50pm!  They quickly located our waiter and he hustled into the kitchen and brought out our soup.  The vegetables were still hard and crunchy and the garlic bread was just white bread spread with butter and some garlic.  It didn’t matter; we were so hungry because our breakfast had been at 7:30am.  We quickly ate what we could and got on the road again.

 The scenery along the way was beautiful.  The country is so green and lush and the hills looked as high as our Escarpment with some interesting rock formations. All along the highway, when we went through the villages, people were selling stuff.  You name it, they have it.  Appliances, furniture, coffins, electronics, vegetables, etc. It’s like a giant flea market in some places.

The sun was going down and the clouds were threatening rain. William spotted one of the Ghana Commercial banks that was listed on our sheet as being compatible with a Master Card, and asked if Maggie wanted to try it.  She hesitated just for a moment, but then thought; OK what the heck, we are here now.

Miracles of miracles!  It worked!!  Just as she was finishing, the skies opened up and it began to pour. Now, that’s what I call “pennies from heaven”!

The rest of our journey to the resort was rather grim. The rain fell intermittently and the sheet lightning was as if someone were turning the lights on & off constantly.  It was wild!  William was afraid that the road to the resort would be washed out; thank goodness it was OK, full of potholes, but driveable. Since it was so dark, we could not see the lake but you could certainly hear it.

We were met by Samuel, the front desk clerk, who rather shyly welcomed us and apologized for the kitchen being closed. It was only 7:30pm and it was supposed to be open until 9pm. That would not do!  Both Maggie & William convinced him that we were to have food for our dinner. I also chimed in that a bottle of wine would be good too!  So they delivered a couple of nicely cooked chicken legs and French fries to our room. The wine was so old that the cork broke 3 times as I was trying to get it out. We managed to get a few glasses out of it, but it had that horrible musty taste to it. Oh well, we were so tired at this point, we didn't care! We finally relaxed and I could tell that Maggie was really relieved about the money situation. After a very long day on the road, we slept soundly.

Lake Bosomtwe Paradise Resort lived up to its name. The huge freshwater lake was believed to be created by a fallen meteorite. We had a second floor room with a balcony overlooking the lake. We were the only 2 visitors there, besides William, because it's low season and also it was in the middle of the week. We woke up the next day and had our breakfast in the restaurant that is open to the lake. Very peaceful and we watched birds, reptiles and fishermen go about their daily business. We then went to our balcony and read for a while and took pictures of the view and wildlife. The weather was cloudy and threatening and it did shower a little bit but it didn't last. William came to see what we wanted to do that day since the first day was taken up with driving to the resort. We told him to meet us at 1pm after lunch and we would go to Kumasi for some shopping. Kumasi was very busy. William stayed right with us the whole time. I was looking for a Ghana soccer jersey for my son Andrew and I thought that it would be the easiest gift to find. Not so! Apparently, they like to wear jerseys of other countries that have Ghanaian players. Who knew?? Finally I found one and went back to our hotel happy and content.

William had bought us 2 large avocados in the market in the morning so we thought we would have those for dinner with just some bread. We tried to explain this to Samuel (our front desk guy) but he didn't seem to understand. So then we said OK we will have some French fries again. We also asked him to please bring a knife so we could cut the avocados. About 45 mins later, the waitress brings us the exact same meal as the night before! We tried to explain to her that we only wanted French fries, but she couldn't do anything about it at that point. We each had 1/2 of a beautiful avocado. It would have been very good with some tortilla chips! (Sigh).  Another busy day and an early night.

Back to Shipboard Life

It seems so long ago since I went on our Moroccan trip.  Everyone has fallen into their routine again and the studying and reading is in full force.  I have gained new respect in the community because I survived 4 days with rustic conditions and kept up with 36 students. I’ll take it!  All the kids that I met on the trip now greet me in the halls or come over to my table in the dining room to say hello. It really makes me feel good.

Several people had gotten sick in Morocco.  It was like a flu bug and only seemed to last a couple of days, so we don’t think it had anything to do with the food. I guess the change of water, food and temperature really affects people differently. I am so glad I was not amongst them.

The day after we left Casablanca, we had to bunker just off the shore of Las Palmas, which is part of the Canary Islands, to refuel.  The process took several hours and it was so strange to see a land mass instead of water around us. Too bad we couldn’t go ashore; it looks like a nice place to visit.  I will have to add that to the bucket list.

There is a program on board called Extended Families.  This is where they put together several students with adults who wish to be surrogate parents. You are able to tell them how many you want to have so no one has an”over-extended” family.  There is a welcome dinner tonight for our group.  I and another woman, Evelyn, are in Maggie & George’s party since we will both be leaving at Cape Town.  There are 4 students in our group, all girls, two of whom we have already met.

We are learning a lot about Ghana in Global Studies. It’s really helpful to know a bit of the history, language & culture before you get to these counties.  We will be having another pre-port presentation on Monday evening to get us prepared.

The time is flying by!  I can’t believe I have been gone over 2 weeks. Thanks to everyone who is following my blog and to the best wishes you have sent me.

The High Atlas Mountains and Berber Villages continued

The saga continues:

The village where we spent the first night was called Ameghras. We had hiked 8km that day. Everyone was so tired since we hardly got any sleep the night before. The call to prayer starts at 4:30am and lasts for 3-5 mins. Then it comes on again at 5:30am and lasts another 5 mins. This is over a loudspeaker that is right across the street from the gite. We had to be up at 6:30am, breakfast at 7am, and left at 7:30am sharp! Our breakfast was bread with cream cheese and fig jam, or apple chutney or honey, instant coffee & tea bags. Our entire luggage was once again packed onto the donkeys and off we went.

We hiked for 5 hours with a couple of stops in the shade to catch our breath. The heat was brutal, but the scenery spectacular! Around every corner or bend, you got breathtaking views of the countryside. We stopped at 12:30pm for lunch at Dou Tizi Ait Amed. It was in a sort of forested area and the shade was very welcome. We ate bread, spiced up tinned mackerel, the same type of salad as the day before, a lentil dish with onions & spices and oranges for dessert. Mohammed (our other guide) picked some fresh figs along the hike. What a treat!

After lunch we rested again for 2 hours. We all wrote in our journals, or napped or played on the donkeys (the rowdy boys!). The trails are so dry and remind me of what the Grand Canyon would be like. We only went through forest a little bit when we were following the tree line. The sun was so blistering hot that when I woke the next day, my lips were swollen with two blisters even though I wore a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. Someone said I looked like Angelina Jolie, yeah thanks!

We arrived at 3:30pm at Ait Hmad which is bigger than the village of the first night. (Mohammed said we hiked 13 kms) 12 of us "quiet ones" were chosen to sleep at a family's house and the rest (25 others) slept in the gite across the street. Our family consisted of the grandma, her grown daughter with 3 small boys and her husband who arrived later. Our guide Mohammed knows the family and he would translate for us since no one spoke French this time. They did at the other village. The woman made us coffee when we arrived and it tasted a bit like chai tea because it had cinammon in it. So delicious. You drink both the mint tea and coffee from small glasses with etchings on them. Since there is no handle, it’s very hot to hold. She also let us go into the kitchen to watch her make yeast donuts which were then fried after they sat and rose for a bit. They could have used a bit of powdered sugar on them. Speaking of sugar, it comes in a solid mass and they have to break it into chunks and serve it on a plate.

We had free time until 7pm when dinner was to be served across the street at the gite on the rooftop terrace. Some of the boys had a big soccer game going with the cooks and the young boys from the village. Some of the girls, myself included, took turns in the Hammam (sort of like a steam room) and felt so clean afterwards. Much nicer than the little trickle of water the day before!

Supper was served on our mats on the roof. We had bread, chicken soup, chicken tagine, carrots and potatoes, olives and oranges for dessert. We finished at 8:30pm and gave a round of applause to the cooks. This time there was no party afterwards.  A few of us went back to our house and did some journal writing & killed a few flying insects before we were to turn out the light.

Around 9:30pm we heard some conversation around the table and liquid being poured. The dad had arrived home and had made some mint tea. There was bread and a dish of olive oil and a dish of local honey. He made us all try it so we had a really delicious bedtime snack. Thank goodness we are doing all this hiking because we would clearly have gained weight with all this bread!

Finally around 10:30pm lights were out and we settled down to sleep. . We all slept with our clothes on to be ready for the morning. It was so warm in the room, we didn't need blankets. We slept much better since we couldn't really hear the night sounds. An occasional donkey braying, cat meowing or baby crying, but pretty quiet compared with the night before. The call to prayer was again announced at 4:30am, but I thankfully fell back to sleep. Wake up was 6:30am, but I got up at 6 and had that really good coffee again. We all went to breakfast at 7 across at the gite, same stuff as the day before, and we were on the trail by 7:30am.

Our hike this day was only an hour and a half, mostly downhill. (3 km) It took us by some of the fertile gardens that are planted along the irrigation system. The vans picked us up along the side of the road and we made our way back to Marrakesh. (1 1/2 hours) The roads were really winding and I couldn't look straight out the window, I had to look out the side windows at the scenery. The kids on my bus were so good; they occupied themselves by playing a word game. We stopped for 1 1/2 hours on a street that had some shopping and eating opportunities. I bought a few gifts for people and I am very pleased with my choices.

Back on the vans at 12:10pm and they took us to the train station. We arrived on time and were escorted to our seats in first class again. This time they were actual compartments with sliding doors and room for 6 people. I sat with another bunch of great kids, several of whom I already knew. The air conditioning was not working up to potential, so we sweated to Cassablanca for over 3 hours. Not fun! We were met at the train station by our large bus and taken to the ship. We all gave Mohammed and Hossein a big hug (and had previously collected some money for an extra tip) I had given them each a Canadian flag pin and Hossein put it on and wore it the whole day. So sweet!

We lined up to get back on the ship and had to go through a sort of customs with the ship personnel searching our bags. I went through quickly and raced to my room, jumped into the shower, unpacked my backpack, (it was easy since I threw it all into the laundry bag because everything smelled of donkey shit...I made the kids laugh when I said that!), changed and was in the lounge for a well deserved drink by 6pm....that whole process only took 35 mins! I was really ready for some adult conversation and a drink!

This is the Glasser Lounge which is usually packed by 5pm. During the day it's so quiet and you can see the open sea in front of you. It's a great place to enjoy a coffee or tea and work on the computer.

Just a side note, the laundry was picked up the next day and delivered the day after that.
Hurray clean clothes again!

Morocco and the Berber Villages

My Moroccan adventure begins: We were met at the ship by a tour bus along with 2 Moroccan guides who took us on a 15 min drive to the train station. We all hopped on the "Marrakesh Express" (thanks Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) for a three hour ride. I was feeling really alone since everyone had a companion. There were the two team leaders Dan & Pat, a really nice gay couple, a younger married couple Brian & Kristen, who are staff on the ship and Spencer,a photo journalist who sat with the students. I sat at a window seat across from them and the one facing me was empty. There was a bit of a mix up with the seating and some locals started arguing and kicking the SAS people out of their seats. We were apparently in first class!  Our guides did a great job in getting it all organized and things calmed down.

A young woman asked me if the seat facing me was taken and I told her no, please sit down.

We started talking and I found out that she was from Portugal and was coming to Marrakesh on business. She owns her own shop in Portugal and buys good quality items for her shop at the market. She gave me some really good buying tips about the conversion of the money, which I passed on to some of the kids, regarding what kind of things to buy and the quality. She also gave me her business card. She was very interesting and we could converse fairly well with her limited English and my limited French.

From the train, we all piled into 3 vans to take us to our hotel. We were paired up by rooms and I felt sorry for the student who got me. She was so nice about it and said please come with us to the market, so off I went with Kat, Jordan, Hilary & Laura. I had a really good time with them and they were so great. I just didn't want them to think they were going shopping with their "Mom". It did help a few times though because those vendors can be relentless. They will follow you around for awhile and keep after you until you finally have to say "NO" and walk away. I was like a mother hen making sure her chicks were all together and even when we got separated, we made sure there were two people together. I only bought a few things in the market as those of you who really know me know that shopping is not my thing. My vendor was very kind and only tried to get me to buy some other items but didn't push when I said "No thank you". A pleasant experience all around. On our way back to the hotel (it was a 20 min walk) the call to prayer was just playing on a loudspeaker outside the mosque. The tower was lit up as the sun was setting. It looked beautiful.

We were to meet at the hotel for 8pm and taken to a restaurant beside the market. I don't know if they have a website, but the name was Al Baraka. It was a beautiful place, sort of reminded me of Poland or Louisiana with the courtyard in the middle. That's where we sat, outside, and the weather was beautiful. The food was delicious; the taste is so good because of the freshness of the ingredients. The meal was included in the trip cost, we only had to purchase our drinks...even water, which came in l.5 L bottles. We all bought them to keep for our hike the next day. Most of the students wanted to go to some nightclub that they had all talked about on Facebook before the trip, so my roommate Kat said that she didn't want to wake me up coming in late so would sleep in Jordan's room because she had 2 Queen sized beds where we had only 2 singles. Bonus. I was on my own again!!

The hotel was gorgeous and a lot of families were there for the weekend. It had 2 large pools and I had wished I had brought my bathing suit if I had known. The breakfast buffet the next morning (7:30) was a little scarce, however it served its purpose. We got to eat outside again. So warm and lovely and NO HUMIDITY! The students trickled in a little at a time, some very hung over and tired. There was a discrepancy with some of the bar bills from the night before and a few of the students had to pay their tab before we could leave.  We found out later, that most of them had already paid for their drinks at the bar and this was a sort of a scam that happened in a few other hotels. We told them to check their accounts and if by chance they had been charged twice, then the bank could take care of it. They all seem relieved with that answer.

We finally left for our first hike at 8:30, stopping in a small village for water (2 X 1.5L each). It took an hour drive to get to our starting point.  We then loaded up the donkeys with our luggage and only had to carry our day packs with our 1 bottle of water, camera, and any other necessities we would need before lunch. We hiked for 2 hours and I got to spend time talking to some great kids. We stopped for lunch in the shade of some olive trees. The donkeys and our kitchen crew were already there. They prepared a wonderful lunch of chopped tomatoes, onions, green peppers, olives and coriander as a salad (with olive oil dressing on the side), tinned sardines mashed with lemon and parsley, steamed white rice with cinnamon, bread of course and apples for dessert. After that filling meal, we got to rest for 2 hours.  Before continuing on our journey, most ventured off behind some bushes to use the "facilities", me included. Very humbling.

We continued with our journey and after another hour and a half and breathtaking scenery, reached our accommodations.

The village was very small with just a few buildings. Our gite was owned by a 73 year old man who had 12 children and they were mostly married and had lots of children too. We only saw the wife when some of the students went to help make the bread for our snack. The mint tea that they serve is used all the time; morning, afternoon and evening. It's rather delicious and some make it with sugar already in it, other times you have to add it yourself. We were given free time to wander and to "freshen up" as it were. The showers and toilets were very primitive, however, no one complained and did the best they could. We all wanted to sleep under the stars, so we all carried our mattresses, blankets and pillows up to the roof.

Dinner was served at 7:30pm and was prepared by our same cooks who made us lunch. They travelled with us the whole trip just preparing our meals. What a cool job! Dinner was lentil soup, bread, a beef tagine, couscous with carrots and zucchini and chick peas. Dessert was yellow melon slices that taste like a cross between cantelope and honeydew melon.

After dinner, we got to have an interview (with one of our guides acting as an interpreter) with the old gentleman and he answered questions that the students had. We asked if he had any questions for us, and he wanted to know how many people were married! Dan (one of our trip leaders) said "Where's Brenda? She's married!" I spoke to him in French and told him I also have two children. ( At least I hope I said two and not twelve!) He smiled and shook my hands and thought that was great.  We all had a good laugh because that's what he feels is the most important thing to keep the village going....lots of kids = lots of help.

After the tables were cleared, the cooks started to drum on their pots and makeshift instruments and started singing. Three of the little girls started to dance and we all got in a circle and clapped. It was a real party atmosphere. The students all danced, drummed, etc. I ran up to the roof to grab my camera and took a video of it through the opening in the roof. It went on for about an hour and then finally about 10-10:30 we all climbed into bed. The giggling (boys included) went on till about 11:30 and then silence......except for the barking dogs, braying donkeys, night sounds......we hardly slept for all the strange noises.

That's just 2 days worth of fun, so I will stop there and fill you in a bit later.....I have to run to get to class now.